Rosemary Rees

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(23 September 1901 – 8 March 1994) was a British aviator who worked for the

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...

. She was second in command to

Margot Gore Margaret Wyndham "Margot" Gore (24 January 1913 – 20 August 1993) was a leading British airwoman and osteopath. She was appointed MBE for her service as a commander in the Air Transport Auxiliary. She may be the first woman to pilot a Boeing B ...

Hamble Hamble may refer to: * The River Hamble in Hampshire, England * Hamble aerodrome on the banks of the River Hamble. ** Hamble-Warsash Ferry, a ferry service on the River Hamble * Hamble-le-Rice, a village on the river Hamble, close to the city of Sou ...

from the 29th September 1941 when the site became an all-women ATA ferry pool.

Early life

Born Rosemary Theresa Rees to Sir John Rees and Mary Catherine Rees (née Dormer) on 23 September 1901 in Brompton, London. Her older brother

Richard Rees Sir Richard Lodowick Edward Montagu Rees, 2nd Baronet (4 April 1900 – 24 July 1970) was a British diplomat, writer and painter. Rees was the son of Sir John Rees, 1st Baronet and his wife Mary Catherine Dormer. His sister was the pilot Rose ...

(1900–1970) was a British diplomat, writer and painter. Rees learned to dance through a ballet school in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. She then began dancing and performing in revue around the world including

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Flying

In the UK she took up flying and went solo after just seven hours instruction in 1933. Rees bought her own aeroplane. She visited European air-rallies with her

Miles Hawk The Miles M.2 Hawk was a twin-seat light monoplane designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Miles Aircraft Limited during the 1930s. It is the first of the company's aircraft to attain quantity production. The Hawk's developm ...

aircraft. She had over 600 hours before she joined the

and already had her instructors licence which she had achieved in 1938. Rees joined the ATA on New Years Day 1940, one of the ATA's first eight female pilots alongside

Joan Hughes Joan Lily Amelia Hughes, MBE (27 April 1918 – 16 August 1993) was a World War II ferry pilot and one of Britain's first female test pilots. She was considered a capable instructor and flew everything except flying boats. Early life Hughe ...

Margaret Cunnison Margaret Cunnison (29 May 1914 – 4 January 2004) was a Scottish aviator and the first Scottish woman flying instructor. She was one of the first women to join the Air Transport Auxiliary. Life Margaret Cunnison was born in Haddington in 1914. ...

Mona Friedlander Mona Renee Vera Ernesta Forward ( Friedlander, 2 June 1914 – 24 December 1993) was a British pilot and one of the eight founding pilots who started the women's section of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Early life Mona Renee Vera Ernesta Friedland ...

Gabrielle Patterson Gabrielle Ruth Millicent Patterson (; 1905–1968) was a British aviator who worked for the Air Transport Auxiliary. She was Britain's first woman flying instructor. Early life She was born in Maida Vale in London on 6 July 1905. She was the elde ...

Marion Wilberforce Marion Wilberforce (22 July 1902 – 17 December 1995) was a Scottish aviator and one of the first eight members of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). She flew many planes including Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfires, Hawker Hurricane, Hurricanes, ...

Margaret Fairweather Margaret Fairweather (23 September 1901 – 4 August 1944) was a British aviator and one of the first eight women members of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). She was the first woman to fly a Supermarine Spitfire. Life Fairweather was born in 1 ...

, and

Winifred Crossley Fair Winifred Crossley (9 January 1906 - 27 March 1984) was an aviator the first woman to be checked out on a Hurricane fighter. She was one of the ''First Eight'', the initial group of women pilots to join the Air Transport Auxiliary. Early life Win ...

, under the command of

Pauline Gower Pauline Mary de Peauly Gower Fahie (22 July 1910 – 2 March 1947) was a British pilot and writer who established the women's branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. Early life and education Pauline Mary de Peauly ...

In September 1941 she took on her role as deputy to

at the all woman ferry pool at Hamble-on-Solent. She left the ATA in November 1945. By the end of the war she was one of only 11 women who had flown the 4-engine bombers and had flown 91 different aircraft types. In 1946 she started her own charter company called ''Sky Taxi''. Rees was one of the few ATA pilots that received a MBE.

Life after flying

On 3 November 1950 she married Sir Philip Harvey Du Cros (1898–1975) becoming Rosemary, Lady du Cros. She moved to live with him in

Parkham Parkham is a small village, civil parish and former manor situated 5 miles south-west of the town of Bideford in north Devon, England. The parish, which lies within the Kenwith ward in the Torridge district, is surrounded clockwise from the no ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, where she became involved in politics, eventually becoming chairman of the

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

area

Conservative Association A Conservative Association (CA) is a local organisation composed of Conservative Party members in the United Kingdom. Every association varies in membership size but all correspond to a parliamentary constituency in England, Wales, Scotland and No ...

Death

Rees died at Little Bocombe,

, on 8 March 1994, aged ninety-two.

Legacy

A bus company in Hatfield named its eight buses after the "first eight" of the Tiger Moth pilots in the ATA, including Rees. Fourteen years after her death in 2008, the fifteen surviving women members of the ATA (and 100 surviving male pilots) were given a special award by the Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

. In December 2020, six pilot’s logbooks belonging to Rosemary Rees, were sold at auction for £7400, well above the expected estimate. The logbooks dated from June 25, 1933 to June 23, 1947, and were sold together with a leather flying helmet, leather gloves, two photograph albums, photographs of Rees as a dancer and related ephemera and books on flying.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Rosemary 1901 births 1994 deaths 20th-century British people Air Transport Auxiliary pilots British aviators People from London English ballerinas 20th-century ballet dancers Daughters of baronets 20th-century English women 20th-century English people British women aviators