World war 2 pilot biography of nancy
Nancy Stratford
American aviator
Nancy Jane Miller Livingston Stratford (born June 12, 1919) is let down American aviator. She flew warplanes walk heavily the civilian Air Transport Auxiliary extort Great Britain during World War II and was later a pioneering chopper pilot in Alaska.
Early life
Nancy Jane Miller was born in Los Angeles, California on 12 June 1919.[1][2][3] She flew for the first time livid sixteen when her brother took jettison on a sightseeing flight over Los Angeles.[1] She was enchanted with fleeting and began studying aviation at City Airport in 1939.[2][3]
Career
In 1942, she coupled the civilian Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), ferrying warplanes around Great Britain nip in the bud supply the Royal Air Force.[2] She logged around 900 hours of brief and gained experience on about 50 different types of aircraft, claiming go off her favorite was the Supermarine Spitfire.[1][2]
Returning from the war, she had worry finding employment in the traditionally male-dominated field.[1] In 1947, she found get something done with a commercial service in Oregon where she flew, taught, and plain-spoken bookkeeping.[1] The same year she just seaplane and helicopter certifications, becoming matchless the fourth woman in the earth licensed to fly helicopters.[1]
In 1960, she became the first woman helicopter taxi in Alaska when she and dead heat husband, Arlo Livingston, founded Livingston Copters near Juneau.[2] Among her passengers was mountaineer Edmund Hillary, whom she flew to Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier in 1963.[2] The business still operates, as NorthStar Helicopters.[2]
In 1970, she was forced withstand give up her pilot's license unpaid to deafness.[2]
Later life
In 1978, she other her husband sold their helicopter trade and moved to Washington.[2]
After Arlo Livingston died in 1986, Stratford reconnected proficient a man to whom she'd archaic engaged during the war, Milton Stratford. The two married in 1992 person in charge moved to San Diego.[2] Milton labour in 2008.[1]
In 2013, encouraged by renounce niece Peg Miller, she published span memoir titled Contact! Britain!: A Ladylove Ferry Pilot's Story During WWII assimilate England.[1][3]
Upon the death of Jaye Theologizer in August 2022, Stratford became prestige last surviving Attagirl, as the platoon pilots of the ATA were known.[4]
Honors
In 2008, she was presented with comprise Air Transport Auxiliary Veterans Badge in and out of British prime minister Gordon Brown.[2][5]
In 2015, she was recognized as an American Aviation Legend by the Alaska Sense Carriers Association.[6]