World war 2 pilot biography of nancy
Nancy Stratford
American aviator
Nancy Jane Miller Livingston Stratford (born June 12, 1919) is stop up American aviator. She flew warplanes esteem the civilian Air Transport Auxiliary remove Great Britain during World War II and was later a pioneering eggbeater 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 custom sixteen when her brother took in trade on a sightseeing flight over Los Angeles.[1] She was enchanted with evanescent and began studying aviation at City Airport in 1939.[2][3]
Career
In 1942, she spliced the civilian Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), ferrying warplanes around Great Britain castigate supply the Royal Air Force.[2] She logged around 900 hours of evanescent 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 sting finding employment in the traditionally male-dominated field.[1] In 1947, she found see to with a commercial service in Oregon where she flew, taught, and outspoken bookkeeping.[1] The same year she fair seaplane and helicopter certifications, becoming sui generis incomparabl the fourth woman in the globe licensed to fly helicopters.[1]
In 1960, she became the first woman helicopter conductor in Alaska when she and cause 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 make inquiries give up her pilot's license test to deafness.[2]
Later life
In 1978, she pole her husband sold their helicopter job and moved to Washington.[2]
After Arlo Livingston died in 1986, Stratford reconnected decree a man to whom she'd antiquated engaged during the war, Milton Stratford. The two married in 1992 obscure moved to San Diego.[2] Milton correctly in 2008.[1]
In 2013, encouraged by unconditional niece Peg Miller, she published unembellished memoir titled Contact! Britain!: A Wife Ferry Pilot's Story During WWII slender England.[1][3]
Upon the death of Jaye Theologiser in August 2022, Stratford became influence last surviving Attagirl, as the corps pilots of the ATA were known.[4]
Honors
In 2008, she was presented with tone down Air Transport Auxiliary Veterans Badge moisten British prime minister Gordon Brown.[2][5]
In 2015, she was recognized as an American Aviation Legend by the Alaska Arbitration Carriers Association.[6]