Margaret Fairweather

Margaret Fairweather
Born Margaret Runciman
(1901-09-23)23 September 1901
West Denton Hall, near Newcastle upon Tyne
Died 4 August 1944(1944-08-04) (aged 42)
Malpas, Cheshire
Cause of death Extensive skull fracture caused by plane crash
Resting place Dunure Cemetery
Nationality British
Education Girton College, Cambridge
Occupation Aviator
Spouse(s)
  • Roderick Sydney Nettleton King-Farlow
  • (married July 1925-1936)
  • Douglas Fairweather
  • (married March 1938)
Children Elizabeth Fairweather
Parent(s) Hilda Stevenson and Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford

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).[1] She flew many planes including Tiger Moths and Hurricanes, and was the first woman to fly a Supermarine Spitfire.[2] She had previously been an instructor for the Civil Air Guard at Renfrew.[3]

She was educated at Notting Hill High School for Girls[4]

Shortly after the death of her husband in an ATA aircraft, she died in a crash in 1944; also on board was her sister Kitty who was injured. The cause of the crash was a mechanical problem with the fuel tank.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ Nigel Cawthorne (22 May 2013). The Battle of Britain. Arcturus Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-78212-669-0.
  2. ↑ Lewis, Jon E. (2013-02-07). Spitfire: The Autobiography. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781472107824.
  3. ↑ Hyams, Jacky (2012). The Female Few: Spitfire Heroines of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Stroud: History Press. ISBN 9780752481227.
  4. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ISBN 978-0198614111
  5. ↑ A. Mills (15 May 2006). Sex, Strategy and the Stratosphere: Airlines and the Gendering of Organizational Culture. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-230-59570-5.
  6. ↑ Mace, Terry. "Margaret Fairweather". A Fleeting Peace (blog). Retrieved 30 October 2016.
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