ATA Pilot Joan Hughes

[Pilotdreamer]

I have always been facinated by a photo of ATA Pilot Joan Hughes standing in front of a Stirling as it gives a very good idea of how small she was and how high the Stirling was off the ground.She must of been an amazing pilot as well as an amazing women,by all accounts was better than some of her fellow male pilots.In the present issue of Aeroplane there is article on the Stirling pilot and this same photo of Joan Hughes with her teddy bear Stirling as she called it.What caught my eye was that she was passed out on the Stirling at RAF Stradishall in 1943,as Stradishall is very close to my hart I would like to try and find out a bit more about joan´s time at Stradishall and possibly the Stirlings she flew there.I presume she must have been with 1657 HCU,but in my copy of the book on Stradishall it makes no reference to this,I suppose historic moment,when a women was passed to fly the Stirling.Also can any body help with the possible location of this photo,it could very well be Stradishall.

[K4KittyCrew]

Hello pilotdreamer,

Is this pic you've posted the only one you have? Has this pic been cropped or is it as a whole? Just trying to find any details on the photo that may give us a lead.
John

[Denonline]

I had the pleasure of flying with Joan, she was an instructor at the Airways Flying club where among other things, she checked me out on the Cherokee.

Joan test flew the replica French machine used in the film "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" She was quite petite,so much so that she was able to uplift sufficient fuel to hop the channel.

Dennis

[Pilotdreamer]

This is the largest one I have but it is a very used photo online,newspapers etc.The tree line does not seem to match Stradishall some how and there what appear to be three aircraft dispersed in the background.I would imagine this is an offical photo so maybe quite easy to trace it´s starting point.I was thinking who could possibly have Joan Hughes´s log book.Did she marry,have children etc?Surely this log book could not have been lost.

[PAFG]

Difficult to see, but there's something Dakota-ish about the aircraft in the background?

Richard

[halifax1]

I find it amazing that those ladies flew the aircraft that they did - bearing in mind that they had no "power assist" and so controls were heavy and particularly so on new aircraft - you only have to look at the size and thus the "weight" and friction of some of the control rods to see how much strength was needed, and sometimes they had no other crew!! The more you hear the more you realise that those folk who participated in WWII were made of very sturdy stuff.

[Pilotdreamer]

I understand that the Stirling could not take off and land and flown by the pilot alone,is this right?

[Upkeep]

I've always thought that was a wonderful photograph !

My 'other half', herself a PPL, is very interested in the ATA and has a number of quite rare books on the subject, as well as the biographies/autobiographies of Lettice Curtis and Diana Barnato, two of the most famous ATA pilots. I also have a DVD called (I think) Ferry Pilot and a recording of the recent TV programme Spitfire Women about the ATA, although both of these are light on heavies (if you see what I mean !) I will take a look through all these and see what mention there is of Joan.

There is also the ATA Study Centre in development at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre, who may be able to help:

http://www.atamuseum.org/

On the other question - I'm not that familiar with the Stirling, but the Lancaster certainly could be (and was) flown by a solo pilot (doing their own navigation). Although they did carry a FE on occasion, the relatively short journeys made by ATA pilots could be flown without one onboard, the pilot carrying out the basic FE duties (mainly fuel related) at start and end of the flight when the a/c was on the ground. That said, any unexpected fuel/engine problems in the air would have been very difficult to manage.

[halifax1]

I understand that the Stirling could not take off and land and flown by the pilot alone,is this right?

I cannot find anything immediately but in Stirling in Combat it is said to have some vices on take off - pretty vicious swing - tail blanketed by fuselage as the tail lifted etc. and correction was by throttles. Perhaps unassisted take of was possible but a bit hair raising. Depended no doubt upon the experience of the Pilot? Must say that a "little lady" might have found it a bit heavy work??

[Upkeep]

A current Lanc pilot told me that an unladen Lanc (as the ATA would fly them) with full power, appropriate flap setting and an adequate runway will almost take off by itself, not requiring a massive effort on the column to unstick. Apparently often more effort is required on the right rudder to counteract the swing. The Stirling may have been a different animal of course.

It's worth remembering that not only would the ATA be flying unladen a/c with minimum fuel, but they would not be required to execute any violent manoevres (corkscrew, pulling out of a dive) which would indeed require considerable strength to execute.