Hughes, Joan

A native of West Ham County, London. She began to engage in piloting aircraft at the age of 15, at the age of 17 she became the youngest British pilot. In 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, she entered the Subsidiary Air Transport Service , during the war years spent more than 600 hours at the controls of various aircraft. She became the only female pilot to fly all types of military aircraft during World War II, from small reconnaissance aircraft to heavy bombers such as Short Stirling . She reached the post of senior pilot (commander), which is equivalent to the rank of group captain in the British Air Force and colonel of the ground forces.

After the war, Hughes continued her pilot career, using her abilities already in the field of an instructor. An article about The Eagle Special Investigator Meets Joan Mills in 'Special Investigator Flies Solo ”by MacDonald Hastings was written about her from the book “Eagle Special Investigator” by Michael Joseph . In the 1960s, she worked as an instructor at the Airways Aero Association at the White Waltham and Booker airfields. At the beginning of 1964, she was appointed pilot of the reconstructed monoplane Santos-Dumont Demoiselle , which appeared in the film “ Air Adventures ” in 1965, later she flew several planes of the First World War for the filming of the film “ Blue Max ” in 1966 and the Tiger Moth biplane for the documentary film “ Thunderbird 6, 1968

She retired in 1985, flying a total of 11,800 hours. In 1946 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her assistance during the war ^[1] .

• Enid deBois: " Hughes, Joan Lily Amelia (1918–1993), " Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press , 2004.
• Thunderbird 6 DVD, "Tiger Moth" featurette, 2004.