Английская Википедия:Elsie Joy Davison
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Elsie Joy Davison (née Muntz; 14 March 1910 – 18 July 1940) was a Canadian-born British aviator and airline director. She started flying herself in 1929. After becoming a director of an aircraft company in 1936, she died serving with the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1940, becoming the first female British aviator to die in World War II.
Early life
Elsie Joy Muntz was born on 14 March 1910 in Toronto, Ontario.Шаблон:Sfn Her older sisters were Elizabeth Muntz a sculptor and Isabelle Hope Muntz, a medievalist and author.[1] She was known as Joy, and signed herself as ‘E. Joy Davison’ in later life.[2] After her father died in an accident when she was young, she moved with her mother and sister Hope to the United Kingdom.Шаблон:Sfn
Interested in aviation and mechanics since childhood, she started flying in 1929Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and gained her flying certificate by age 20.Шаблон:Sfn Flight magazine of 23 May 1930 listed her gaining her Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No.9053 from London Aero Club.[3] By the time she was 23, she was already a well-known pilot in her local area.Шаблон:Sfn Davison was recorded holding a "Commercial B" license from the Air Ministry.Шаблон:Sfn
She was a member of the Women's Engineering Society and first worked at De Havilland and several other companies as a mechanic before starting to fly for the Comper Aircraft Company.Шаблон:Sfn
Marriage and commercial activity
In 1933, she married William Frank Davison (1899–1949) who she met while flying him for his photography work for the Liverpool Dock Board. Frank bought Hooton Airfield in 1934 and founded Utility Airways Ltd. there in 1936, with both him and his wife as directors.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The pair divorced in 1939 and Frank would then go on to marry English pilot[4] and sailor Ann Davison.Шаблон:Sfn
That year, Davison worked for a company flying from Portsmouth to Cardiff.Шаблон:Sfn When World War II broke out, she started working for National Air Communications (NAC).Шаблон:Sfn She was listed as living with her sisters in Apple Tree Cottage in East Chaldon, Dorset in 1939 when the 1939 Register was taken.[1]
When she learned about the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), she wrote to Pauline Gower to inquire about working there but turned a first offer down because the pay was too low.Шаблон:Sfn A second letter to Gower explained "Sorry old thing, but I fear the dough isn’t good enough, particularly considering one would be flying open cockpit stuff for a large majority of the time! Afraid I’m getting soft or old or something, but when I’ve got a job which pays about twice as well and where one earns one’s money in more or less comfort, the change offers no worthwhile attractions!".[5][2]
Air Transport Auxiliary service and death
After the expansion of the ATA and bored with her job at the NAC, Davison decided to join the women's section of the Air Transport Auxiliary on 1 July 1940.Шаблон:Sfn The ATA was tasked with transporting newly produced aircraft from the factories to their respective Royal Air Force bases.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn She went to Central Flying School in Upavon and was assigned an experienced instructor named Sergeant Francis L'Estrange.Шаблон:Sfn
Davison and L'Estrange took flight on 8 July 1940 in a Miles Master but on their return to base, the aircraft made a spiral dive and crashed into the ground to the shock of spectators who did not believe anything was wrong until the crash.Шаблон:Sfn Both Davison and L'Estrange died during this instruction flight, making Davison the country's first aviatrix to die during World War II.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Contemporary sources speculated that carbon monoxide had leaked into the cockpit and rendered both pilots unconscious prior to the crash but no official reason for the crash was ever given.Шаблон:Sfn
Joy Davison was cremated at Arnos Vale Cemetery, in Bristol and is commemorated in the Commonwealth War Graves section there.[6][7]
Notes
References
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