Freydis Leaf | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Freydis Mary Leaf 22 September 1920 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England |
| Died | 24 May 2014(2014-05-24) (aged 93) Benson, Oxfordshire, England |
| Known for | Pioneering pilot |
Freydis Sharland (néeLeaf; 22 September 1920 – 24 May 2014) was a pioneering womanpilot and one of the first women to getRAF wings.
Freydis Leaf was born inCambridge to Catherine (née Kay-Shuttleworth) andCharles Leaf. She was the middle child of three: she had two brothers, Derek and Robin. Her father was ameteorologist and amateurarchaeologist who served in both theFirst World War, as an Army officer,[1] and theSecond World War as an officer of the Royal Marines. He was anOlympic gold-medallist in sailing during the interwar period. Her maternal grandfather wasUghtred Kay-Shuttleworth ofGawthorpe Hall.
She was educated at Ancaster Gate school,Bexhill, East Sussex, thenWycombe Abbey school,Buckinghamshire.[2][3][4][5][6]
When her father and brother Derek started to learn to fly in 1937, Freydis insisted on the same opportunity: they all learned to fly at theMarshall flying school in Cambridge. When the war began, Leaf volunteered as a nurse in theRed Cross inColchester, Essex while trying to get into theAir Transport Auxiliary (ATA) for over a year. She went on to work with the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate.
In 1942, she joined the ATA, and began her career as a pilot. Starting with 26 hours and 10 minutes flying time, she was based inHamble, Hampshire. She also served in the Ferry Pools (FP) in Sherburn-in-Elmet in Yorkshire, Prestwick in Scotland andWhite Waltham, in Berkshire. As an ATA pilot, Leaf learned to fly a wide range of planes from theVickers Wellington and theLockheed Hudson to theDe Havilland Mosquito andSpitfire. By the end of the war she had 607 hours and 25 minutes flying time accumulated. Her brother, Lt. Derek Leaf, DSC & bar, RNVR, and BA.(Cantab.), was killed in action in 1944.[7][2][3][8][4][5][6][9]
The ATA was disbanded at the end of 1945 and Leaf then worked as a freelance commercial pilot, gaining her commercial licence in November 1946.
In 1953, as a commercial pilot, Leaf flew aHawker Tempest V on a 4,000-mile flight from the base in England to aPakistan Air Force base inKarachi.[2] When she arrived, after stops inNicosia,Baghdad andBahrain she was not allowed to use the Officers mess because she was a woman.[2]
In 1949 she was commissioned into theWomen's RAF Volunteer Reserve (WRAFVR), as a Pilot Officer; she later earned a promotion to Flying Officer. During her 5-year commission, she also became one of the first women to qualify as an RAF pilot.
In 1954 Leaf became theBritish Air-Racing Champion[2][3][4][5][6][9] and, in the following year, she founded theBritish Women Pilots' Association. She was also a leading figure in theWomen's Junior Air Corps and theGirls Venture Corps.[2][3][4][5][6]
Jean Bird,Benedetta Willis,Jackie Moggridge,Freydis Leaf andJoan Hughes were the first five women to qualify as pilots of the RAF. All qualified in the early 1950s, as officers of WRAFVR, and were awarded the standard 'Wings' of an RAF pilot. There was a gap of nearly four decades until the next woman,Julie Ann Gibson, a regular officer of the WRAF, qualified in 1991.[10][11]
On theEdinburgh Castle liner toSouth Africa with her mother to visit her brother, Leaf met Tim Sharland, a former British Army officer. They married shortly after, on New Year's Eve and worked both in Africa and Britain. They had three children, two daughters and a son. Freydis Sharland stopped flying for several years while her children were young but took it up again when her youngest was 17. After she retired from training young women pilots with the Girl's Venture Corps she began flyingmicrolights until the end of the 20th century.
She died 24 May 2014 inBenson, Oxfordshire age 93.[2][3][4][5]
On 18 May 2024, ablue plaque was revealed at her former home in Benson, Oxfordshire, unveiled by her children Angie and Charlie.[12][13][14]