in her locker at Radcliffe and her notebooks kept a record of how
many cushions she required in every aircraft she flew.
She would sometimes let Geoff fly between take off and landing and
he recalls one such occasion in May 1945 when they were flying an
Oxford trainer and naval officer. “I would love to have seen his face
when immediately after getting airborne Joan turned to me and
said, “Right Geoff, take us home” and took out her knitting!”
After the war Joan returned home to live with her parents but wasn’t
going to go back to her life as a typist. Along with Margot Gore
(another ATA pilot) she was the first to join up with the WAAF
Volunteer Reserve in 1947. She married DA Russell in 1950. He
was the Managing Editor of the Aeromodeller, a magazine for model
aircraft enthusiasts, and she was later on the board. He shared her
love of all things flight related. Joan was involved in a cash at Eaton
Bray Model Sportsdrome in 1949, nearly dying when her Puss Moth
crash-landed and set on fire. Joan and her friend Mary Wood
managed to scramble to safety before the petrol tanks exploded.
Joan Nayler-Russell died in Golders Green, London in September
1983.