Life Story

Joan Hughes was born in West Ham, Essex, in 1918 to parents Lily

Amelia Lekeup Arthur Edward Hughes. The family had a braid

manufacturing business. She started training to fly (alongside her

brother) when she was just fifteen, as there were no age restrictions

at the time. By 17 had she become the youngest qualified female

pilot in Britain.

As an experienced aviator, Hughes was one of the first eight female

pilots accepted into the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and was the

youngest female pilot to join the service.

Initially, like all the other pilots, Joan flew Tiger Moths – there were

open to the elements and the winter that these ‘first eight’ started

fliying was extremely cold. There is some debate as to whether this

was to try and deter the women from flying. If it was, it did not work.

Initially the route was from Hatfield Aerodrome, Hertfordshire up to

Scotland. Joan soon had more than 600 hours' flying experience

ferrying all types of planes including heavy four-engined bombers

such as the Short Stirling. She became both a senior pilot and the

only female qualified to instruct on all types of military aircraft then

in service.

After the war, Joan continued to fly, working as an instructor. In the

1960s she served as a flying instructor with the Airways Aero

Association, first at White Waltham Airfield, and then at Booker

Airfield, from where she retired in 1985. was featured in "The Eagle

Special Investigator Meets Joan Mills in 'Special Investigator Flies

Solo” in the 1953 book Eagle Special Investigator.

Joan also had some involvement in films, where her small stature

and considerable experience made her an idea film pilot. In 1964,