| Nancy Stratford | |
| Birth: | 12 June 1919 Los Angeles, United States |
| Age: | 105 years, 224 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Centenarian | |
Nancy Jane Miller Livingston Stratford (born 12 June 1919) is an American centenarian and aviator. She flew warplanes in Great Britain during World War II and was later a pioneering helicopter pilot in Alaska.
Early life[]
She was born Nancy Jane Miller in Los Angeles, United States on 12 June 1919. At sixteen she flew for the first time when her brother took her on a sightseeing flight over Los Angeles. She was enchanted with flying and began studying aviation at Oakland Airport in 1939.
Career[]
In 1942 she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), ferrying warplanes around Great Britain for the Royal Air Force. She logged around 900 hours of flying and gained experience on about 50 different types of aircraft, claiming that her favorite was the Supermarine Spitfire.
Returning from the war, she had trouble finding employment in the traditionally male-dominated field. In 1947 she found work with a commercial service in Oregon where she flew, taught, and did bookkeeping. The same year she earned seaplane and helicopter certifications, becoming only the fourth woman in the world licensed to fly helicopters.
In 1960 she became the first woman helicopter operator in Alaska when she and her husband, Arlo Livingston, founded Livingston Copters near Juneau. Among her passengers was mountaineer Edmund Hillary, whom she flew to Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier in 1963. (The business still operates, as NorthStar Helicopters).
In 1970 she was forced to give up her pilot's license due to deafness.
Later life[]
In 1978 she and her husband sold the helicopter business and moved to Washington.
After Arlo Livingston died in 1986 she reconnected with a man to whom she'd been engaged during the war, Milton Stratford. The two married in 1992 and moved to San Diego. Milton died in 2008.
In 2013, encouraged by her niece Peg Miller, she published a memoir titled Contact! Britain!: A Woman Ferry Pilot's Story During WWII in England.
Upon the death of Jaye Edwards in August 2022, Stratford became the last surviving Attagirl, as the women pilots of the ATA were known.
Honors[]
In 2008 she was presented with an Air Transport Auxiliary Veterans Badge by British prime minister Gordon Brown.
In 2015 she was recognized as an Alaskan Aviation Legend by the Alaska Air Carriers Association.
References[]
Aviation heroes honoured by Prime Minister | Department for Transport | Official Press Release (wired-gov.net)
Pioneering aviatrix, 94, relishes memories - The San Diego Union-Tribune (sandiegouniontribune.com)
Juneau’s 1st woman helicopter pilot turns 100 | Juneau Empire