Jackie Moggridge

Jackie Moggridge (1 March 1922 – 7 January 2004), also known as Jackie Sorour earlier in her career, was a pioneering pilot and the first woman airline captain of scheduled passenger services.[1][2]

Jackie Moggridge
Born
Dolores Theresa Sorour

1 March 1922
Pretoria, South Africa,
Died7 January 2004.
Known forfirst woman airline captain

Early life

Born Dolores Theresa Sorour in Pretoria, South Africa, she decided to call herself Jackie after her sports heroine Jackie Rissik. She learned to fly and got her ‘A’ flying licence, starting to fly aged just 15. By 17 she had become the first woman to do a parachute jump in South Africa. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1938 with the intention of getting her ‘B’ flying licence with the Aeronautical College, Witney, Oxford.

War-service

Like many women interested in flying for the war effort she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force until she could join the Air Transport Auxiliary. Initially she was based in Rye in a radar station. She was recruited to the ATA by the Women's Commandant, Pauline Gower in July 1940. Moggridge was the youngest of the female pilots at the time. She flew more than 1,500 aircraft and 83 different types.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Post-war

As for all the women she left flying when the ATA closed down. Moggridge then married an army Lieut. Colonel and engineer, Reginald Moggridge, in Taunton, Somerset in 1945 with whom she had two daughters. She was involved with the local amateur dramatics societies but still wanted to fly.

In 1949 she was commissioned into the Women's RAF Volunteer Reserve (WRAFVR), as a Pilot Officer. She qualified for her RAF wings in 1953. A result of her involvement in both dramatics and the reserve Moggridge was interviewed in 1950 by Richard Dimbleby for his radio show Down Your Way. Moggridge went on to gain her commercial pilot's licence in the 1950s as well. She worked ferrying Spitfires from Cypress to Rangoon, to the Indian Air Force and to Burma. After these jobs ended Moggridge looked for more flying opportunities. In 1957 LEC Refrigeration would fly demonstration versions of their fridges overseas for potential customers to view. Moggridge got the job of co-pilot and undertook the trip of 15,000 miles flying the fridges to South Africa. Next, Channel Airways was looking for a pilot for their operation based at Southend Airport. Moggridge applied but neglected to mention she was a woman. She got the interview and managed, using her impressive flying record, to get the job. Over time, she worked the Isle of Wight, Jersey and Guernsey routes.[3][4][9][5][6][7][8]

Awards and legacy

For her war-service, the recently married First Officer Moggridge was awarded the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, as well as the standard medals.[10] In addition, she was later awarded the Coronation medal: at the time, these medals were not a universal issue, so to have been selected for one of the limited allocation was itself a further recognition of merit.

She was awarded the Jean Lennox Bird Trophy by the British Women Pilots’ Association in 1959. She created the Jackie Moggridge Cup, which is awarded to a British woman pilot for achieving excellent qualifications. Moggridge wrote a book about her experiences, originally published in 1957 as "Woman pilot / 'Jackie' Moggridge". Now republished as ‘Spitfire Girl – My Life in the Sky’.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

First five

Jean Bird, Benedetta Willis, Jackie Moggridge, Freydis Leaf and Joan Hughes were the first five women to be awarded their wings. The next didn't gain wings until Julie Ann Gibson in 1991.[11][12][8]

References
  1. National Portrait Gallery 1953.
  2. Issuu 2012.
  3. solentaviatrix 2014.
  4. RAF Museum 2018.
  5. Imperial War Museums.
  6. Dickens 2017.
  7. BBC News 2014.
  8. South African Military History Society 1938.
  9. South African Military History Society 2007.
  10. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37412/supplement/338/data.pdf
  11. Patrick Sawer; Helena Horton (8 July 2018). "Women RAF pilots 'forgotten' in centenary celebrations, say relatives".
  12. "Celebrating 100 years of British women pilots". British Women Pilot's Association. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2017.

Sources
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