Nancy Stratford | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nancy Jane Miller June 12, 1919 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | pilot |
| Employer | Air Transport Auxiliary |
Nancy Jane Miller Livingston Stratford (born June 12, 1919) is an American aviator. She transported warplanes as a pilot in the civilian Air Transport Auxiliary in Great Britain during World War II and was later a pioneering helicopter pilot in Alaska.
Nancy Jane Miller was born in Los Angeles, California on June 12, 1919. [1] [2] [3] She flew for the first time at 16 when her brother took her on a sightseeing flight over Los Angeles for her birthday. [4] [1] She was enchanted with flying and began studying aviation at Oakland Airport in 1939. [2] [3]
In 1942 she was engaged to be married, but wanted to join the civilian Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), ferrying warplanes around Great Britain to supply the Royal Air Force. [2] Her fiancé forbade her to go, so she broke off the engagement and went. [4] She logged around 900 hours of flying and gained experience on about 50 different types of aircraft, saying that her favorite was the Supermarine Spitfire. [1] [2]
Returning from the war, she had trouble finding employment in the traditionally male-dominated field. [1] In 1947, she found work with a commercial service in Oregon where she flew, taught, and did bookkeeping. [1] The same year she earned seaplane and helicopter certifications, becoming only the fourth woman in the world licensed to fly helicopters. [1]
In 1960, she became the first woman helicopter operator in Alaska when she and her husband, Arlo Livingston, founded Livingston Copters near Juneau. [2] Among her passengers was mountaineer Edmund Hillary, whom she flew to Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier in 1963. [2] The business still operates, as NorthStar Helicopters. [2]
In 1970, she was forced to give up her pilot's license due to deafness [2] attributed to prolonged exposure to loud engine noise. [4]
In 1978, she and her husband sold their helicopter business and moved to Washington. [2]
After Arlo Livingston died in 1986, Stratford reconnected with a man to whom she had been engaged during the war, Milton Stratford. The two married in 1992 and moved to San Diego. [2] Milton died in 2008. [1]
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. [1] [3]
Upon the death of Jaye Edwards in August 2022, Stratford became the last surviving Attagirl, as the women pilots of the ATA were known. [5] She celebrated her 106th birthday in 2025, saying that the real key to long life is "chocolate and vodka tonics". [4]
In 2008, she was presented with an Air Transport Auxiliary Veterans Badge by British prime minister Gordon Brown. [2] [6]
In 2015, she was recognized as an Alaskan Aviation Legend by the Alaska Air Carriers Association. [7]