The forgotten WW2 pilot finally being remembered

Flight Captain Susan Slade joined the Air Transport Auxillary (ATA) in November 1940

The bravery of a "forgotten" female pilot is to be celebrated with a memorial close to where the plane she was flying crashed during World War Two.

Flight Captain Susan Slade was working in the Air Transport Auxillary (ATA) when her Vickers Wellington bomber crashed into a field on 14 July 1944, narrowly missing the Gloucestershire village of Great Rissington.

Her body was found in the wreckage.

RAF Air Cadet Sgt Bailea Harrison, from 136 (Chipping Norton) Squadron, said she had been "heartbroken" when she discovered no mention of the pilot alongside the names of male counterparts at the church in Little Rissington.

Supported by the Royal British Legion, Sgt Harrison has been crowdfunding for a permanent memorial, which is due to be unveiled next summer.

She was flying a Vickers Wellington bomber when she died in a crash during World War Two

Sgt Harrison said: "Women were discriminated against heavily [in the 1940s]. I want to do something about that because it did upset me a lot to see no mention of her at all, anywhere."

Eleanor Isabella "Susan" Slade was born in Hong Kong in January 1904 and moved to Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, as a teenager.

For more than a decade she worked at a flying club at Heston Aerodrome in west London where she clocked up over 500 flying hours across multiple aircraft and went on to win the first all-ladies flying race at Sywell in September 1931.

Susan joined the ATA in November 1940 and was one of more than 160 female pilots.

The ATA, which had its headquarters at White Waltham in Berkshire, was created at the start of World War Two to ferry new, damaged and repaired aircraft between factories and airfields.

Flight Captain Slade was an experienced pilot, having worked at Heston Aerodrome for more than a decade before she joined the ATA in 1940

In her three years at the ATA, she flew more than 30 different types of aircraft, including Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Catherine Beale, a historical researcher and the wife of Susan's great-nephew, said the instruments on different aircraft would do the same things but might be in different places.

"You literally had the notebook open on your lap as you taxied down the runway which must have been quite hair-raising," she said.

"In the early days there was no cockpit and you were not allowed to carry a map so you literally had to be able to navigate your way round the country using railway lines and your knowledge of where there were rivers and cities."

On 13 July 1944, Susan was instructed to fly a newly repaired Wellington bomber from RAF Little Rissington to a training unit.

But the aircraft veered to the right and crashed into a field immediately after take-off.

Air Cadet Sgt Bailea Harrison said she felt compelled to set up a memorial for Susan Slade after reading about her life as part a research project

One witness report suggested that when the pilot was about to crash she had deliberately made an effort to avoid hitting Great Rissington, narrowly averting disaster.

Sgt Harrison said: "Whether it was her intention to veer away from the village or not, she was still very very brave for doing that because she was flying through a war and so it would have been very difficult and terrifying - but she still did it anyway and she still wanted to fly that plane."

Susan was one of 15 women who lost their lives in service with the ATA.

Sgt Harrison researched Susan's life as part of a Commonwealth war graves project in 2020.

'Susan would be thrilled'

She tracked down Susan's living relatives and last year gained support from the Royal British Legion to install a memorial close to the crash site.

So far, a crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly half the £2,500 needed.

It is hoped the commemorative plaque will be unveiled in Upper Rissington in July.

Mrs Beale said she and her husband were "delighted" when Sgt Harrison had contacted them about the plans.

"It's really great that [Susan's] inspired a much younger person with an interest obviously in flying. I think Susan would be thrilled," she said.