Jaye Edwards
Stella "Jaye" Edwards (12 October 1918 – 15 August 2022) was a British aviator.[1] Edwards, who was nicknamed "Jaye" and "Pete", flew Royal Air Force warplanes for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War II.
Early life[edit]
She was born Stella Joyce Petersen on 12 October 1918 at Beckenham, Kent.[1] The third of four daughters, with a younger brother, her father John Richard Sydney Petersen was an Australian trader and her mother Stella Courtenay (née Dawson) (1885-1951)[2] read Natural Sciences at Girton 1904-07, received a BA in 1907 from Trinity College Dublin (quasi ad eundem) and MA (Cantab)before becoming a science teacher before her marriage.[3]
Flying career[edit]
She became interested in flying having seen barnstormers and aerial circus acts. Watching her mother get on board a biplane and take off for Paris was a pivotal memory, and she was inspired by the exploits of the New Zealand aviator Jean Batten.[3] In 1939 she began flight lessons in a de Havilland Tiger Moth.[1] She gave her profession as "Flying Student" in the 1939 register.[4] Edwards was awarded her pilot's license after passing her test on 16 August 1939, flying a de Havilland DH 60 Moth at Romford Flying Club.[5] She recalled receiving her license in the post on 4 September of that year, the day after war was declared.[6]
In the first years of the war, there were no roles for women pilots, so Edwards worked as a nurse.[7] Early in 1943 Edwards saw a newspaper advertisement for women pilots to join the Air Transport Auxiliary and immediately applied.[7] She was appointed as a third officer and began ferrying single-engine aircraft. She was posted to No 7 Pool based at Sherburn-in-Elmet in Yorkshire, near a number of aircraft factories. During her service, Edwards flew twenty different types of aircraft, often with very little training and always solo.[6] She said that she disliked aerobatics and most enjoyed flying the Hawker Hurricane.[6]
Later life[edit]
After the war, Edwards gave up flying. Her ATA exit debrief stated she was a better pilot than she thought she was. She spent some time in the South Pacific and worked as a secretary in Singapore before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she married Bill Edwards and had a son. She became a teacher.[3]
When Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, approved the award of a commemorative badge to those who had served in the ATA, a badge was sent to Edwards for presentation in Vancouver. She returned to Britain in 2011 for an ATA commemorative event.[1]
Edwards died age 103 on 15 August 2022, in Vancouver. She was the last living British member of the Attagirls, as the women pilots of the ATA were known.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Stella 'Jaye' Edwards, wild-spirited female ATA pilot of the Second World War – obituary". The Telegraph. 23 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ "Personal Papers of Stella Courtenay Dawson - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
- ^ a b c Thorne, Stephen J. (5 December 2018). "Jaye Edwards: A woman pilot in wartime Britain". Legion. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ "1939 England and Wales Register for Stella Joyce Peterson". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
- ^ "Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910-1950". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
- ^ a b c d Richter, Brent (24 August 2022). "One of the last female pilots of the Second World War has died". North Shore News. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Jaye "Pete" Edwards". Faces of Freedom. Veterans Affairs Canada. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2022.