Viscountess Nancy Astor was a formidable, aristocratic woman who held her own against all comers, including Winston Churchill. Hazel Jane Raines, a young American flyer from the state of Georgia, was invited by Lady Astor to spend Christmas during 1942 at the family mansion, Cliveden, on the River Thames. It had plenty of guest rooms.

For Hazel, it was something quite out of the ordinary. She was then 26-years old and a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), part of the contingent of female American pilots Jackie Cochrane had organized to travel to England. Their job was to work with their English counterparts and deliver military aircraft in support of the war effort.

Although she had both private pilot and commercial pilot ratings, Hazel had a long-standing heart condition and also had asthma. It was during a period of hospitalization towards the end of 1942 that Nancy Astor visited her and made the invitation. At Cliveden that Christmas Hazel learned that her host's interest was, at least in part, matchmaking - she had unmarried sons and the idea of a 'Southern Belle' in the family appealed to her; but Hazel made it clear that flying and support for the military effort was her interest, not husband hunting.

Below are the details for a flight simulation drawn from her log book, the original flight having being made on December 29, 1942 immediately after the visit to the Astor family. She delivered a Spitfire Mark IX with a Merlin 61 engine from the ATA headquarters in White Waltham (near London) to Hawarden Airport (near Liverpool), with a stop at RAF Mount Farm, then a photoreconnaissance base.

In March 1943 Hazel was delivering another Spitfire and had a complete loss of power. Failing to restart the engine, she crashed into the thatched roof of a barn in the village of Collingbourne Kingston (near Marlborough, Wiltshire). A warm, first-hand account of the incident by one of the local men who rescued her is given in the village history web site.

She miraculously escaped with a bad gash to her forehead and badly bruised legs.

Later that year, with the USA then in the war, she completed her ATA contract and returned home to serve with the fledgling WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) organisation. Like the ATA, the WASPs delivered aircraft across America, freeing up male pilots for combat-related duties. She also towed target tugs for weapons training.

Hazel had a varied and interesting flying career before, during and after WWII; she was a pioneer of women's aviation in Georgia, a pilot with both the ATA and the WASPs and later in 1950, while holding a reserve commission in the USAF, she was recalled to active duty with the Third Air Force during the Korean War in a desk-bound role.

Her story is told in letters home in the biographical work compiled by her niece, Regina Trice Hawkins, entitled Hazel Jane Raines, Pioneer Lady of Flight (ISBN 0-86554-532-4).

Hazel Raines died of a heart attack in 1956 while on assignment in London, England, age 40. She had logged over 6400 hours of air time as a pilot. In 1989 she was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame and in 1995 became a recipient of the Georgia Women of Achievement Award.

Allan Jones
allanj12@gmail.com

Allan Jones blogs on www.flightsim.com at the Aviation History & Flight Simulation category location. His ebook In a Moon's Course contains the story of the ATA and 28 of their World War II flights/plans for simulation. It is available at Amazon, Kobo, W.H. Smith, iTunes and other ebook online suppliers.

The Flight. More about ATA flying is given in previous articles on this site. It was VFR only; maximum altitude 5000 feet; no instrument flying, no radio. Navigation was largely by 'acquired knowledge' of the landscape (and railway lines) of Britain. The route I selected steers clear of industrial and city areas, where WWII barrage balloon arrays would present a hazard; learning about these arrays (and paths through them) was part of the familiarisation training for new pilots. The ATA Ferry Pilot Notes - the primary reference work for the pilots - state you should keep the maximum speed in the range 195-215 mph for the Merlin engines (which will require great restraint for a Spitfire!).

Waypoints: EGLM EGLJ MORTN LICWP EGNR

Departing EGLM White Waltham turn 315° for a short trip into EGLJ Chalgrove, located about 2 miles east of the former RAF Mount Farm (which was re-developed as the village of Berinsfield, south of Oxford). After take-off from Chalgrove, you will pass east of the college spires of Oxford then head north past Enstone Airfield roughly following the A44 main road to Morton-in-Marsh. Wolverhampton will appear on the right with its Halfpenny Green Airport close by and ahead will be the Shawbury Air Base. The final leg into Hawarden will show the River Dee Estuary as you descend into the active runway.

Hazel's log book shows a total time of 60 minutes for the trip.