THE logbook of the last female British pilot killed in the Second World War has come to light 74 years later.
Brave Lesley Cairns Murray flew Spitfires, Hurricanes, Swordfish, Defiants and Seafires doing ferrying duties with the Air Training Auxiliary.
Murray lost her life aged 28 on April 20, 1945, when her Hudson V AM854 got out of control and plunged to the ground near Popes Field in Taplow, Berkshire.
Her passenger, air cadet Geoffrey Regan, 16, was also killed in the crash.
Murray was born in Edinburgh in 1917 and learned to fly under the Civil Air Guard scheme in 1939. She applied to the ATA in March 1941, finally being called up two years later in May 1943.
Her final training report in July 1944 read: “This pilot promises to become a ferry pilot of high order. She will be an asset to any pool she joins.”
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The ATA transported 309,000 aircraft from factories to airbases across Britain, flying unarmed and without a radio using only a map to guide them.
There were 164 female pilots, of which 17 were killed in service.
Richard Poad, chairman of the ATA Museum in Maidenhead, Berks, said: “Lesley Cairns Murray was the last female pilot of the ATA to be killed during war-time. The ATA is a forgotten story of courage, skill and sacrifice.”
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Murray’s logbook is being sold tomorrow by C&T Auctions, of Ashford, Kent, who expect it to fetch £1,200.
