Barnato Walker, Diana

▪ 2009

      British pilot

born Jan. 15, 1918, London, Eng.

died April 28, 2008, Surrey, Eng.

as a prominent member of the Atagirls, the women's branch of the World War II Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), delivered some 250 Spitfires and other planes to Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons, often in poor weather or under enemy attack and without weapons or functioning instruments. She was born into a wealthy family, the daughter of Woolf Barnato (chairman of Bentley Motors and three-time winner of the Le Mans 24-hour automobile race) and the granddaughter of South African diamond baron Barney Barnato. She took private flying lessons for fun in the 1930s and in 1941 joined the ATA because women were not accepted as RAF pilots. In 1944 she married Spitfire pilot Derek Walker, but he was killed in a plane crash less than a year later. After the war Barnato Walker obtained a commercial pilot's license and worked with the Women's Junior Air Corps. On Aug. 26, 1963, she broke the sound barrier in a Lightning fighter jet, setting a world record for women of Mach 1.65 (2,031 km/hr; 1,262 mph). Barnato Walker was made MBE in 1965. Her autobiography, Spreading My Wings, was published in 1994.

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