8th March 2021 Feature
On International Women’s Day, Key.Aero explores the many women who have broken down barriers in aviation. Read on to find out which famous aviator’s couldn’t have succeeded without the help of their sister…
Beatrice ‘Tilly’ Shilling OBE (8 March 1909 – 18 November 1990)
On what would have been her birthday, there is no better place to start with our count of incredible aviation pioneers for International Women’s Day than with Beatrice Shilling. Educated at Manchester University, Shilling’s discipline was within the aeronautical engineering department. This had been her dream from the age of just 14, when she had bought herself a motorbike. Receiving her Bachelors degree in 1932, she stayed at the university to achieve her Master of Science degree in Mechanical engineering. In 1936, Shilling was employed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment based in Farnborough, Hampshire. Her first position was as a technical author wi