Ann Welch
Ann Courtenay Edmonds Welch OBE (born May 20, 1917 in London , United Kingdom , † December 5, 2002 ) was a British pilot , flight instructor and association official . For her promotion of air sports , she received the highest awards from the world air sports association Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
Life
Welch learned to fly with a motor at 17 , which she financed with her pocket money and by making drawings. For financial reasons, she later switched to gliding . She ran the re-establishment of the Surrey Gliding Club and became its chief flight instructor. In 1942 she flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II and transported machines from the factories to their operational bases. These included fighter planes such as the Spitfire and Hurricane, as well as twin-engined Blenheim and Wellington bombers . Shortly before the birth of her first daughter, she left the service.
Sports
Welch was team leader of the British Gliding Association national team from 1948 to 1968 . At the Gliding World Championships in Madrid in 1952 Welch came in ninth place as the best female pilot. She and Hanna Reitsch , who won the bronze medal in a two-seater, were among the first and few women to take part in a world championship. Welch completed her 300-kilometer flight for the Golden Glider Badge in 1959 . Two years later she flew a national women's record in Leszno as a supervisor of the British team with a destination flight over 500 kilometers .
In 1965 she organized the tenth World Gliding Championship in South Cerney .
In 1980 the FAI Air Sports Association awarded her the gold medal for her services to promoting young talent in gliding, hang- gliding , paragliding and ultralight flying .
Awards
- 1966 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
- 1953 Order of the British Empire (MBE)
- 1980 FAI gold medal
- 1973 FAI Lilienthal Medal
- 1989 Pelagia Majewska Medal (first award)
- 1969 FAI bronze medal
In honor of Welch, the Royal Aero Club (RAeC) has been presenting the Ann Welch Award for merits in pilot training since 2006 .
Web links
- The Daily Telegraph : Obituary (English)
- Photo by Ann Welch on Wikimedia Commons
- medalenaskrzydlach.pl: Ann Welch. (Polish)
Footnotes
- ↑ medalenaskrzydlach.pl: Madryt, Hiszpania 1952 - Szybowcowe Mistrzostwa-Świata. (Polish, accessed August 18, 2020)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Welch, Ann |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Welch, Ann Courtenay Edmonds (married name); Douglas, Ann Courtenay (married name); Edmonds, Ann Courtenay (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British pilot, flight instructor and association official |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London , UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 5, 2002 |