She Flew Fighter Planes in WWII. Now, at 106, She’s Finally Being Recognised

Photo Credits: The Guardian

Nancy Miller Stratford once found herself alone in the cockpit of a Spitfire fighter plane, slicing through thick, blinding clouds over the Scottish coast. A glimpse of daylight ahead gave her a false sense of hope before the clouds quickly closed in again. With no visibility and no formal instrument training, Stratford calmly relied on her cockpit controls to guide her to safety. It was 1944. She was 25. 

Today, Nancy Miller Stratford is 106 years old and the last surviving member of a remarkable group of female pilots who risked their lives during the Second World War. She recently celebrated her birthday at her home in Carlsbad, California, surrounded by friends, cupcakes, champagne, and a parade of therapy dogs. Wearing her favourite dog-themed pyjamas, Stratford smiled and accepted written birthday wishes from visitors, as she lost her hearing decades ago from the roar of aircraft engines. 

Stratford’s wartime contributions are being brought back into the spotlight with Spitfires, a new book by journalist Becky Aikman that documents the stories of the first American women to fly military aircraft. Though banned from combat by the U.S. military, these women joined Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary, a civilian group tasked with ferrying new, barely tested warplanes to airbases and returning damaged ones for repair. It was dangerous work. One in seven pilots didn’t survive. 

But for Stratford, it was never about glory or politics. “I just wanted to fly,” she said. “It wasn’t exactly the thing to do back then, so you had to be pretty certain about what you wanted.” She was. When her fiancé told her not to join the war effort, she broke off the engagement and joined anyway. 

Photo Credits: The Guardian

Born in Los Angeles in 1919, Stratford first flew at age 16 as a birthday gift. Her memoir recounts that first flight as mostly uneventful, until the landing went awry. While her brother panicked, Stratford was thrilled. 

That thrill turned into purpose during the war. After joining the ATA, she flew 103 different aircraft types, including Spitfires and Swordfish bombers, often with minimal training and under severe weather conditions. She once delivered a Spitfire to a Polish squadron days before D-Day. 

Back home in the U.S., her passion for flying didn’t fade, but opportunities did. Women pilots were often sabotaged by male counterparts: sugar in fuel tanks, slashed tyres, and worse. Many women died. When the war ended, Stratford returned to a cold aviation industry that refused to open doors. She flew crop-dusters in Oregon, one of the few flying jobs she could get. 

Yet again, she broke barriers, becoming the second woman in the U.S. to earn a commercial helicopter licence. She and her husband later ran a helicopter business in Alaska, flying adventurers to remote peaks and ferrying workers to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Today, her condo in Carlsbad is a quiet tribute to a life spent in the skies, lined with model aeroplanes, old photographs, and her cherished leather flying helmet. At 106, she remains a local legend in her retirement community. 

When asked the secret to her longevity, Stratford grins. “Depends on the day,” she says. Sometimes it’s moderation. Other times? “Chocolate and vodka tonics.” Looking back, she’s proud of what she and other women pilots accomplished. “We proved we could do it, and the men had to let us in eventually,” she said. But the fight isn’t over, women still make up just 5% of airline pilots in the U.S. and UK today. Her advice to the next generation of female aviators is simple: “Keep at it. Keep at it. Keep at it.”

Flying was, and remains, the great joy of her life. “I loved the flying, the freedom, doing what I liked to do,” she wrote in her memoir. “It was wild and woolly at times. I smile. I have absolutely no regrets.” Even now, her feelings haven’t changed. “I was just glad I could help,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I think my mother hoped I’d get married or something, but that wasn’t what I wanted.” 

At Brookfield Aviation, we continue to champion the legacy of pioneers like Nancy Miller Stratford by supporting the advancement of women in aviation across the globe.