Jacky Bishop, personal information
RogerBW
Biography
- Jacqueline ‘Jacky’ Bishop
- born 1903; suffragist parents, earliest memory is of being at a votes-for-women march that turned into a riot; some family money; grew up riding.
- 1918 got pilot's licence just after Armistice Day.
- 1920s barnstorming and racing in the USA.
- August 1927 entered Dole Air Race (Oakland to Honolulu); disqualified as she didn't have a Department of Commerce licence
- Spring 1928 flying for Hell's Angels.
- August 1929 entered the first Women's Air Derby (Santa Monica to Cleveland); her usual plane was rejected because it was "too fast for a woman to fly" and she ended up with a borrowed Travel Air 5000. Which caught fire in mid-air.
- Spring 1930 flying for The Dawn Patrol.
- Barnstorming largely stopped by the early 1930s, and while air racing was still happening, women were gradually banned from many events.
- 1934 returned to the UK and made motor racing connections; when Bernard Rubin was unfit to fly G-ACSR in the MacRobertson Air Race she was happy to step in (with Ken Waller). Placed fourth.
- From then until the outbreak of war, she spent her time racing cars at Brooklands (favouring the Napier-Railton whenever she could pry it out of Cobb's hands) and "hydroplanes" (powerboats) on Lake Windermere.
- She's friendly with most of the female pilots of her generation and takes each death personally.
- She's not married, wears male attire, smokes a pipe, and tends to prefer female company. Some people make assumptions and she's quite happy to let them. Whatever she may get up to, she's very discreet.
Logbook
Early days
- Avro 504K
- Sopwith Triplane
- Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2
- Sopwith Camel
Barnstorming, racing and stunt flying in the US
- Niewport 28
- Travel Air 2000
- Travel Air 4000
- Travel Air 5000 (in the first Women's Air Derby)
- Standard J-1
- Waterman-Boeing C
- Travel Air 4U Speedwing
- Thomas-Morse S-4
- Curtiss JN-4
- Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A
- Fokker D.VIII
- Sikorsky S-29-A
- Buhl A-1 (autogyro)
- Granville Gee Bee Model E Sportster
MacRobertson Air Race
- DH-88 Comet (G-ACSR Lilith's Apple)
General flying in the UK
- de Havilland Tiger Moth
- DH-89 Dragon Rapide
ATA
Wartime flying