Quick Facts
Biography
Sheila Scott OBE (27 April 1922 – 20 October 1988), was an English aviator.
Born Sheila Christine Hopkins in Worcester, Worcestershire, England in 1922, educated at the Alice Ottley School, she broke over 100 aviation records through her long distance flight endeavours, which included a 34,000-mile (55,000 km) "world and a half" flight in 1971. On this flight, she became the first person to fly over the North Pole in a small aircraft.
Early years
Born Sheila Christine Hopkins, she had a turbulent childhood in Worcester and did not do well at school, nearly being expelled several times. During World War II, she joined the services as a nurse in a naval hospital.
Flying
In 1943, she started a career as an actress as Sheila Scott, a name she maintained long after she stopped acting. She had a short marriage from 1945 to 1950 to Rupert Bellamy.
In 1958 she learned to fly going solo at Thruxton Aerodome after nine months of training. Her first aircraft was a Thruxton Jackaroo (converted Tiger Moth) G-APAM which she owned from 1959 to 1964. In April 1966 she bought her Piper Comanche 260B G-ATOY named Myth Too in which she set ninety world records. Her first solo round the world flight commenced at London Heathrow on 18 May 1966 and returned on 20 June 1966, having covered approximately 31,000 miles (49,890 kilometers) on 189 flying hours in 34 days. In 1969-70 she flew solo around the world in the same aircraft a second time. This aircraft was severely damaged in 1979 (after she sold it in 1971) and the remains are on display in the collection of the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, East Lothian, Scotland. She later used a borrowed Piper Comanche 400 N8515P to set more records.
On 20 November 1966, she appeared as a contestant on the American panel show What's My Line.
In 1971 she bought a twin-engined Piper Aztec 250 G-AYTO named Mythrein which she completed her third solo round the world flight in the same year. This aircraft was destroyed in a flood at the Piper factory in Lock Haven in 1974.
Affiliations
She was the founder, and the first governor, of the British branch of the Ninety Nines, an association for licensed women pilots, which had been created by Amelia Earhart. She was a member of the International Association of Licensed Women Pilots, and of the Whirly Girls, an association of women helicopter pilots.
Honours/Awards
She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1968. One of the teaching buildings at the University of Worcester is named after her.
She received the Brabazon of Tara Award in 1965, 1967, 1968. She received the Britannia Trophy of the Royal Aero Club of Britain in 1968. She received the Royal Aero Club's Gold Medal (1972).
Death
Before her death, Scott lived in a bedsit in Pimlico in poverty. She was diagnosed with cancer and died at age 66 at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, in 1988.