Diana Barnato Walker

May 9 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

LIKE the Roman goddess she was named after, Diana Barnato Walker was beautiful and enjoyed the freedom of the heavens at the cockpit of her Spitfire.

But, in 1940s Britain, it wasn’t considered fitting for women to use their skills to fight, like her Roman namesake did, and as the feisty former debutante had once dreamed of doing.

“I think we would have been perfectly decent fighter pilots,” she said. “But it was assumed war was men’s business. We had a duty to back them up.”

Clad in her trademark Afghan shepherd’s leather jacket, she was the first woman to break the sound barrier and the first to fly a spitfire over the Channel and into occupied Europe.

She flew 260 Spitfires from factory to airfield during WWII and prided herself on landing every one without a scratch, whatever the weather.

Diana was born in London during a Zeppelin raid. Her father was wealthy Jewish financier Woolf “Babe” Barnato, one of the famous Bentley Boys who won the Le Mans 24-hour race three times from 1928 to 1930.

She came out as a debutante in 1936, but two years later, bored with leisure, signed up as an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot.

Despite a background of careless luxury, she quickly grew up, but still refused to fly unless she was well turned-out, always combing her hair and putting on make-up when she landed.

In 1942, she became engaged to Wing Commander Humphrey Gilbert. When she was forced to land at his base during foul weather, he removed her aircraft’s spark plugs and asked her to stay to dinner. Less than a month later, Gilbert was dead.

In 1944, she married Wing Commander Derek Walker. They flew together in a pair of Mk IX Spitfires on a honeymoon trip to Brussels – officially classed as reconnaissance. Walker died in a flying accident in 1945.

Later, she began a 30-year relationship with American-born racing driver and Hurricane pilot Whitney Straight, who went on to be chairman of British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC). A son, Barney Barnato, was born in 1947.

Her passion for flying remained undimmed and on August 26, 1963, Barnato Walker took an RAF Lightning jet XM996 from RAF Middleton St George, County Durham, to Mach 1.65.

She also worked for various charities and enjoyed hunting and farming.

Diana Barnato Walker, pilot and farmer; born January 15, 1918, died April 28, 2008.