Spitfire Pilot Carolyn Grace Dead At 70

Airshow performer and Spitfire pilot Carolyn Grace was killed in a car accident last week at the age of 70, her family confirmed on Wednesday. Grace is believed to have been the first woman to qualify to fly the Spitfire since the pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary in World War II. She was also the director of Northampton, England-based vintage aircraft maintenance and restoration company Air Leasing Ltd.

Grace learned to fly the Spitfire following the death of her husband, Nick, in 1988 in an effort to keep the aircraft he had restored in the air. She completed her first solo flight in ML407, now called the Grace Spitfire, in 1990. She went on to fly it in airshows and displays across the U.K. and Europe, logging more than 900 hours in the type. Grace retired from flying in 2017 and the Grace Spitfire is now flown by her son, Richard.