IN PROFILE
Beatrice Shilling was born in March 1909 in the small Hamp-shire village of Waterlooville. She bought her first motorbike at the age of 14, and was obsessed with them throughout her life. Shilling trained as an engineer -something that was incredibly difficult for women to do at the time - and secured a job as a technical officer at the Royal Air Establishment at Farnborough in the 1930s. She was awarded an OBE in 1947 for her pioneering work on the engines of fighter planes in the Second World War.
When did you first hear about Beatrice Shilling?
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