Jackie Moggridge (1922–2004) was a South African-born aviator who became one of the most prolific female ferry pilots of World War II and a post-war pioneer for women in commercial aviation.
Born Dolores Theresa Sorour in South Africa in 1922, she renamed herself “Jackie” after her hockey heroine, Jackie Rissik. Her obsession with flight began early; she took her first lesson at 15 and became the youngest woman in South Africa to earn a pilot’s license. At 17, she achieved another milestone as the first woman in South Africa to perform a parachute jump.
When World War II broke out, Jackie moved to England to join the war effort. After a brief stint as a radar operator, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in 1940. The “ATA girls” were a civilian group tasked with ferrying military aircraft from factories to front-line squadrons. She was one of the youngest and most prolific pilots in the ATA. She delivered more than 1,500 aircraft during the war, including 83 different types of planes (from heavy bombers like the Lancaster to agile fighters like the Spitfire).
Of all the aircraft she flew, she was most famous for her relationship with the Spitfire, delivering over 500 of them in her lifetime. She once described the Spitfire as a “lady’s aeroplane” – delicate, responsive, and a joy to fly. Ferrying was perilous; pilots flew without radios or ammunition, often in poor weather, navigating only by map and compass. Jackie herself had several narrow escapes and lost many friends during the “graveyard runs” of returning damaged aircraft.
Jackie’s determination didn’t end with the war. She continued to break barriers in a male-dominated industry. In 1953, she became one of only five women to be awarded full RAF wings, a significant achievement at a time when women were largely excluded from military flying roles. She famously campaigned to be the first woman to break the sound barrier, though the Air Ministry ultimately blocked her attempt due to the prejudices of the era.
In 1958, she applied to Channel Airways for a pilot position. By omitting her gender from the application and relying on her massive logbook of hours, she was hired and became the first female airline captain to fly passengers on scheduled flights in the UK.
Jackie Moggridge died in 2004 at the age of 81. In a final tribute to her life’s passion, her ashes were scattered from a Spitfire (ML407)—the very same aircraft she had delivered to a front-line squadron 60 years earlier during the war. Her memoir, originally titled Woman Pilot and later republished as Spitfire Girl: My Life in the Sky, remains a definitive account of the “Female Few.”
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