Felicity Hill
{{Short description|British military personnel (1915–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Dame
| name = Felicity Hill
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|DBE}}
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| nickname =
| birth_name = Felicity Barbara Hill
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1915|12|12}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2019|1|30|1915|12|12}}
| death_place =
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = Women's Auxiliary Air Force
Royal Air Force
| serviceyears = 1939–1969
| serviceyears_label =
| rank = Air Commodore
| commands = Women's Royal Air Force
}}
Air Commodore Dame Felicity Barbara Hill, {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|DBE|size=100%|sep=,}} (12 December 1915 – 30 January 2019) was a British Royal Air Force officer. From 1966 to 1969, she served as Director of the Women's Royal Air Force.{{cite web|title=HILL, Air Cdre Dame Felicity (Barbara)|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U20146|website=Who's Who 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=5 October 2016|date=November 2015}}{{cite web|title=Air Commodore (Retd) Dame Felicity Hill DBE celebrates her 100th birthday|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/air-commodore-retd-dame-felicity-hill-dbe-celebrates-her-100th-birthday-15122015|website=raf.mod.uk|publisher=Royal Air Force|accessdate=5 October 2016|date=15 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730213703/https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/air-commodore-retd-dame-felicity-hill-dbe-celebrates-her-100th-birthday-15122015|archive-date=30 July 2017|url-status=dead}} She died in January 2019 at the age of 103.[http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/230953/hill Air Commodore Dame Felicity Barbara Hill, DBE death notice]
Military career
In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, Hill joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She had intended to join the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) but her application had taken too long to process, so she joined the WAAF alongside some friends. She was in fact too short to qualify for military service but the man measuring her added half an inch to her height to meet the minimum required. Describing the situation, she stated "I probably should never have got in". Her first posting as an aircraftwoman was as an equipment assistant at stores of RAF Farnborough where she issued "anything from pants to revolvers".{{cite web|title=Private Papers of Air Commodore Dame Felicity Hill OBE|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030004788|website=iwm.org.uk|publisher=Imperial War Museums|accessdate=7 October 2016}}
She failed her first officer selection board because she was too young. Having attended the WAAF's first NCO training course in June 1940, she was promoted to corporal. She then served as a new entrant instructor at RAF West Drayton, and then in Harrogate when the training school moved there due to the London Blitz.
Having passed the officer board on her second attempt, Hill attended the WAAF's Officer Training School in Bulstrode Park, Buckingham. On 18 December 1940, she was commissioned as an assistant section officer (equivalent in rank to a pilot officer).{{London Gazette|issue=35032|date=3 January 1941|page=70}} In 1941, she served at RAF Wyton where her duties included interviewing applicants to the WAAF; among those she interviewed was Sarah Churchill, a daughter of then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
From 1942 to 1943, she served at the WAAF Directorate. On 1 February 1942, she was promoted to (temporary) section officer (equivalent in rank to a flying officer).{{London Gazette |issue=35503 |date=27 March 1942|pages=1397–98}} Promoted to temporary flight officer (equivalent to flight lieutenant) on 1 January 1943,{{London Gazette|issue=35855|page=226|date=5 January 1943}} she was subsequently based in Scotland at RAF Kirkwell in 1943, and at RAF Turnhouse from 1943 to 1944. She served as commander of the WRAF Depot at RAF Grantham. In March 2023, she was one of a number of notable women with a connection to Grantham honoured by South Kesteven District Council.{{cite web |title=Council officially launches film celebrating 'Inspirational Women' from Grantham and South Kesteven on International Women's Day |url=https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/council-officially-launches-film-celebrating-inspirational-9302644/ |website=Grantham Journal |date=8 March 2023 |access-date=1 April 2023}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{NPG name | id= 128619 | name= Dame Felicity Barbara Hill }}
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before= Dame Jean Conan Doyle}}
{{s-ttl|title= Director of the Women's Royal Air Force |years= 1966 to 1969}}
{{s-aft|after= Philippa Marshall}}
{{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Felicity}}
Category:British women centenarians
Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Royal Air Force air commodores
Category:Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen