Yahoo Movies World's only female Spitfire pilot dies in car crash
The world's only female Spitfire pilot has died in a car crash, her family have announced.
Carolyn Grace pioneered the restoration of Second World War Spitfires in the 1980s with her late husband, Nick, from their home in Cornwall and went on to become the only female pilot of Spitfires.
When Nick died in a car crash in 1988, she learned to fly the historic Spitfire they restored together in memory of her husband and clocked up over 900 hours in the air over the next three decades, flying it at air shows and memorial events across Europe.
The Spitfire ML407, known as the "Grace Spitfire", is one of only a handful of working models to still exist and was the first to shoot down an enemy plane on D-Day in June 1944.
Carolyn, originally from Australia, died in a car crash in New South Wales on December 2, 34 years after her husband suffered the same fate, her family have confirmed.
The 70-year-old was driving her Suzuki car in Goulburn, about 120 miles south west of Sydney, when she collided with a silver Hilux.
She was airlifted to hospital but died of her injuries, while her 38-year-old son Richard, a passenger in the car at the time, survived the crash and was treated for minor injuries.
'Traumatic and unexpected'
Carolyn's daughter, Daisy Grace, said the family had been left "traumatised" by her unexpected death.
Daisy, who helped Carolyn run their Spitfire restoration business, Air Leasing Limited in Northamptonshire, with brother Richard, said: "It is with great sadness that we must announce that Carolyn Grace has been killed in a car accident on Friday.
"This is a traumatic, and unexpected, loss to all of us."
Carolyn's death has sparked tributes from hundreds of aviation enthusiasts and institutions describing her as an "inspirational woman" and a "legend of the sky".
Andy Saunders, a Battle of Britain historian, said: "With her husband Nick, Carolyn Grace was the first pioneers of Spitfire restoration in Britain.
"It is a tragic irony that she has died in a car crash, just as Nick had died in 1988.
"It is awful news. Her death is a huge loss to the world of historic aviation."
