On Wednesday the 14th April we had the pleasure in welcoming 348 members to listen to Kirsty Murphy the world’s first, and only, female Red Arrows pilot.
Photos courtesy of Kirsty Murphy
She is as much at home in the air as on the ground following her almost 30-year connection with the aviation industry. Is wasn’t until 1991 that women were allowed to become Fast Jet Pilots. At 18 Kirsty was turned down as it was felt that she would not be able to cope in such a male dominated world. She studied Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College – the third most difficult college in the world to study the subject with just four women on the course. When Kirsty applied to be a pilot she found that her arms were 2mm too short for a fast jet pilot, however, by determination and lots of exercise she managed to lengthen her arms!
Born into a Royal Air Force family, she’d already decided her future path by 11, inspired by her father, a retired Tornado navigator. Leading both combat and commercial assignments she is used to intense, stressful and high-performance situations with her team. From flying Tornado operations in Iraq, instructing Hawk T1 pilots in their tactics, and being part of the ultimate Team, The Red Arrows. There are usually thirty applicants for three positions each year and each pilot moves position each year. There are just nine pilots in the team on a three year rotation basis. The further out in the formation the longer serving pilot you are. An interesting fact was that for seven years she wore Y Front long johns which were used for flame protection before the RAF provide a female version of the kit.
Overcoming the stress of her father’s capture as a Prisoner of War, having to retrace his steps later on a mission of her own, and witnessing the loss of friends in two fatal aircraft crashes, she has embraced cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
This was a fascinating evening as Kirsty will bring a refreshing perspective to the unprecedented challenges facing today’s organisations.
What did out members think? These are just a few that we received.
Kirsty Thank you for your wonderful talk and inspiration. I am married to an ex pilot – RAF and latterly civil aviation and I’m a nervous flyer. But here’s the rub, you’ve inspired me so much I’m thinking of exploring the experience of flying with your Blades experience. Thank you so much for sharing your flying times.
Kirsty you are such an inspiration to women young an old. Thank you for such a great talk and I hope you get round to as many state schools as possible to spread the word that there is very little that females aren’t capable of doing job wise.
Thank you Kirsty. You are a wonderful role model for today’s young women and girls. Hopefully you will inspire a lot more of them to follow in your footsteps in a male dominated world!!
What a brilliant talk, thank you so much Kirsty it bought back memories, of when I was a technical apprentice at Hawker Siddeley back in the late 70’s, not many women there at that time.
Thoroughly enjoyed listening to how your career panned out and wish you many more happy hours flying for the Blades. I too would have loved to have done your job, although totally unqualified! Thank you so much for being inspirational to us and to all the children you advise.
Gosh I now know I was born to soon I would have loved to be a pilot absolutely brilliant
I intended to leave at 8.15 to watch Manchester City in the Champions league but your talk was FAR too interesting so I stayed till the end. Thankyou so much.
If you missed the talk you may be interested in this interview:
