Diana Britten
British Aerobatic Champion 1995

Aged 50, married and living in Chobham, Surrey, Diana is the senior team member and already the top aerobatic pilot in the UK, having won the Neil Williams, Daily Telegraph trophy and UK National Championship in September 1995.

Diana learnt to fly in 1980, and entered her first aerobatic contest the following year, in a CAP10b in France, where she was placed best lady pilot. Over the following years she competed in almost every European contest she could get to, flying her own CAP10b, often between Germany, Holland, the UK and France in short succession. Her reward for this was a place in the 1986 British team, only 5 years after her first contest. By now flying a CAP21 she was the first British lady since 1970 to fly in world championship. She has earned her place in the British Team every year since, serving as Captain in 1988, 1991, 1992, and 1993.

She was Chairman of the sport's UK governing body, the British Aerobatic Association from 1989 to 1993 . She has been awarded the Brabazon Cup in 1986 & 1995 and the Jean Lennox Bird Trophy in 1988 by the British Women Pilots Association, Woman of the Year award in 1994 by the Federation Des Pilots Europeennes. After winning the ultimate UK Championship in 1995 in her Extra 260 aircraft, she was presented the 1996 Royal Aero Club Silver medal, by HRH The Duke of York.

Profile written in 1996

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