Talk:Sheila Scott

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Untitled

April 27, 1922 is her birthdate as confirmed by the Oxford DNB after I found disagreement with the Britannica entry.

lots of issues | leave me a message 08:42, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I have corrected the birth back to 1922 as per the Oxford DNB and the GRO birth index. (is four years a record for a reply!) MilborneOne (talk) 19:46, 5 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Piper PA24 Comanche 400 N8515P

I am correcting the errors regarding Sheila Scott's use of this aircraft, but it wasn't helpful to find so many other sources on the internet copying the same misinformation.

This aircraft, the higher rated 400hp rocket-ship version of her 'normal' Comanche 260 , was actually the first aircraft she used to set records, back in 1965. The aircraft (N8515P) was Piper's European demonstrator, and Piper obviously saw value in allowing Sheila to showcase their aircraft.(¹) During this loan period Sheila named this aircraft 'Myth Sunpip' in recognition of her sponsors (The Sun newspaper, and Piper Aircraft).

FAI records will confirm the dates and aircraft type, and the aircraft registration N8515P is clearly visible in Associated-Press film dated 19 May 1965 'Sheila sets the speed' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOo0Sk0htKY)

It was almost exactly 12 months later (May 1966) when Sheila set another batch of records, this time in G-ATOY, a Comanche 260B which she eventually owned outright, but initially was either loaned, leased, or subject to hire-purchase - I don't have the exact financial details. CAA records only acknowledge full ownership wef 14/07/1970.

Likewise the precise ownership details for G-AYTO 'Mythree' are somewhat murky, with the aircraft being listed as only as 'chartered' by Sheila Scott Flying Enterprises Ltd, possibly another case of the Piper Aircraft Corporation loaning their aircraft to Sheila. The fact that shortly after her 1971 round-the-world trip it was returned to the Piper factory, only to be damaged beyond repair (with many others) when Piper's Lock Haven factory was flooded in 1972, adds weight to that idea (²). Otherwise Sheila would have surely received a substantial insurance payout, and possibly purchased a replacement aircraft. Instead, her flying career seemed to stall at that point.

Yes, some of the above is speculation and/or opinion, but CAA records definitely confirm that her full ownership of particular aircraft was a grey area. And N8515P was her first record setting aircraft, not one that she used 'later'.

BTW, as a young boy I bumped into Sheila, exiting G-ATOY at Kidlington circa 1971.

(¹) In 1963, Piper supported another female aviatrix, Betty Miller with her successful attempt to be the first female pilot to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean, during which she delivered a twin-engine Piper aircraft from Oakland, California, USA to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

(²) The ASN database lists 105 aircraft destroyed at Lock Haven on 23 Jun 1972, including 31 PA-23-250 Aztec E, but no mention of G-AYTO. The FAA register lists that airframe (c/n 27-4568) as owned by Philip K Chapman (NASA astronaut?), and exported to Canada two years later, but after that the trail goes cold. Either it was bulldozed into a large hole in the ground, or parts salvaged from it for use in Canada. WendlingCrusader (talk) 19:45, 13 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]