She flew hazardous fighter planes for Britain during WW2. She just turned 106

Californian Nancy Miller Stratford’s fiance forbade her from going to join the war effort. But her dream was to fly – so she broke off the engagement and went anyway

Nancy Miller Stratford sat alone behind the controls of a Spitfire fighter plane, charting an uncertain course through an impenetrable clot of dark clouds.

On the horizon, the young pilot could see a promising patch of daylight, “like the devil waving his hand to come on through”. But just as suddenly as the sky opened up, the clouds closed in again.

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