Ever wonder about extremely niche aviation stories? No worries, we got you. This week Theresa shares the tale of Franz Reichelt, the “Flying Tailor.” This man dreams of creating a parachute and believes his invention would work if he could only jump from a higher surface, so he tests his prototype from the Eiffel Tower. He leaves a six-inch crater as his legacy.
Angie surprises Theresa by telling her about The Flying Nightingales, the nurses during WWII who flew injured troops across the channel. Their bravery saved many troops.
This episode pairs well with:
WWII –George “Skeeter” Vaughan and the Moccasin Rangers
Founder of the American Red Cross – Clara Barton
Transcript:
Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast. The podcast where two compulsive nerds are going to read history memes, watch documentaries, and then stop to go, wait a minute, wait a minute, what was that? Go back one.
And then we’re going to compulsively study the one bizarre and main fragment of information that was given sloppily. I’m host number one. I am Teresa and that is I’m Angie. And you’ve made it.
We’ve made it. The podcast is over two years old. This is like last episode was technically our third birthday. That’s wild. 52 weeks in a year. 52 times two is 104. This is episode 105.
Angie: Listen, it’s too early for math. We’re history nerds.
Theresa: There, you know what? Chapter one, Oh, any. Thank you. But yeah, I you very kindly ish told me that I am going because you went so low last time. So I suppose I will let her go.
Angie: I kindly told her that you guys. Whatever.
Theresa: OK, I’m going to tell you the story of friends, right? Sheld.
Angie: OK, I can’t say this name rings a bell. At present, it doesn’t ring a bell. I’m excited. Hit me with something. I don’t know. Excellent.
Theresa: My sources, all that’s interesting, the story of friends, right? Sheld. I’m not reading you the title by Gabe. Howletti, Alice, the sad tale of the flying tailor by Eric Grundhäuser. Here you. No, please don’t tell me the title. The last title I won’t tell you is Danny Dutch, Franz Reichelt. Title obscured.
Angie: I love that you have an out of the cure article in there. I love that was scary.
Theresa: Well, I couldn’t get the park service to weigh in because this doesn’t happen in the US. I look.
Angie: Dang it. We couldn’t couldn’t couldn’t get that one this time. No.
Theresa: OK, so I’m taking us to Austria 1878. And that’s where young Reichelt is born. He doesn’t stay there long. He moves to Paris in 1898. So he’s. You know, 19 at the time.
Angie: He’s a tailor by my friend born in 1888.
Theresa: No, 1878.
Theresa: And then. Oh, OK.
Theresa: So just shy of 20 years later, he moves to Paris. But I love that you you’re here to help me because me reading numbers out loud is Russian roulette.
Angie: Me hearing them quietly is also. You know, whatever.
Theresa: You’re you are the Han Solo to my chewy. I should say. I have an attitude. Here we go. Yep. He’s a tailor by trade. He’s he’s open to successful dressmaking business in the center of the city that catered to Austrians visiting Paris, which seems extremely niche. Little bit. You know, this is like you saying in a previous thing that there was an entire tweed emporium. See, that was an Italy. It just seemed like that’s a lot of tweed.
It’s important, but apparently there’s enough Austrians visiting Paris looking for dresses in the city center to make this a viable business. OK, literature is now by the early 20th century. He starts with this dream. He’s going to he really wants to build a more quote, utilitarian garment.
Angie: A quote, utilitarian garment.
Theresa: OK, now we’ve done several stories from roughly around this time frame where aviation is expanding rapid. Well, I mean, it’s getting close to because you think about the first flight was like what 1903, the rights brothers. Yeah, that feels right. So but aviation, that’s that’s what everyone’s looking.
They’re keeping their eye at the sky and things are expanding at a steady clip around the around this time. Oh, yeah, it’s in my notes. Right, brothers famous for flight 1903.
So that’s why that that that year was in my brain. Amid all of that adventurous experimentation, we’ve got several accidents. Oh, Jeremy’s glider king in 1896.
We have the case of Thomas Shelfridge, the first person to die in a powered plane crash in 1908. And right now he’s he’s kind of a man with a plan. He wants to do something about this. He wants to improve the safety of these early aviators. And he’s got a vision. Or he’s going to ask us why wouldn’t you a parachute suit?
Theresa: OK, OK, you know where I’m going with it. OK, I don’t know the whole story, though, so I’m excited.
Theresa: All right, like all parachutes, his idea relies on increasing the surface area of a falling person in an attempt to slow their descent kind of like a sugar glider. You know, the creature with the sugar glider. The fly.
Yeah, yeah, like, yeah. OK, but instead of being attached to an overhead canopy, his parachute would be integrated into the flight suit itself. So his original design uses six square meters or 65 feet of material and weighed 150 pounds.
Well, that seems like a lot. Yeah, I mean, if you thought it was going to be difficult to wear a suit of armor around and do your business. This is we’ve listened.
Angie: Tick Hock has showed us time and time again that you can wear your suit of armor and dance.
Theresa: Yeah, but this I’m assuming that this is going to be heavier than a suit of armor. I can’t say that I’ve measured or I’ve weighed one out recently. Not for research purposes. No, I haven’t. He’s talking to me about, you know, being an appropriate like being an adult. That’s a good example for the child.
And that’s lame. Yeah. Oh, I’ll have a talk with him. But to be fair, I don’t have enough money to buy the suit of armor twice. So I don’t necessarily afford it, you know.
Angie: Not the idol rich. Nope.
Theresa: Now, Reichelt’s hoping that his potential suit is going to be lightweight and it’s not going to hinder the wearer’s movement. OK, OK, he doesn’t like the shaggy version of the daredevil wingsuits we have today. And he’s like, OK, look, what if we just have a couple extra panels and flaps that’ll deploy as the person’s in a free fall? That’s not terrifying even a little bit. I kind of like the idea.
Angie: I mean, I’ve been skydiving, but have you really? Yeah, it’s a blast. I recommend it. OK.
Theresa: I’ll think about that, especially as I continue this, because it’s around the summer of 1910. He starts experimenting with the parachute suit. He’s got some early success with a wing suit that supposedly carried a dummy from the fifth floor to the ground with a gentle landing. I’ve got questions because that means he’s flinging bodies. Out of his fifth floor balcony.
Angie: Well, I am imagining them to be like stuffed cotton with like stuffed with the weight of a human like.
Theresa: Either way, imagine being on the first floor and just, you know, let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies in the floor.
Angie: Imagine being that one nosy neighbor peeking out your window. Oh, Darryl, he’s at it again.
Theresa: Pierre, I told you we needed to move sweetheart.
Angie: See, he’s you remember, I was walking by.
Theresa: The brands is a nut job. I’ve been telling you he’s bringing down. This is why we need an HOA.
Angie: This is why HOA exists.
Theresa: Yeah, pretty much because the first one that he says had the gentle landing was not the first one thrown. You know what I mean? You don’t get that right. You’re right up your gate. Yeah, I don’t think so. Now, subsequent suit designs failed to prove his concept of the concept as more dummies are thrown from the roof of his dress shop and crashed down in the courtyard that would have been a fatal drop if it had been a real person.
Of course, Jesus. So do you have like 50 dummies up there or are you hooping at five floors every time you want to make him? Well, just got to sell another one. There’s just this pile of your interns. Like, well, that was really only a two-story drop because we’ve got three 30 feet of bodies.
Angie: Oh, my gosh, I’m just thinking of the poor intern now. Yep.
Theresa: Now, OK, this is all happening. According to a story in the French Daily Newspaper, Les Matins, published in 1912, Reichelt even presents his idea to the country’s leading aviation organization of the day, Étre-Clob de France. Not at all how it’s pronounced.
They found the construction of the canopy two week. And when you roughly look at like translate the article, not when I roughly translate the article because my French, I can even say croissant, you know, question. You sure?
Angie: I was just quoting Jimmy Neutron. Oh, you’re better than I am then. I love a good question.
Theresa: The club tells him the surface of your device is too weak. You will break your neck. So despite this scathing rebuke, he persists and he can do as you do more numerous experimental drops with dummies from the courtyard of his building.
Unfortunately, none of these tests prove successful. Except for the one. The one that he talks about, right? But it doesn’t seem that anybody else saw it. So did it actually happen? You know, here’s the thing.
We don’t know. So what’s got him so excited about this is that a year ago in 1911, the stakes had been raised when Colonel Lalance offered a prize of 10,000 francs for a safety parachute for aviators. That’s double the prize the year before.
Angie: So there were on a mission.
Theresa: Yeah, this utilitarian garment has some real money attached to it. The compensation or the competition requires that the parachute weighed no more than 55 kilograms. So he’s got a shave 95 pounds off. Rice felt refined his design, managing to reduce the weight while increasing the surface area of the material to 12 square meters or 130 feet. Okay. So this sounds promising. However, despite these improvements, his tests continue to fail with the dummies consistently falling heavily to the ground.
Angie: Now, is it because he’s testing them at so low a footage like we’re not tossing them out of 13,000 feet so the shoes don’t have an opportunity to properly function or that’s a great thought.
Theresa: That’s a great thought. Hope that thought because as he’s. Yeeting these out of his Parisian apartment and they’re plummeting straight into you, Prague. He’s he’s like you and thinking the problem’s not me. The problem’s not my invention. It’s I just need a greater height.
Angie: I mean, that’s what I would think because three stories is technically only like 30 feet. So what if you’re not giving it the time necessary to operate?
Theresa: So he decides he’s going to do something a little maybe unconventional given this thought process. He straps one on himself and takes the plunge. Of course you do.
Angie: Why would you? He breaks his leg. Of course you do.
Theresa: Because why wouldn’t you? I mean, he’s he’s undeterred. He’s like, look, the suit didn’t have enough time to make contact with the air. If I had had. 150 meters instead of 25. The results would be wonderful. And I’m going to prove it. After my leg heals. Yeah, he’s got time. He’s got he’s he’s got a built in six week time clock on this to keep track of it.
Angie: He’s older. So six to eight weeks because he’s not 10 anymore. I don’t like this for us.
Theresa: You can stop now. Sorry. So he proceeds that he’s going to, you know, he’s going to plan this out. He’s going to nail this. And so he needs to test his invention from the Eiffel Tower. As you do. And it takes a full year of lobbying the Parisian police to let him do it.
Angie: Honestly, I was going, I was thinking in my mind that it wasn’t going to take any time at all because things like this hadn’t happened yet. So why would you have to lobby for it?
Theresa: I mean, look, there have been some checks and balances even back in the early 1900s. I’m here for it. Good for them. So right. He announces to the OSHA’s in the US.
I don’t find the Parisians have their own deal. Just, you know, the precursor to OSHA. You know, you say that. And all I hear is the sound tick not come with me and you’ll be in a world of OSHA violation.
See, go OSHA. So February 1912, he tells the press that he’s received permission to conduct an experiment for the Eiffel Tower. And this dramatic move aims at proving his worth and the worth of his inventions. In his own words, he declares, I want to try the experiment myself and without trickery as I intend to prove the worth of my invention.
Angie: OK. So everybody watch, bring your cameras. Yep.
Theresa: February 4th, it’s a Sunday, 7 a.m. He summons his friends, journalists, cameramen to watch him triumphantly leap from the Eiffel Tower’s first platform. Right. He’ll he arrives at the Eiffel Tower by car. He’s accompanied by two friends wearing his parachute suit. He appeared determined to proceed with the jump.
Angie: OK. He tells was there reason to not. Well, stand by. OK.
Theresa: My new invention is like nothing else. He tells Le Petit Journal. It’s constructed basically half in a waterproof fabric, half in silk. And thanks to a system of rods and belts that one can control, the parachute deploys during the fall and will save the pilot’s life. A witness during this demonstration attempts to distrae or dissuade Reichelt, arguing that the parachute needs more time to open fully than the brief drop from the first platform.
Angie: And me and that guy are on the same boat.
Theresa: You know, it’s when in doubt, right? He’s remaining absolute about doing this. He’s responding defiantly, saying you’re going to see how my 72 kilos and parachute will give your arguments the most derisive or decisive of denials. OK. Did I mention February? It’s cold. February 4th. Yeah. Yeah. It’s below freezing and a sticky wind is blowing.
Theresa: Yeah.
Theresa: Some police officers were present to maintain order as the parents police prefecture had granted him permission to conduct the experiment. Now, aside from the one jump where he broke his leg, he’s only used dummies. Right. So from the moment he arrives at the tower, he makes it clear that he intends to jump himself. And this decision surprises his closest friends. They apparently were unaware of this plan.
They desperately. Try to get him to use a dummy again. And they suggested that he’d have opportunity and tried later. Make the jump yourself. But the arguments fail and then they point the wrong wind. Another reason is to lay the test.
Angie: Because it’s freezing outside and windy.
Theresa: Yeah. Yeah. He’s unwavering. He is absolutely convinced the parachute is going to work. And he’s speaking to journalists from La Petite Journal and he expresses the confidence that it’s going to work.
And he’s taken additional safety precautions such as using a safety rope. Oh, that’s good. That’s good. I’m terrified. They did this for a while because he got there at seven.
It’s 822 a.m. Oh, and we’re still trying to talk him out. He’s observed by around 30 journalists and curious onlookers. Reichelt stood on a stool placed on a restaurant table next to the interior guardrail of the tower’s first deck. He is roughly 187 feet above the ground. Okay. You’re not high enough.
You know, high enough or low enough, but dramatically often in each direction. It’s wrong. Either way. You know what?
Yes. So he adjusts his apparatus. He’s checking the wind direction. I don’t know why you need to check. I’m pretty sure a staunch wind is a staunch one is a staunch one. It’s fairly easy to see that it’s coming directly to your face.
Yeah. He hesitates for about 40 seconds before leaping outward. Tragically, the parachute, which appeared only half open folded around him almost immediately and he fell for a few seconds before striking the frozen soil at the foot of the tower. Oh, so where was that rope at? Yeah. The ropes never mentioned again.
So I don’t know. La Petite Prugia reported that rice, rice shell to the bright leg and armor crushed his skull and spine were broken. He was bleeding from his mouth, nose and ears.
He was already dead by the time onlookers reached his body. Small mercies. The next day, a number of French newspapers reported on the grim event, describing the gut sinking moment when onlookers knew something was wrong as the mangled mess of brown cloth and broken bones were left in the aftermath. Oh, that’s a nice, beautifully descriptive. Yeah. Um, 1912 article on popular mechanics said, quote, rice shell drop like a stone.
Angie: Thanks, popular mechanics for just being so pragmatic.
Theresa: Just think they pay by the letter.
Angie: I’ll like a stone. Okay.
Theresa: Footage of the event included the removal of his body and the measurement of the six inch deep crater left by his impact. That’s gnarly. Yeah.
Angie: Oh, I gotta go take a nice bath now.
Theresa: Yeah. Doesn’t that make your knees ache?
Angie: And my back aches and my hips.
Theresa: Hmm. Louis LePine of the Reflective Police, clarified that while permission had been given, it would been under the assumption he was going to use dummies in the experiment and under no circumstances what they have allowed him to jump himself had they known his intentions. So the police. I mean, Yeah.
Angie: Didn’t do a great job convincing him that he, his permit didn’t state him.
Theresa: Well, and I don’t think maybe the police fully understood. They were like, you know what? I don’t feel like getting yelled at today. It’s a Sunday. It’s cold.
Angie: Jumping. Let’s go. I don’t have the paperwork for this. Like, right. Yeah. Jumping. Let’s go home. I like that. Can you please just get this over with my wife’s got a stew on. Yeah.
Theresa: Yeah. Now. Agreed. The, the most tragic aspect of his death is that it might have been in vain because the Taylor went on to save pilots with his invention or one, sorry, the Taylor wanted to save pilots with his invention. But in Russia, an adventure or an inventor named.
Leib Kultovnikov had already invented the knapsack parachute in 1911. Oh, that’s unfortunate. So today, Reichelt’s not remembered for his invention, which he designed with the most earnest of aspirations. He’s more remembered for his hubris.
Angie: Well, I mean, he could have Googled. Is anybody else doing this? Yeah. He could have, he could have looked around and seen what was going on like Google existed in 1910, but, um, you know,
Theresa: honestly, I kind of like an anachronistic Google.
Angie: You know, like he does a parachute already exist.
Theresa: Is it called? Yeah. Gone to Red and Gone. Am I the asshole?
Angie: Yeah. Because I just think.
Theresa: Do I really need to use a dummy? I mean, I’ve already got permission. It took a year to get permission once from the police. I don’t want to have to go through it again. So I can finally take the leap myself.
Angie: I bet you that’s exactly what it was to like, I’m not telling them it’s me just so I can do it. Like they told me no already 55 times.
Theresa: Yeah, like I’ve finally got my way. I don’t want to have to go through the paperwork.
Angie: And then someone had to go through paperwork anyway, because I imagine that was some paperwork.
Theresa: Yeah, you leave a six inch crater. There’s going to be some paperwork.
Angie: I wonder if there’s some sort of, um, like plaque or something near there, like. Fading what happened and why there’s a depression in the ground. I don’t know. Maybe it was just. Silently repaired. I’m going to go silently repaired. That feels very French.
Theresa: Yeah, that’s, that’s the story of brands. Right. Shelt the man who died jumping off the Eiffel Tower.
Angie: I’m so excited that I knew where you were going the minute you said Taylor.
Theresa: I had no idea about it until I kind of went on a excursion, if you will, when I rabbit hold researching the Wrights brothers and the first flight and then going, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, we were doing this before parachutes and then parachutes had been invented like the 1600s and that was weird. Like why did we need parachutes? We didn’t. That’s a great question. Yeah.
Angie: Um, I’m so, so looking forward to the upcoming stories. I’m so excited. Oh my goodness. Um. Are you ready for mine?
Theresa: Yes. Go for it. Lay it on me. What are we bringing?
Angie: Um, I am going to tell you about the flying nightingales. Are you familiar with them?
Theresa: We both have flight stories. We do.
Angie: I was trying so hard to contain myself when he said parachutes. So yeah, we both have flight stories. My first story… Were they trapeze artists? No. I mean, I’m going to tell you what they were called again and I’m going to let you think on it while I tell you my sources.
The Flying Nightingales. Okay. Okay. So there are a couple of articles from the BBC. One’s called The Flying Nightingales, Women Who Flew into World War II, Battle Celebrated. This is by Cheryl Dennis and Kariis Nally. The other article from the BBC is called Flying Nightingales Celebrated 80 Years After Their First Flight. That was written by Tim Stokes in May of 24th, just this year.
The RAF Museum has a pretty… You mean last year because it was in 2025. Holy crap. I’m never going to use this. Thank you. Anyway, I’ll figure that out by June, I’m sure.
Maybe. There is a source called Making History. The creator did a really wonderful write-up, like a really good summary of the Flying Nightingales, but I think his actual passion is making like 16th scale models. So he builds the model and then gives you the history behind the model. So that’s kind of a cool source. And then there’s one more, but I can’t share it with you because while watching said documentary, I discovered like four more stories. So I’m not prepared to give that information up yet. I will gatekeep a little longer.
Theresa: I mean, you can and I promise I just won’t go to that one. I know my next several stories. Okay.
Angie: So then I’m going to tell you it is Amazon Prime has this delightful series called Hidden Villages. It’s starring the renowned actress Dane Penelope Keith. She travels through Britain’s villages. So you think it’s the Cotswolds. Did you know that Britain has the Cotswolds are 800 square miles?
Theresa: No. I just assumed some tiny little hostage stamp size.
Angie: Yeah, that’s what they are, but they just, there’s so many of them and they spread across the center of the country and well spread all over the country really. But so anyway, she goes on this expedition to discover all of the UK’s charming villages. And I was just absolutely delighted from the very beginning and I watched the entire series in one night.
So there’s that. And I’m going to tell you this story got my heart in all the right ways. We’ve done a lot of really amazing women that do these really amazing, really hard things, sort of like entering the boys club or breaking the glass ceiling or whatever. But these gals, they just sort of did what needed to be done in a really unique way for their time. So prior to June of 1944, the British had never sent women into a combat zone. Now we do know that there were nurses on the ground or rather in the tank landing crafts, they would be some of the first to step foot on the beach on D-Day. Right then and there, they would care for the men while the fighting continued around them. But I didn’t know, like just discovered that within a few days of this, they were actively flying women into combat zones to evacuate wounded and harmed troops.
That was like brand new information to me. Like for some reason in my brain, World War II and putting a woman in a plane only equated to them being pilots or test pilots. Like it never occurred to me that you would bring nurses in that way. So June 13, 1944, three ladies, their nurse orderlies by the name of Mira Roberts, Lydia Allford and Edna Burbeck would become the first of over 200 flying knighting gales. These women would risk life and limb to bring home 100,000 wounded men from mainland Europe. So, right, up to this point, like they don’t seem to really know what their assignment is going to be until the day before they leave. Making History says, quote, they attended a routine briefing on June the 12th, 1944. They had no idea they would be making history the following day. At the end of the briefing, the three were asked to remain behind and were told they were flying to France the next morning on an RAF number 233 Squadron Dakota MK 111, which was outbound to deliver supplies to the forces of Normandy and was to return with the wounded who would need their care.
So I can just imagine, like, you know, you sort of signed up for a job caring for soldiers and nursing them, but I think the shock would be like, oh, oh, we’re going in, like we’re going.
Theresa: Yeah, I told my mom we weren’t going to see conflict because these two reasons in my bra.
Angie: And ovaries, right? Yeah. So these ladies would go through some pretty rigorous training at one point Lydia Alford said quote, within weeks of applying to becoming part of the WAAF air ambulance staff, I was sent on an intensive air ambulance training course at RIS Heaton. This included instruction in the use of oxygen injections, learning how to deal with certain type of injuries such as broken bones, burn and claustomies, and how to cope with the effects of air travel and altitude.
Theresa: Wait, a colostomy is an injury?
Angie: I’m assuming like we’re learning how to. That makes more sense.
Theresa: Right. Otherwise I had questions about how we were delivering the colostomy.
Angie: Yeah. Yeah. She says there was a brush up course once they got to their post at RFA Black Hill Farm, Neil Crickland. This would include quote, Dean drill in the swimming pool at Bath and several hours of flying experience, often on gliders. She goes on to say that these are pretty terrifying as they were carried out with the cargo door removed when the glider was released, the whole plane juttered.
During the 10 days of waiting, we were put through a time, a tough time routine as physical training and helped with building roads on the newly built airfield. So they’re not just sitting there knitting. They’re like in it to win it, if you will. Not only that, but we’re also dealing with men. And sometimes men can be superstitious. Mira Roberts said quote, the pilot of the Dakota in which I did my flight training was Scottish warrant officer, Jock McCannell. After the first few trips, I had the feeling he didn’t want me there. And eventually I asked why he said it was nothing personal that he’d come from a fishing family and fishermen would never put out to see the woman aboard as it was bad luck. During that first week in June, us women were grounded while all the planes took part in the landings. Jocks was one of the few that didn’t return and I thought of the women in the boat.
Oh, silly men. The morning of their first mission, the three ladies got to eat breakfast with the air crew, but later they were not always included in this because the nightingales were not classified as air crew. I would also like to point out that because they were not considered an active duty air crew, they were initially not paid the normal compensation.
Oh, of course. Yeah, that would be righted and they would eventually receive their active duty pay. So I think that got resolved fairly quickly, but it still took a long time to, like in the day-to-day logistics, accept women on board, which is so stupid to me. But anyway, another logistics thing to point out here, their planes are supply planes and they carry munitions and as such cannot have the Red Cross displayed on them. So these planes are legitimate targets for the Luftwaffe.
Oh, yeah. These gals are really being dropped into combat with a giant target on their backs. When they landed in France, the first thing that lady had noticed was the dust.
It was everywhere. She begins to make the wounded men as comfortable as possible, regardless of this, and serves them water and a bit of tea. And honestly, if that’s not the most British thing to ever British.
Theresa: You know, yeah. You said if that’s not the most British thing in a couple of episodes, but I think we’ve just outbrewished everything. Right?
Angie: Like seriously? I love you people. She remembers though that quote, there was a little stray dog which had come up from somewhere or other and started to play with the wounded and it cheered them up to no end.
I just thought that was so sweet. Once all the supplies were unloaded, so the munitions and the other supplies they had brought in, the wounded would then take the place of the supplies. Eventually their plane could hold 18 to 21 stretchers and then many additional wounded that could walk would be on board. So I think it was upward of like 24 or 25 wounded who were capable of walking, but were still wounded, could also board with the stretchers. The nightingales would see really disturbing things like really traumatic amputations and burns, but the girls just soldiered on.
When they returned to Blake Hill Farm, the nightingales were given a greeting from the press from the UK, the US and Canada. So there are actually some really great photos. And as a side, I like, this is one of those things that makes World War II special, if that’s like a way that you can describe World War II, because even though we have photography from like the Civil War on, World War II is the first time like we as civilians get an actual visual, like sort of understanding of how things actually are.
Because there’s a ton of photographic evidence and I just, that’s I think probably one of the reasons why it kind of stays in my heart like it does. But anyway, starting June 18 of 1944, there would be 11 Dakotas, that’s the type of plane they’re flying on, landing at the airstrip at Benny’s Somalia in Normandy. These 11 Dakotas would return to England with 183 casualties and then in just three more days they’d come back with 90 more.
By the end of June, there were 100, excuse me, there were 1092 stretcher cases and 467 city wounded that had been evacuated. Quote, by numbers 233, 271 and 48 squadron and they’re flying nightingales. So one of the sources says that each plane had one nurse and four crewmen. And to me, in my mind, when I was first learning about it, I thought that each plane would have several nurses. Yeah.
Theresa: So you have how many total injured people coming?
Angie: I mean, it could suit, initially it was 18 stretchers and 25 men, 24 standing or sitting, but then it becomes 21 stretchers and 24 sitting.
Theresa: So, I mean, it’s not a long flight, I’d imagine, from Normandy to Britain. Yeah, but that said, like, I still would want better odds in case, I don’t know, somebody bled out or needed something.
Angie: So they point out that while I didn’t find any like particular stories of anything like that happening, I’m sure it did, but they point out that the fact that they were able to fly their wounded instead of put them on train cars or anything else, saved countless lives because it could take up to three days or more for some of them to get to a field hospital that was equipped to handle their wounds. Whereas if you could fly them back to England, you could address their issues much more rapidly.
Gotcha. And I thought that was sort of an interesting, like, I hadn’t really thought of that before because a field hospital is a field hospital, but then wounds are wounds.
Theresa: Well, I mean, you look at even nowadays where you get in a massive car accident and have a heart attack and the paramedics get them, they’re like, actually, you need a cardiologist. Your car accident wounds are fairly superficial. The best cardiac hospital is a life light away. Right.
Angie: So there you have it, right? I have to tell the story from one of the nightingales. Her name is Elise Beers. She was 24 years old and she says, quote, the first flight was scary. Our plane got hit, but we managed to get everyone out. We saw all sorts of things. The soldiers would all ask for cups of tea. And I remember one man saying he wanted a drink, but he couldn’t because he didn’t have a mouth.
That part of his face had just disappeared and I can still see him now. But we didn’t think about the danger. We were young then and it didn’t seem like anything extraordinary. And that visual has just been, like, sitting with her for the last 80 years. Yeah. Yeah, right? Dang. Margaret Wilson also pointed out that even though there were parachutes on the plane, thanks to your friend.
Theresa: No thanks to him. He did not succeed. They were only available for the ride over. Once they were on the return trip, their duty was to their patients and as such, bailing out if there’s any trouble is not an option, even under enemy attack. That was the captain goes down with the ship as the nurse. Yep.
Angie: So once the leadership saw how well this was working, they put female nurses to fly with transports in every theater, including the Pacific. But the Pacific was considered a far more dangerous place for the ladies as captured by the Japanese was far worse than how they’d been captured by the Germans, which I find so interesting. I don’t know that anybody had, I don’t believe that anybody had been captured, but to, like my understanding, of both cultures, I wouldn’t have thought one would have been more dangerous than the other. I mean, it was.
Theresa: Now the Japanese did do some really atrocious for crimes. Really atrocious for crimes.
Angie: I think it could be said for both at this moment.
Theresa: Yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong. Their German counterparts were not exactly upstanding citizens themselves. Angels.
Angie: Yeah, but like I just, I find that, I find that to be interesting. But like I said, I don’t believe any of them were ever captured. Now of the 200 nightingales that flew only two died. Margaret Walsh and Margaret Campbell. Walsh was lost in an air accident. In fact, there is a story that I’ll just read to you.
I’ll just read to you. Margaret Walsh was killed in April 1945 when her Douglas Dakota KG 406 went down over the channel while on route to Brussels, killing all on board. Her body was never found. Margaret Wilson recalls, one day I came back from my flight into the hut and I saw that she was upset. She was due to go out and she had obviously seen something on the cards. I said, if you are worried, I’ll take your place on the plane. No problem.
I’m all dressed to go. But Margaret wouldn’t let me. I think the middle of the next day we were told the plane was lost over the channel. I can still see her face and I can still remember her. Oh, right? Like, oh goodness.
Theresa: She knew at first time and she’s like, no, I’m not letting you take my name off the census or not, not take my name off the census. Like, it’s my time. Yep. Cut my cord. I broke my dice. Right?
Angie: Now, Margaret Campbell went down with her crew on October 24, 1944 near Dunn-Kirk. She is buried in Calais at the Canadian War Cemetery with her crew. And that just got my heart like, oh, madam. The Nightingales would not be recognized for their efforts till 2008, at which point only seven remained and only five were healthy enough. The Duchess of Cornwall, who is now Queen Consort Camilla, was able to present them with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Air Vice Marshal Paul Evans, who is the director of the RAF Medical Service, says this is the Nightingales. The WAAF changed the perception of women in this country. They were pioneers of modern medical evacuations and begun the kind of evacuations we still use today in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Over 100,000 men were evacuated by the Air Ambulance after DAA. Wow. Right? So that’s the story of my flying Nightingales. And I do, in fact, have some photography for you, and I can’t not share it with you so quickly.
Theresa: Please, thank you, because I had pictures of our boy friends, Reinschild, and I did include them just because there were also photos of the thing. The lady.
Angie: So this is what their deco plans would look like. And as you can see, there is no giant red cross to indicate there’s medical staff on board.
Theresa: A big cargo plane.
Angie: Here’s them loading them in. So like I said earlier, the planes would land and then the supplies would be removed and then you got to move in the wounded soldiers. This individual, and unfortunately I didn’t put her name. I believe this might be Lydia. I mentioned her earlier.
She is actually writing down the medical transcripts for each of these gentlemen as they board the plane. Okay. And I just, I love that, like to get to see that.
Theresa: Yeah, the full on intake nurse. Right?
Angie: So here’s another situation that they found themselves in. This must, I think this must be what part of their training when they were doing the DNA training, because they’re all wearing these like… Right.
Theresa: Okay, so she’s, she’s telling me a black and white photo. Man in the foreground is in a folding wooden chair. He’s got a binder in his lap. A cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. Man looking over his shoulder, you know, looking at something written in the binder. Then there is a knight and gale standing behind him, you know, reading over his shoulder as well. And then there’s a couple other men and women.
Angie: Yeah, there’s at least seven women in this photograph. I think there’s also some film they must be watching right here because they’re all sort of looking off to the far left. This is, in the center is Lydia Alford. The other two were the first women I mentioned, Mira and Margaret, I believe. Let me go back up really quick just to get their names. Did it, did it, did it. Mira Roberts, Lydia Alford and Edna Burbeck. Okay, so the picture she showed,
Theresa: three women in front of a vehicle or in front of a plane. The middle one looks like she is the foremother of the actress who played Janeway.
Theresa: Oh my gosh, yes, yes, she is.
Theresa: Not yes, she is. Yes, she looks like, she’s likely not that actress’s mother. But these women just look proud of their service and they bear in all their gear. So it is, it is so not shapely.
Angie: But that’s, no, this is actually the photo that was taken the day they landed after their first mission. Wow.
Theresa: Okay, so that would explain the pride. They, they have to eat it.
Angie: And then I love this.
Theresa: Oh, now you’ve got them taking stuff off the plane. Three women in pants. I love that they’re in pants because I can only imagine that the tarmac was a windy place. Yeah. And I’m assuming off-boarding so that they can onboard.
Angie: Yeah, I think that’s probably, they have blankets and pillows. So I imagine they’re probably trying to prep the soldiers to onboard while the, just the supplies are being removed. Is what I would assume. That’s my story of the flying 90 gales. There was one that did actually receive accommodation before 2008. Her name was Nora Helen Speed. She completed 95 operations, 59 carrying casualties from RAF down at the end. She was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1946. Whoa. So that’s only two years and she had already completed 95.
Theresa: Dang, those are some Night Witch numbers.
Angie: Right, only the exact opposite. Well, I mean, I mean the Night Witches were removed from the battlefield also, I guess.
Theresa: They were, they were, they, you know, everybody was, every woman was doing their fair share.
Angie: Absolutely they were. I was just meaning opposite as in the Night Witches are taking them off the senses.
Theresa: Yeah, I mean the Night Witches are helping Germans off and the Nightingales are helping the British off. Yes, there you go. Or better yet, the Night Witches are helping off the Germans and the Nightingales are helping the British off. The British off. Yeah, that works. I think that’s probably the cleanest way to word that. Yes, I think you might be right.
Angie: So we both had some stories about flight and parachutes.
Theresa: Yeah. And then here for it. We both were in Paris briefly.
Angie: For like a split second, yeah. Or at least France. Well done.
Theresa: I’m loving this and I already know for March I have several women, aviators, lydebt. Okay, show off. I know. I didn’t say I have anything lined up necessarily solid for February, but obviously not Britain. The Cotswolds out of this because promises. Same. If you want to leave the Cotswolds out of this because you too have promises and you’re thinking, you know, I am going to rate review subscribe so that I can see what fresh hell Angie brings to us.
Angie: We’re here. Now you’re setting an example. I actually have to bring fresh hell.
Theresa: I mean, look, you could do canvass fine. Oh, thank you. Yeah. And on that note, goodbye. Goodbye.
Theresa: Where do I pick fresh hell up?
Unhinged History 
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