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My guest today is fellow Sapere author, Suzanne Parsons. She has taken inspiration from real historical women, Ada Lovelace and Amy Johnson, to create her main character, Ayda de Corsi, in Secrets in the Sky.
Welcome, Suzanne!
~ Samantha
Ada Lovelace and Amy Johnson: Guest Post by Suzanne Parsons
In writing, SECRETS IN THE SKY, a novel about an aviatrix in Britain around the time of the First World War, there were few women to draw upon for my main character, Ayda de Corsi. Given that she was also something of a mathematical genius, further complicated things. Looking to the 19th century and ahead to the 1930s solved the matter for there I found two truly inspirational women: Ada Gordon or ‘Ada Lovelace,’ and Amy Johnson.
Born in 1815, Ada Lovelace has often been described as extraordinary in part due to her extraordinary parentage: the tempestuous poet, George Gordon or Lord Byron, and the more measured, Annabella Milbanke.
Concerned she would develop her father’s unstable nature, Ada’s mother immersed her in the world of science, logic, and mathematics. She needn’t have worried. Ada was always more at home poring over mechanical inventions or dreaming of steam powered flying machines.
Married at 19 to William King, Ada became Countess of Lovelace in 1838 and was soon a mother of three. But five years earlier, she had met someone who would change her life: Charles Babbage, a Professor of Mathematics, known for his visionary clockwork calculating machines, and Ada became fascinated by his design for a large calculating machine called the Analytical Engine. Although never built, this machine possessed all the essential features of the modern computer. In 1842, Ada translated an article about the machine written by the Italian mathematician, Luigi Menabrea, adding her own ideas including how it could perform an extensive sequence of mathematical operations. One such sequence, how to calculate Bernoulli numbers, is regarded as the first computer program. Babbage was delighted, praising her mathematical prowess, even describing her as ‘the enchantress of numbers.’ But like the machine, her work remained on paper until a century later, it became a crucial document in Alan Turing’s work on the first modern computers.
Ada’s untimely death at 36 from cancer was tragic, but her legacy lives on through an early programming language, Ada, and by being acknowledged as the world’s first ever computer programmer. Ada Lovelace Day (the second Tuesday in October) was also created to honour women’s contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Amy Johnson’s steely determination and her ability as an aviatrix is also shared by my fictional aviatrix, Ayda de Corsi. A northern lass from Hull and a graduate of Sheffield University, Amy Johnson, moved to London after a failed romance, working as a typist in a solicitor’s office before stumbling across Stag Lane Aerodrome in London. She quickly became fascinated with planes and with flying, and was often seen there watching during her lunch hour. Shelving her law career, Amy initially found flying difficult but in 1929, gained both her ground engineer’s ‘C’ licence and her pilot’s ‘B’ license—she was now ready for take-off!
Flying a second hand De Havilland Gypsy Moth which she called Jason, Amy built a reputation as a long-distance pilot becoming the first British woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Many accolades followed including London to Moscow in under 24 hours, then on to Tokyo, and then London to Cape Town to name but a few. Her resolve was always tested during these flights, but thanks to her determination and ability as a mechanic, she overcame problems such as engine failures, broken landing gear, a broken propeller, fuel shortages, even managing flying through a sandstorm. A spare propeller was attached to the side of her plane, and she crammed her cockpit full of tools, spare parts, food and clothes; often referring to it as ‘the village shop.’ Fame quickly followed, even an envelope addressed to ‘Amy wat flies in England,’ apparently reaching her.
In 1933, she married a Scot and fellow pilot, Jim Mollison, and they were dubbed the flying sweethearts, but breaking records was exhausting. Her last long-distance flight was in 1936 where she regained her London to South Africa title. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Amy stepped back to do her bit by joining the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). In January 1940, on a delivery flight during poor weather conditions, tragedy struck. Flying an Airspeed Oxford from Blackpool to RAF Kidlington, she drifted off course plunging into the freezing Thames Estuary. Her body and plane were never found although parts of her plane and some possessions were later washed up nearby. Amy’s untimely death at just 37 was a tragedy for such an inspirational woman.
Read Secrets in the Sky
An aviatrix at the time of World War One may seem a bizarre choice for a novel, especially as aviation was in its infancy. But the main protagonist Ayda de Corsi possesses all the intelligence of Ada Lovelace and the same determination and talent as Amy Johnson. The planes, however, were very different, often flimsy deathtraps on bicycle wheels. So, what drove such a gifted woman to fly?
In a war meant to end all wars, the war in the sky was no less brutal than the ground one with British pilots refused parachutes to prevent them abandoning their planes. Based on real people and a forgotten generation of aviators, discover the real secrets in the sky. Take off on a trail of blast and burn, meet the people, the planes, and the aces. And Ayda de Corsi, an intrepid aviatrix in a secret civilian role.
Steeped in science and meticulously researched, SECRETS IN THE SKY is for anyone with an interest in this troubled period in history or for those just wanting a poignant yet pacy adventure filled read. Please feel free to read a recent review by the Historical Novel Society.
Connect with Suzanne
After a scientific background working as a development chemist, a career as a librarian beckoned enabling me to indulge my passion for books, writing and history. Now published by historical fiction specialists, Sapere Books, Ayda’s adventures will continue in a new series and war, later this year.
You can contact Suzanne via Facebook, Twitter, or Sapere Books.
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