Most members of the Society know the story of Leading Aircraftswoman Margaret
Horton who, whilst serving at RAF Hibaldstow, near Brigg, became the unexpected
passenger on a Spitfire on the 14th of February 1945. She was sitting on the
tailplane to hold it down in strong crosswinds as it was being taxied around the
airfield. The pilot from 53 OTU was unaware of her and receiving the green light
from the airfield controller, he started his take off. He soon had great
difficulty trying to move the elevators to gain height because of her grip on
them, combined with her weight on the aircraft�s balance but he eventually
managed to reach 800ft. Then it was noticed from the ground that all was not
well and he was told to land immediately but not given the reason in case he
panicked. The pilot finally struggled to complete a circuit and land the
aircraft. Margaret was naturally very shaken but fortunately uninjured and went
on to lead a long life. The Spitfire Mk Vb, AB910 is of course now part of the
BBMF at Coningsby. But what of the pilot? Who was he and was this his only claim
to fame?
A recent newspaper obituary identified the pilot as Flight Lieutenant Neill Cox,
and far from being a trainee pilot he was a veteran, winning two DFCs for flying
operations in the Mediterranean. He was born in Weybridge, Surrey in 1923 and
enlisted in the RAF in March 1941, later flying Blenheims with 614 Squadron
flying patrols off North Africa before joining 39 Squadron with Beaufighters.
Flying from Tunisia in September 1943, he intercepted five Ju 52s near Corsica
and LACWshot down two. The following day, his squadron intercepted fifteen Ju
52s and attacking them head on, he damaged one as well as one of their escorting
fighters. However his own aircraft was badly hit and he had to ditch it, saving
the life of his badly injured navigator by towing the dingy he was in to the
shore. He was subsequently awarded an immediate DFC. Later flying from Sardinia
on night anti-shipping ops, he attacked a merchant ship with rockets, scoring
direct hits but his aircraft was damaged by flying debris. He managed to land
safely despite there being a large hole in aircrafts floor just behind his
cockpit. He was awarded a Bar to his DFC. After retraining on single seat
fighters at Hibaldstow he joined 56 Squadron flying Tempests on ground attack
duties until the war ended. He also flew captured German aircraft over to
Farnborough for technical evaluation. All in all a very eventful flying career
and well worth recording for reasons other than just for the Spitfire incident.
Flt. Lt. Cox was released from the RAF in 1946 and read Law at Oxford before
becoming a Barrister; later in life he gave this up and went into farming. He
was also an outstanding tennis player, representing the RAF, his college and
later played at Wimbledon. Post war he maintained contact with his old comrades
from 53 OTU but it is understood that he rarely talked about �the WAAF on the
tail� incident.
Margaret Horton was on �B� Flight, 53 OTU which was based near the main
Redbourne/Hibaldstow Road. She later said that the incident was due to the �slap
happy way� the unit was run, due to the pressure of work rather than any
negligence on the part of their NCOs who worked all hours. The pilot should have
been briefed to stop before starting his take off run.
Interviewed in the Daily Telegraph in 1968 Miss Horton said that when they
reached the end of the runway, they were supposed to waggle the elevator to let
the pilot know that they were climbing down. On this particular occasion, the
pilot made a little signal with his hand and so she thought that he wanted her
to stay on but instead the aircraft gathered speed and took off. On the ground
another WAAF mechanic had seen the aircraft go but stammered so much when she
was telling her Flight Sergeant that he thought that she was joking at first;
but then he went to the tower and reported what was happening.
Once the Spitfire was back on the runway, LACW Horton got down and the pilot
revved up and roared away. The ambulance arrived to take her to sick quarters
but she said that she was OK and didn�t want to go but she was taken anyway. She
later made clear that she was only obeying orders. It is reported that she was
fined for losing her gloves during the flight and one irate Air Commodore sent
her a letter stating that if he had been the Officer Commanding the Station she
would have been severely punished � for obeying orders!
After the flight, everyone involved was warned by senior officers not to mention
the incident to the press but it must have leaked out because reporters from the
Daily Mirror and Daily Sketch were at the airfield the next day. (It was
suggested that some-one rang the paper and got paid for the story; the obvious
question was � did they go through the station switchboard?)
Post war, Miss Horton joined the Royal Observer Corps and she seemed to enjoy
her moment of fame as she gave interviews to the media and there are at least
two different photographs of her sat on the tail of Spitfire AB910 in her ROC
uniform. Many thanks to Mike French for sending this in; additional information
came from Pat Horton (Hibaldstow/Kirton in Lindsey archivist - no relation) and
the Editor�s files.
Notes �