Evelyn (Hudson) Richards (1908)

Born 7 Aug 1908 in Sunderland, Durham, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

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Biography

Evelyn was born in Sunderland in 1908. She was the daughter of Frank Hudson. Mother's maiden name was Porteous. ^[1]

At the age of two, Evelyn and her family emigrated to Canada.

In 1911, Evelyn was living with her family in Strathcona, Alberta, Canada.

• Frank Hudson Male 1870 England Head
• Margaret Hudson Female 1871 England Wife
• Wm. Russell Hudson Male 1857 England Son
• Norman Hudson Male 1899 England Son
• Frank Hudson Male 1901 England Son
• Stanley Hudson Male 1902 England Son
• Winifred Hudson Female 1905 England Daughter
• Evelyn Hudson Female 1908 England Daughter

Evelyn excelled at sport from a young age, particularly swimming and diving. Evelyn won the Alberta Provincial championship in 1925, 1927 and 1929. In 1930, following a previous holiday, Evelyn aged 21 and her sister Winnifred aged 23, relocated to Hawaii.^[2]
By November 1931, Evelyn had become the first woman to be granted a private pilot’s license in Hawaii.

In 1933, she relocated to Los Angeles["California, index to San Francisco passenger lists, 1893-1934", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CDDX-Z13Z : 19 May 2020), Evelyn Hudson, 1933.]

Evelyn arrived in England in March 1942 after being transported on the troopship Halifax. She joined the Air Transport Auxiliary on 10 Jun 1942. In her role with the ATA, Evelyn would fly Hurricanes, Spitfires, Wellingtons and Beaufighters. However, Evelyn’s invaluable work in the ATA was cut short in March 1943. While hitching a ride back to RAF Cosford in a Wellington, the aircraft suffered an engine failure during take-off. This resulted in the plane crashing into power lines at the end of the runway. Evelyn was thrown out the plane from a hole in the fuselage. Her son John memorably recalls that his mother’s ‘most vivid memory of the crash was thinking about the geodetic construction of the Wellington’s fuselage as she was being projected at it.’ No other members of the crew were hurt in the crash but Evelyn spent six months in a full body cast in a Canadian military hospital. Her ATA service was terminated in Aug 1943.

She sailed back to New York on the 21 Aug 1943, with Opal Anderson, Margaret Lennox, Roberta Sandoz Leveaux, and Catharine van Doozer and on 31 August that year, married her sweetheart, Mario W Richards in Shelby, Tennessee, USA. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2FJB-1TF : 1 October 2014), Eveline Hudson, 1908; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, Sunderland, Durham, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England.
2. ↑ "Hawaii, Honolulu Passenger Lists, 1900-1953," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9Z-FRHX : 24 March 2022), Eveline Hudson, 1930; citing Ship , NARA microfilm publication A3422 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ "Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHS-9WH8 : 10 March 2021), Mario W Richards and Evelyn Hudson, 31 Aug 1943; citing Shelby, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, p. , Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 1,784,678.

• Post from the RAF Museum Archive “ Evelyn Hudson and ATA” By Gary Haines, Archivist, 25 Dec 2019