Sheila Christine Scott OBE (née Hopkins; 27 April 1922 – 20 October 1988) was an English aviator who broke over 100 aviation records through her long-distance flight endeavours, which included a 34,000-mile (55,000 km) "world and a half" flight in 1971. On this flight, she became the first person to fly over the North Pole in a small aircraft. She was also the first European woman to fly solo around the world.
Born Sheila Christine Hopkins in Worcester, Worcestershire, England, she had a turbulent childhood and did not do well at the Alice Ottley School, nearly being expelled several times. During World War II, she joined the services as a nurse in a naval hospital.
In 1943, she started a career as an actress as Sheila Scott, a name she maintained long after she stopped acting. She had a short marriage from 1945 to 1950 to Rupert Bellamy.
In 1958 she learned to fly, going solo at Thruxton Aerodrome after nine months of training. Her first aircraft was a Thruxton Jackaroo (converted from a De Havilland Tiger Moth) G-APAM, which she owned from 1959 to 1964.
In May 1965 the Piper Aircraft company loaned their Piper Comanche 400 European demonstrator N8515P (named Myth Sunpip) to Sheila, enabling her to set a number of European speed records for its class, such as return trips from London (RAF Northolt) to The Hague, Brussels, Dublin, and Belfast.
In April 1966, she obtained another Piper Comanche, this time a 260B registered G-ATOY (named Myth Too) in which she set many of her records. It was in this aircraft that she made her first solo round the world flight, departing London Heathrow on 18 May 1966 and returning on 20 June 1966, having covered approximately 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometres) in 189 flying hours over 34 days. It was the first solo around the world flight by a British subject, the longest-distance solo flight, and the only third around the world flight by a woman.
In 1969–70, she took part in the London to Sydney Air Race (with G-ATOY), thereafter continuing solo around the world for a second time. She was the only solo female pilot participating in the race, and experienced problems on the course. Scott was plagued by technical problems during the race, and was stranded for several days due to broken navigational equipment. She sold the aircraft in 1971, and some years later it crashed following engine failure. The remains are on display in the collection of the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, Scotland.
In 1971, she used a twin-engine Piper Aztec 250 G-AYTO (named Mythre) to complete her third solo round the world flight, featuring an unusual route starting at Nairobi, just south of the equator, flying north to London, before continuing on to cross over the North Pole (a first for a light aircraft). She then continued via Anchorage and San Francisco to Hawaii, before crossing the equator again on her way to Darwin, Australia. From here, she began the return to London, with the 'world-and-a-half' circumnavigation taking 55 days. During her flight, she carried NASA equipment as part of an experimental test of satellite communications technology.
Despite winning many records in the flight, Scott later claimed the trip cost her $110,400 and left her heavily in debt.
Mythre was returned to the Piper factory in Lock Haven, PA where it was one of over a hundred planes damaged beyond repair in a flood in 1972.
Scott made over 100 world record flights. These include:
1965: London to Den Haag and return #13762
1965: Den Haag to London #13651
1965: London to Dublin and return #13755
1965: Belfast to London #13347
1966: Scott's Around the World Flight set ten Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Speed Over a Recognised Course:
London to Rome, 258.13 kilometers per hour (160.40 miles per hour) (FAI Record File Numbers 4679, 4680);
London to Auckland, 41.42 km/h (25.74 mph) #4660, 4661;