Beatrice Shilling, English motorcycle racer and engineer (d. 1990)
Beatrice Shilling OBE PhD MSc CEng (8 March 1909 – 18 November 1990) was a British aeronautical engineer and amateur racing driver. During the Second World War, she designed and developed "Miss Shilling's orifice" to restrict fuel flow to the carburettor of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighters. Previously the pilots had experienced a loss of power or even complete engine cut-out during combat manoeuvres, posing a potentially lethal disadvantage in the Battle of Britain.
Shilling raced motorbikes at Brooklands in the 1930s, one of only three women awarded a BMCRC (British Motorcycle Racing Club) Gold Star for lapping the circuit at over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). After the war, she raced cars, mostly at Goodwood Members' Meetings.
1909Mar, 8
Beatrice Shilling
Choose Another Date
Events on 1909
- 9Jan
Nimrod Expedition
Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time. - 28Jan
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish-American War. - 22Feb
Great White Fleet
The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world. - 31Mar
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina. - 27Apr
Abdul Hamid II
Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.