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For many years, in her spare time, Strodl flew for a local missionary organization. Her little yellow plane bore the inscriptions "God is a good God" and "Jesus saves and heals today". She visited remote communities in the prairies and the north of Canada, taking part in church services. Her faith
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Strodl came close to disaster on several occasions. Once she was reported missing and presumed dead when she suddenly turned up in the mess. Strodl's wartime logbook shows she flew some 200 different flights totalling 1,500 hours. Of about 500 ATA pilots, she was one of some 100 women and the only
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In 1941, she volunteered for the Air
Transport Auxiliary (ATA) where she had the job of ferrying many different types of new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factories and airfields until the end of the war in 1945. It was dangerous work as the ATA pilots were frequently targeted by
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137:, on 16 July 1918, Vera Elsie Strodl was the daughter of Maren and Raimond Strodl. Her Danish parents had moved to England to run a cattle farm but ran into financial difficulties complicated by her father's problems with alcohol. In 1930, Maren Strodl returned to her native
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In the year 2000, Strodl was inducted into Canada's
Aviation Hall of Fame for the great benefit to Canada of "her extraordinary enthusiasm for and life long dedication to aviation, in wartime and peace, particularly her dedication to flight instruction."
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to four-engined bombers, some of them so badly damaged that they were almost flying coffins. Although the ATA ferrying work was not as dangerous as mainstream RAF missions, there were many casualties, with one out every six pilots losing their lives.
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German fighters but could also be shot down by
British anti-aircraft batteries who sought to destroy German bombers. The pilots also risked flying into barrage balloons. They had to fly all types of aircraft from
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which was close to the Sussex Aero Club where she first worked as a waitress and cleaner in order to save some money for taking flying lessons. She was trained by an RAF veteran from the
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Whenever she flew a new type of aircraft, she wrote its name on her leather flying jacket. The jacket can now be seen at
Nordfyns Museum in Bogense.
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While still in
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444:"En pilot ved navn Vera Strodl, tekst af Søren Poulsen og fotos via samme og Carsten Jørgensen, from Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift Nr. 3 2017"
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In 1963, she married
Standford J. Dowling. She continued to fly until 1987. In her seventies, she tested planes from
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In 1946, Strodl served with the Women's Royal Air Force
Voluntary Reserve. She became a flying instructor at the
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leaving examination in
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was reinforced by her belief that God had literally held her in his wings.
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101:(16 July 1918 – 11 January 2015) was a Danish pilot who gained fame in the
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Pursuit of a Dream: The Story of Pilot Vera (Strodl) Dowling
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Strodl died in
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516:. Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from
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105:as the only Scandinavian woman to fly for the
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446:(in Danish). Dansk Flyvehistorisk Forening
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466:"Vera Elise Strodl Dowling"
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422:"Pilot Vera Dowling"
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340:(in Danish)
566:Categories
298:References
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258:, then in
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241:Gothenburg
125:Early life
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