(DB colour from original unknown B&W image)
Irene Arckless was described as an ordinary working class girl determined to obtain her pilots licence who passed her flying test just before the start of the Second World War. During the war she was a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary delivering all types of aircraft from factories to operational RAF airfields throughout England.
On Sunday 3 June 1943 she was flying a twin engine Airspeed Oxford when one of the engines malfunctioned during take off and crashed into a house on the outskirts of Oxford. Arckless was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.
27-year-old Irene Arckles is buried at Carlisle, Stanwick Cemetery. Ward 2. Section A. Grave 31. (Commonwealth War graves Commission)
Alan Malcher 