Air Race Handicapping between the wars

 It was September, 1934, and Gabrielle Ruth Millicent Patterson was not happy.

Gabrielle was a 29 year-old mother with a small son, and she was also a very accomplished aviator; the holder of a ‘B’ (professional) licence, and an Instructor’s Certificate. She’d had her ‘A’ licence since 1931. In July, she had been the only woman competitor in Britain’s premier air racing event – the annual King’s Cup Race – but, in her Miles Hawk G-ACIZ (much fancied to do well), she had been forced to withdraw during an eliminating heat, in terrible weather over Peterborough.