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Auction: 25001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 139

THE WATCHES & ARCHIVE OF SHEILA SCOTT O.B.E. (1922-88), 'BRITAIN'S QUEEN OF THE AIR'

Given all that could be written about this remarkable aviatrix, the cataloguer turns firstly to Encyclopedia Britannica:

'Sheila Scott was born on 27 April 1922 at Worcester, Worcestershire and was a British aviator who broke more than 100 light-aircraft records between 1965 and 1972 and was the first British pilot to fly solo around the world.

After attending a Worcester boarding school, Scott became a trainee nurse at Haslar Naval Hospital (1944), where she tended the wounded during World War II. In London she appeared in small roles for theatre, film, and television and worked as a model (1945–59). In 1960 she earned her pilot’s license, bought an old biplane from the Royal Air Force, and won several races, capturing the De Havilland and Jean Lennox Bird trophies for that year. To pay for her flying, she became a demonstrator for Cessna and Piper aircraft.

Scott first flew around the world in 1966, covering about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) in 189 flying hours. She set world records when she flew between London and Cape Town (1967) and across the North Atlantic Ocean (1967), the South Atlantic Ocean (1969), and from the Equator to the Equator over the North Pole (1971). After her record polar flight, she made a third around-the-world solo flight, earning her 100th world-class record. She wrote I Must Fly (1968) and On Top of the World (1973; U.S. title Barefoot in the Sky, 1974). Scott was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE; 1968), and she received the Royal Aero Club’s Gold Medal (1972). She died at London on 20 October 1988.'

Further notice should be made the fact that Scott was likely the inspiration to Ian Fleming for the alluring 'Pussy Galore' in Goldfinger, played by Honor Blackman in the 1964 movie.

Her flights with NASA in 1971 are also worth mention:

'Sheila Scott is pictured here with her Piper Aztec 'Mythre', in which she made her world and a half flight in 1971. On this flight, she became the first person to fly over the North Pole in a single engine plane. She carried special NASA equipment for a communications experiment testing the Interrogation Recording and Location System (IRLS) of the Nimbus polar orbiting satellite. The IRLS equipment, a Balloon Interrogation package, transmitted data on Scott’s location during the 34,000 mile (~55,000 kilometer) flight to the Nimbus satellite, which relayed it to NASA’s ground station at Fairbanks, Alaska and then to a computer center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Sheila Scott’s record-making, historic flight confirmed the satellite’s ability to collect location data from remote computerized and human-operated stations with a unique “mobile platform” location test.'

She was Roy Plomley's castaway on Desert Island Discs in January 1967, her luxury being tobacco seeds to ensure a never-ending supply of smokes. Scott was always seen as a somewhat quirky individual and flew barefoot, claiming she could feel the controls better. She always signed of 'Happy Landings!' and we hope these treasures will find much the same.

Sheila Scott's famous Rolex GMT-Master 'Pepsi' stainless steel automatic dual time wristwatch, first worn on her famous 1966 record-breaking long-distance flight

Rolex, stainless steel automatic dual time wristwatch with date and leather bracelet, this rather worn, Ref. 1675, GMT-Master 'Pepsi', with bakelite bezel, stainless steel Oyster case, screw-down crown and back the reverse engraved 'SHEILA SCOTT', blue and red 24-hour calibrated bezel, No. 1255812, the applied triangular and dot indexes upon the face 'factory' luminated with radium marker, 40mm, in running condition at time of cataloguing but would likely benefit from a service, a most historic object, very fine

Provenance:
Philips, December 1989 (Sold by Order of Sheila Scott O.B.E.).

Scott wore this very watch on her famous flights. Her image - and this watch - was the first to ever market sports watches for wear by women. Scott commented that it was '...a marvelous watch.'

It is no surprise that 'Pussy Galore' also wore a 'Pepsi' in Goldfinger.

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Estimate
£20,000 to £30,000

Starting price
£15000