Members from 2438 (Bishop Ullathorne) Squadron Air Training Corps attended a memorial and headstone dedication service for Britain’s first female pilot Edith Maud Cook.

The service took place on Wednesday 14 July 2010 and was held at the London Road cemetery in Coventry. The service marked the centenary of Edith’s death and was attended by Edith’s family, the Lord Mayor of Coventry, members of Suffolk Aviation Heritage and other dignitaries.

Conducted by Reverend Carol Newborn from the St James parish, the service heard speeches from Edith’s Great-great-great niece Louise Argent, and Coventry 's Lord Mayor Brian Kelsey.

Born in Ipswich, Suffolk in 1878 Edith – who used the names Spencer Kavanagh and Viola Spencer –made her first balloon flight in1892 aged 14, her first balloon parachute jump in 1899 and her first plane flight in 1909.

Edith joined the Bleriot Flying School at Pau near the French Pyrenees in 1909, and she is recorded as the school’s first female pilot. Although she carried out her initial flights at the Bleriot School, she continued to fly at the British Aviation School under Claude Graham-White, also at Pau.

She flew a Bleriot XI under the name of Miss Spencer-Kavanagh becoming, as reported at the time, ‘Britain’s first woman pilot’. Research also suggests that she was the first woman in the world to pilot a monoplane.

Edith was also a keen balloon parachutist and it was reported that she had completed some 300 descents by 1908.

In this Edwardian male dominated world, Edith dreamed of flying solo across the Irish Sea, but sadly never got the chance to due to a parachute jump over Coventry on 9 July 1910 that went terribly wrong.

A crowd of 3,000 people turned out to see Edith soar into the sky in a gas-filled balloon over Coventry. They watched in horror as the balloon crashed onto the Centaur Cycle Works roof and fell 40ft to the road. Edith was taken to hospital where she died of her injuries on July 14 1910 aged just 31.

By the time of her death she had become extremely famous in Britain, attracting crowds wherever she was. Over two hundred people attended her funeral; yet her grave remained unmarked.

Her headstone was donated by the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Group who have also erected a plaque to honour her in her home town of Ipswich

2438 Squadron’s Civilian Instructor Roni Tillman who attended the service said “Edith was a true pioneer who rightly deserves her place in aviation history. It’s a shame she was forgotten for almost a century. I must thank Colin Durrant from the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Group for inviting us”.