[4] Platt was educated at Westcliff High School for Girls in Southend-On-Sea, Essex where her favourite subject was mathematics.

[5] The headmistress of Westcliff predicted that this "outstanding pupil" had a university future ahead of her at Cambridge but, despite excellent exam results, the outbreak of the Second World War led to a hiatus in Platt's education.

[6] Platt is quoted as describing this sum as "a fortune to me at the time", and chose to switch her studies to Aeronautical Engineering.

[5][6] When Platt arrived at Girton College, Cambridge, she was one of five women amongst 250 men studying Mechanical Sciences (now Engineering); she was only the ninth woman to be accepted since her original predecessor in the First World War.

[5] Wartime necessity meant the course was reduced to an intensive two years, including for Platt three weeks' experience on the shop floor of the Hawker Aircraft Company.

[5] Platt worked on the testing and production of three of the RAF's outstanding fighter planes of the time: the Hurricane, the Typhoon, and the Tempest V, the latter being the first conventional aircraft to counter the German V-1 pilotless jet missiles.

[5] Some of her analyses were models of their kind, for instance charting procedures to ensure safe landings if an engine failed on take-off or over mountains.

[10][11] Once Platt's children began at school she considered a return to the aircraft industry but there were none to be found within range of Writtle, the village where she lived.

[13] She chose the title Baroness Platt of Writtle, after her home village in Essex, and a cogwheel as her coat of arms, symbolising her life of service as an engineer.

[5] On 24 June 1981, less than a month after joining the House, Platt made her maiden speech on a "subject very close to [her] heart", that of higher and further education.

[6] The initiative was very much spearheaded by Platt and was established to highlight the career opportunities for girls and women in science and engineering professions.