Letitia Chitty

Born at 51 Campden House Road, Kensington, London, she was the eldest of four sisters and one brother.

The original biplane design had to be altered to triplane to accommodate more engines, and the Admiralty Air Department was asked to check its structural strength.

It was too big, too heavy - that wasn't its fault, but Grade A spruce had by now run out and it had to be built of American white wood (tulip).

"[8]The plane pitched over during its first take-off at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough on 26 May 1919, killing both pilots and seriously injuring the other six people on board.

[3] Chitty moved to Imperial College in 1934 where she remained for the rest of her career, initially specialising in structural stresses in aircraft.

Her World War II work included research into stresses in submarine hulls under shell attack, extensible cables and pulley blocks for barrage balloons, for the Director of Scientific Research of the Admiralty and the Ministry of Supply.