Today in motorcycle history, March 8, 1909

  Beatrice Shilling is born, the daughter of a butcher in Waterlooville, Hampshire, UK.

  After being encouraged by her employer (she worked for an electrical engineering company) she received a degree in Electrical Engineering at Manchester University.  She then went to work as a research assistant at the University of Birmingham before being recruited as a scientific officer by the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

  During the Battle of France and Battle of Britain in 1940, it became apparent that the Rolls-Royce Merlin powered RAF fighters had a serious problem with their carburetors while manuevering in combat.  Sudden lowering of the nose of the aircraft resulted in the engine being flooded with excess fuel, causing it to lose power or shut down completely.  Not such a good thing while on the chase of-or being chased by-a Messerschmitt. 

  Beatrice Shilling devised a simple, yet ingenious, solution that was officially called the R.A.E. restrictor.  This was a small metal disc with a hole in the middle, fitted into the engine's carburetor. Although not a complete solution, it allowed the pilots to perform quick manuevers without loss of engine power.  By March 1941, she had led a small team on a tour of RAF fighter bases, installing the devices in their Merlin engines.  The restrictor was immensely popular with pilots, who affectionately named it 'Miss Shilling's orifice'.

   Prior to World War II she was an avid motorcycle racer.  She beat professional riders such as Noel Pope on his supercharged Brough Superior.  She also made her name known by lapping the Brooklands circuit at 106 mph on her cammy Norton M30, earning herself the Brookland Gold Star in the process.

  Beatrice raced her M30 untill 1939, at one time even fitting it with a supercharger.  But with the declaration of war racing ended at Brooklands and the Norton was returned to a road machine to become Beatrice's chief means of transportation for the next fourteen years.

 

Her Norton in the picture above, taken in 1935, is a 490cc M30.

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