Bridget was born 7 May 1914 in Camberley to Major-General Walter Pitts Hendy Hill (1877-1942) and Phyllis Gertrude Sanders. They lived in West Amesbury House, and later Heymersh, Britford, Wilts.

Walter Pitts Hendy Hill had enlisted in 1897 in the Wiltshire Regiment Militia and seen action in the Boer war and WWI with the Royal Fusiliers, he was Major General (Administration) of Southern Command 1934-8.

West Amesbury House was in 1939 HQ for the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at nearby Boscombe Down. On the 1939 register she is there with parents and seven servants. Her grandfather James Ledger Hill was a JP, ship owner and coal merchant based in North Stoneham, born in North Shields, and had eleven surviving children.

Records show Bridget had 108 hours flying of which 78 hours were solo flying experience in 1939. She earned her 'Royal Aero Club Certificate in Feb 1939 at the Wiltshire Flying School at High Post Aerodrome, Salisbury in a ‘Gypsy’ Moth.

That September, within a fortnight of war being declared, she wrote to Marion Wilberforce, the first eight in ATA and later Commander of the ATA asking if there was a role for her. "I am writing to know if you have any sort of flying job to offer me. I had almost completed my instructor's course, during which I did some blind flying - this was interrupted by the outbreak of war. I do hope you can find some use for me, as I adore flying and have spent everything on my training as an instructor."

RAF crew received between 6 months (150) hours 50 hours or 18 months to 2 years (200-320 hours) flying training in 1940 before moving to Service Flight Training.

They refused, saying "I regret to inform you that we are not considering employing lady pilots in the ATA at the moment. In any case the minimum solo flying experience required is 250 hours. We are filing your letter, however, and if in the future the position should change, we would get in touch with you."

They did not, of course, get in touch with her, so in May 1940 she wrote again, and was offered a test.

This, as she admitted later, was a disaster: "I am more than aware what a mess I made of my test, but I think the strongest nerves could hardly help being affected by waiting from 10 to 5 with so much at stake!"

However, by December of 1940, she was brave enough to write to Pauline Gower, Commander of the Women's Section throughout WWII.

Again, saying "There has been so much in the newspapers of the expansion of the ATA, that I have decided to risk bothering you again by writing to know if there is any hope for me."

This time they wrote back to say No (again) - and you still need at least 150 hours. Most people would probably have given up by now, but Bridget was made of sterner stuff.

She took a job driving a mobile canteen but, here she is again, on the 10 Mar 1941: "I am answering the appeal made on the wireless this evening by Lord Londonderry to members of the Civil Air Guard and holders of 'A' licences... I am hoping that there is some chance of my being able to be of service."

At last, they relented and offered her another test on the 2 April 1941. She was grateful, excited, and a bit apprehensive; "One is bound to be a bit rusty not having flown for so long..."

Her test was with Chief Instructor Margaret Cunnison (one of the eight), and this time it went OK - "quite good but would need some further training".

Even then, there was another couple of months' wait until, finally, she got the call: "Please report 15 July for 15 Aug."

She was delighted. She was not alone in this rebuttal as obsession with high experience and belief there was enough pilots, her companion (WO Betty Eileen Sayer) in the crash had also received repeated rejection.

Kitty Farrer, the ATA Adjutant, filled in a little essential background knowledge: "She tells me she is a Baha'i, but would be satisfied with any form of Christian burial!"

After 4 months at Hatfield, she was posted to Hamble, then the Training Pool. Her flying instruction went well. "She is shaping very well indeed. An intelligent, hard-working pilot. Expected to do well."

She completed 23hrs on Tiger Moth, and 4hrs 45min on Magister. She was seconded to No 15 Ferry Pool (Hamble) on the 19th of Jan 1942, and made seventy-five ferry flights, totalling 129.35 hrs, in the following few weeks.

She flew Tiger Moths, Puss Moths and a Wicko.

Sadly, however, she was killed at 12.20pm on the 15 Mar 1942 when flying as a passenger in Fairchild Argus HM178, which stalled and crashed onto a bungalow in Banbridge Smithfield Road, Whit Waltham, Berkshire when returning to land at White Waltham after bad weather.

Yorkshire Evening Post, 17 Mar 1942:

"AIRWOMEN KILLED Ferry Pilots' 'Plane Hit Bungalow.

"The Ministry of Aircraft Production announces that Flying Officer Graham Lever, Third Officer Bridget Hill, and Third Officer Bessie Sayers lost their lives in a flying accident on Sunday. The accident occurred in the course of their duties with the Air Transport Auxiliary. The 'plane crashed on to a bungalow. A fourth passenger in the machine, also a woman A.T.A. officer, was injured. 

"Twenty-six people were injured when they rushed to the house to extricate the passengers in the 'plane. It is believed that the petrol tank in the machine exploded. The injured woman passenger was Third Officer P. D. Duncan." 

"The coroner stated that Miss Duncan, who was in hospital, had had "an extraordinary escape."

"It is understood that she was thrown clear of the house as the 'plane crashed and escaped with cuts and bruises. Among the injured were children who were in the street.

"The petrol tank exploded sometime after the crash, owing, it is believed, to contact with a fire in the kitchen. A man named Croft, living in an adjoining bungalow, was blown through a window into the street and badly hurt but a child in the front room of the bungalow was rescued almost uninjured." 

Her Father Walter Hill wrote to Pauline Mary de Peauly Gower, the distinguished British pilot and writer who established the women's branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War.

"My Dear Miss Gower, I must write and tell you once again how happy in, and proud of, her Corps Bridget was. It was all one great adventure for her, and her purpose in life was to make it a success... The man who stood next to me at her graveside would have been her husband and it is so sad to think that they were deprived of that great happiness." 

Her mother wrote: "I wouldn't have had my darling in any other service... it was a wonderful life, and she was so supremely happy."

She served only for seven months between 15 Aug-41 to Mar-42. The Accident Committee concluded that: the plane stalled on approach and crashed due to pilot error.

FO Graham Levers’ record shows he failed theory tests was rated an average pilot, and a good navigator and qualified to fly up to Class 4 (advanced twin-engine) aircraft.

Bridget's probate was completed on 14 Jul 1942 (just before her father died), but was then revised, to make her mother the executor, valued at £5000 and was concluded on 4 Sep 1942.

Her gravestone inscribed in Arabic for Bahá'u'lláh faith: "WINGS HAVE I BESTOWED UPON THEE, THAT THOU MAYEST FLY TO THE REALMS OF MYSTIC HOLINESS." 

ATA was from in December 1939 with 8/12 female pilots selected. Buried in Britford Church Graveyard near Salisbury, Wiltshire with Commonwealth War.

Her older brother, Brigadier Stanley James Ledger 'Speedy' Hill, DSO, MC, was a World War II Commander who joined the British Airborne Forces at an early stage, fought in North Africa and went on to play a vital role in the D-Day landings and the crossing of the Rhine. 

Sources:

Ancestry
British Newspapers Archive 
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2709832/bridget-grace-marian-l-hill/
ATA Profile www.ata-ferry-pilots.org 
Report of fatal accident
https://www.ornaverum.org/family/blunt/kathleen/bridget-hill.html