FEMALE FIGHTER PILOT | THE DEBRIEF | Former RAF Pilot Mandy Hickson
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- In this episode of The Debrief, former 22 SAS Trooper Big Phil Campion speaks to Mandy Hickson.
Naturally sporty & adventurous as a child, coupled with first-hand stories of flights from her WW2 pilot grandfather, Mandy joined the Air Cadets and began her flying career. Securing a flying scholarship, before progressing into the Birmingham University Air Squadron, Mandy faced both conscious and subconscious bias and challenges in her journey to the cockpit. Becoming the first woman to fly the Tornado GR4 in active combat, Mandy served 16 years in the RAF and 8 as a reservist.
Mandy is now regarded as one of the best public speakers on the circuit, and has achieved incredible results in her effort to speak to children in schools, cadet forces and girl-guiding to help change the narrative on enforced gender roles in children. Mandy serves as a valuable ambassador for a number of organisations including the Girl Guides, and is a trustee at the RAF Charitable Trust (www.airtattoo....)
Mandy can be contacted to speak at corporate events and schools at: www.mandyhicks...
And her book 'An Officer, Not A Gentleman' can be purchased HERE:
amzn.eu/d/4d3WarY
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What an amazing guest. That’s the first female fast jet pilot I have heard interviewed. Absolute proof that merit is everything and the best are simply, the best. Well done with this interview Phil.
Thanks a lot! 😁
What a humble lady, but behind that jokey light hearted smile is someone who deserves huge respect as she really was one of the best of the best.
We agree! Thanks for watching!
Thankyou Mandy & Phil, this was wonderful! I was going to watch the first ten minutes, & the rest tomorrow. It is now 4am as I watched the the whole thing! I was a rebel & left school with very poor grades, "She has the ability, but will not use it" was on my school reports. I'd open them & change minuses into plus. After years of dead end boring job after boring job, my father's sudden death gave me a huge kick up the arse. At aged twenty three, I went to college , did A levels (despite no decent GCSEs) then Uni where i got a degree in medicine. It was bloody hard work, but if I could do it, anybody could. Don't give up on your dreams, go for them! If it doesn't work out, at least you tried & nobody will condemn you for that.
Thank you for sharing
Spot on...with a very 'working class' (I hate that term!) background I left school with nothing, quite a poor learner, still am...but I'm now a teacher in an FE college...for the last 18 years.
My mantra has always been 'have a go'....if nothing comes of it you can always pull your shoulders back and say 'I had a go'...its better to have tried and failed than not try at all...that way you at least get to keep your self respect.
Every time I hear Mandy Hickson speak, I’m blown away by her skill, and her ability to inspire. I’m not looking to change career at my age, but I try take her enthusiasm forward and inspire young people to go out and do the things they dream of. Mandy, you’re an incredible person and a true inspiration.
Thank you for sharing!
These two people are the best of Britain., this Country is very Lucky to have them .
agreed.
What an amazing laid back lady pilot ... clearly knew her role well, and that of others. Great interview Phil, and thanks to Mandy for her service.
Thanks for watching!
Interview after interview, I think it can't get better and it does. Great job
Wow! Thanks so much for the support!
Excellent and very uplifting to hear the positive impact on the kids!
Thank you for watching!
Absolutely brilliant podcast documentary with Big Phil, top Geezer. This girl is such an incredible woman and ambassador for women and equality within the forces and particularly in the Royal Air Force.
Thank you for watching! 😁
Absolutely fantastic interview!! Well done Mandy for sharing your life story to us and thankyou Phil for getting this inspirational lady onto your show.
Glad you enjoyed it!
You need to let your guests finish before asking the next question. Great episode.
Jog on
He does need to learn to stop interrupting. I know he wants to make his point, but he needs to wait for a break in the conversation flow.
@@madzangelsBut he's right? Phil IS amazing but does need to pause more before interrupting. I'm sure he's broad enough to take constructive criticism. Why the hostile response?
@Mandy Hickson, superb, what an inspiration, keep up the great work. So impressed!!
Thank you for watching! 😁
Nice one Phil for lining it up and much respect Mandy.
Thank you for watching! 😁
So good to the ladies smashing it good on ya and awesome in given the kids confidence thank you Big Phil...👍👍
Thanks for watching! 😁
What an utterly great person. Amazing career, great stories and an inspiration to so many!
Thanks for watching!
Just caught this ... we need more people like this. Makes you proud
Thanks for watching!
1:07:00 This is one of my favourite things about humanity. They'll be talking away then mention something that's so important and joyous to them. It's in that moment, I love. The smile, eyes and warmth, love and importance all so apparent in that microsecond.
Thank you so much for watching
What a brilliant career, and proof that women have to be at least as good as the men. Great decision to invite MH on to share her insights and experience.
We are so fortunate to have the service of these great people. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Wow blown away incredible especially with the interaction with young people in schools
Thank you for watching!
Brilliant brilliant guest , Phil is a legend ❤
Thanks for watching
Down to earth, humble with a great sense of humour - great explanations of combat and life in the desert station.
Thanks for your support! We'd love it if you could share this video.
What a great interview and such an inspiration to others, Phil you were awesome as always and Mandy, you are genuinely a true inspiration to everyone who wants to achieve their goals
Thanks for watching
Great series with great guests. Enjoying it very much. Well done big man.
Much appreciated
100%Respect Mandy is a great woman hearing her story was really good and I love her love for helping and encouraging young people.
Thanks for watching 😎
Another great interview thank you both Mandy and Phil .regards and REPECT to you both❤❤😊😊
Thanks for watching! 😁
Thanks phill and Mandy 👌
Thanks for watching! 😁
Awesome stuff as usaul phil. I can only imagine how inspiring hearing mandy's talk must be for young women & girls aiming to do something outside of the norm. Thanks as always to phil & of course mandy.
Thank you for watching!
Brilliant ... you're best yet mate . Wonderful questions . Thank you .
Thanks for watching!
Phil & Mandy thank you for one of the best hour and half of my life. Amazing story.
Such inspiring people need to get into schools youth clubs!! Please keep them coming you’re all bloody brilliant!!
Wow! Thank you so much for your support!
Brilliant interview!
What a brave fighter piolet!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Wow, looking forward to this one. Pilots really are a different breed. What a story Mandy has to tell. Cheers Big Phil.
Thank you for watching!
Slow down Phil, give them more time to process the questions and answer in full. Much love
He doesn't need to slow down.
He's interested and engaging with the guest and really makes it feel like these two are having a private conversation and we're listening to it.
It's not boring and robotic like a lot of millitary podcasts.
@skister82 that's your opinion so great 👍
Thanks for sharing
Inspirational life story of true grit and graft winning success...and you set a young rebell on her own rewarding flight path of determination.
Thank you for watching! 😁
Grate to see a top top video there Phil with a top top top female topGun from us in the UK an R.A.F.! GRATE work up on channel..!! 😊😊 keep this up n rolling out mucker!! 😊😊
Thanks for the support! 😁
wow, what an incredible interview! Brought back a lot of memories as Mandy was mentioning the places she'd flown from, RAF is a great experience
Thanks for watching!
I’m a retired teacher and what you say about schools is spot on. You should be welcomed with open arms to speak and give kids an idea what they can achieve. Education is a mess in this country. 12 education secretaries in 14 years - no bloody direction.
Thank you for watching
This interview is one of the best interviews, of any subject, of all time! Mandy is one of humanity's inspirational people, a golden soul. Phil is the service person's person. This is remarkable stuff! Truly, this is how it should be done!!!!
Thank you for your support! We'd love it if you helped us spread the word!
I love this Podcast.
Great range of guests and topics.
Phil is brilliant and has such an open and honest nature to his questions that puts the guest at ease and they probably tell Phil more than they usually tell other interviewer's.
Phil could easily transition to being a TV chat show host.
Force Radio LIVE?... 👀 😁
Mandy, a wonderful interview. My daughter has been through all the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides clubs and is now a Young Leader for our local group. She is also into her second year at our local Air Cadets. A visit/talk from you would be amazing for the many girls there are in 341 City of Preston squadron. ❤
What an amazing human being she is. Absolute legend.
She really is! Thanks for watching
Great guest, and a real trailblazer. I’m now in my 60’s but when I was in school there was minimal careers advice, and it’s great to see younger women breaking through the barriers into traditional male dominated roles. I’m so glad there’s more possibility for young women now.
Thanks for watching
What an inspiration that lady is , my total respect maam.
Thank you for watching! She is truly brilliant 💪🏻
Great interview. You are an inspiration Mandy.
Thanks for watching
Wow these videos just get better! Mandy- what an incredible woman you are!
Thanks for watching!
That was a top notch vid Phil. I've been "edging" it for a while because of the length. I live in middle east but grew up in NE Sweaty. We had the Jets from RAF Lossie doing fly by's all the time in the summer. They had big steel yellow targets of the coast from Rosehearty. Mandy you're a SuperStar BTW.
Thank you so much for watching!
That good I watched it again! Great show and Great inspiration chat- will be showing my teenage daughters!
Awesome! Thank you!
What an amazing young lady so inspiring loved that interview Phil 🏴💂🏼♀️
Glad you enjoyed it 😎
I’ve watched a few of these debriefs videos all are very good and informative and interesting but I think this lady is brilliant and your top guest I’ve seen on here
Thank you for watching
Thanks Phil and Mandy for another awesome interview.
Thanks for watching!
Bloody good interview. Thank you Mandy and Phil.
Thanks for watching 😁
Great Programme. I did the aptitude tests at Biggin Hill but for the RN -tough but passed for Pilot somehow but failed the more brainier test of observer.... glad she did get through with determination. Thank you for your service Mandy!
Thanks for watching
Amazing lady!! Great interview
Thanks for watching
So pleased to call Trigg a good friend. What a woman. What a laugh! Wonderful human being.
Thanks for watching!
@@ForceRadioHQ great interview Phil.
I listen to a lot of your shows this lady is a brilliant example of our top forces well done phil on your brilliant show
Fantastic episode. Mandy seems like an incredible woman!
Agreed! Thanks for watching
Best interview you have done so far Phil. You are growing in this field. I wish my niece who has a naff time of her life up to this point could have a female role model like this wonderful woman. Thank you both 😢
Thanks for watching
What a find!!!! Brilliant channel 👌
Thanks for the support! Welcome aboard
Wonderful - watched the entire interview. If you've not read her book, get a hold of it - not just for the flying stories, but for the life lessons it teaches as well. :)
Thanks for watching
Great story & a formidable lady. Good mix of guests on your Channel; a nice change from most similar content makers.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Brilliant just Brilliant Thank You Phil & Mandy
Thanks for watching!
That was an amazing interview. Next time get the book plug in!
Thanks for watching!
What a lady ! Great interview
Appreciate the support! 💪
Amazing episode Phil, Mandy was amazing and inspirational Well Done
Thank you for watching! 😁
Enjoyed this!!! Thanks Phil!
Glad you enjoyed it
... awesome interview !
Thanks for watching
Great interview. Love your approach and excitement at the beginning. Your style is great as it's you just being you and wanting to ask the questions we all would 👍🏻
Great, inspiring post
Thank you for watching!
Fascinating & enjoyable.
Really good interview
Thank you for watching! 😁
I laughed when she said she was the taxi driver ! Many moons ago we were shown around a squadron of Tornados prior to take off ! that's exactly what the navigator said to me and my oppo! Great interview too .
Stay safe out there .
Thank you for watching!
Yet again, another excellent interview 👏
Thanks for watching 😎
Hi Mandy,
You are a Motivator .... I served in the R.A.F. as Ground Crew after being called up for N.S. in 1954 but refusing to go in the Army or Navy and only wanting to join the R.A.F., so after my Medical I was told I was Medically fir to go home and I would receive a letter telling me which service I was allocated to...I told them they had not been listening as I was NOT going in the Army or Navy Good Bye. Someone pulled me aside and said I would go where I was told as this was not my Choice as I was called up for N.S.... Again I said Good Bye. and the bloke said if you are determined to go in the R.A.F. there was a way round it ,,,Oh Yes... Yes Sign on as a Regular and more money... That sounds Good...Cut a long story short I had an R.A.F. interview and aptitude test that day and in April 1955 Basic and Trade Training over I was posted to H.K. but was off loaded in Singapore and posted to 81 (PR) Sqdn and absolutely loved it so much so that 2 years into my two and a half years posting I signed on for a further 6 months so completing 3 years on Active service on an operational Squadron and got round the Far East on many deniables being where we should not have been.
When I returned to the U.K. with an M.i.D. the R.A.F. did not care and was in one of their restructuring modes...I had a lot to offer But Careers were dead Shits....So I left got married and in 1982 we Migrated to Aus and we have never looked back.
Once I was retired after some 58 years in the work force, I had the opportunity to visit Schools/Colleges Pre Anzac and Remembrance days doing presentations to both buys and Girls, my approach was always Motivational particularly regarding Girls but in General assuring them that there was only one person who had the Authority to tell them what to do and that was Themselves.
I was astounded at the number of those Pupils, particularly Girls, used to thank me for helping them both after my presentations and in the streets regularly telling me they had learnt more about Motivation and Employment opportunities together with them finally realising that Education made the the path ahead via Apprenticeships/College/Uni.... One 17 year old College student came to me one day and told me she was not a good student...I looked at her and before I could say anything....She corrected herself and said "Well I was not a good student....But after you spoke to us at the College we and I in particular decided that if I want something out of life the it is up to ME to put more effort into to achieving what ever I want"....I looked at her and complimented her saying she had made me very Happy and reminded her that she should always set her sights a little bit higher that she felt she could comfortably achieve and never stop challenging.
It is a really satisfying feeling to be able to motivate Young Ones. I had to give the School presentations away when Wife was diagnosed with Dementia and Alzheimers and passed away last Feb, in Oct we would have been Married 64 years
I am so pleased you have carved your own future and in doing so improved the potential of so many Young ones...You are an inspiration
Thanks for watching! 😎
Great guest, really enjoyed listening/waching this one
Glad you enjoyed it!
Just watched this, fantastic and inspiring. I am going to make sure my daughter watches the last 20 minutes of this at least. The Gen Z do need to get their head out of their phones and understand school is an enabler. Great interview Phil. Good variety of guests on your show. John Nicol would make a great guest (PoW on OP GRANBY, thats Gulf War 1 to the spams)😉
Thanks for watching
My mum was a full lieutenant with a detached command south of London on D-day, but by mid 1945 a year later her military career was over!
Thanks for sharing
Fucking amazing…: I hope my 4 and a half year old boy is lucky enough to be inspired by the mission both of you are working at. I’ve missed my chance in life but I hope the kids of today can step up and stand on Mandy and you Phil’s shoulders. You are a true inspiration
Thank you for watching! 😁
Amazing ambassador. Strong and intelligent person.
Thanks for watching!
This moment for me @1:14:18. I definitely have a STEM bias - others have told me. I pursued my studies and career in a different direction because I felt my maths and ability to relate abstract concepts in general to the real world just wasn't good enough. It's forty odd years too late for me but please keep helping people in Mandy's words, "join the dots" and persuading educators they need to do that too.
Another great guest
Thank you for watching!
Great interview! Very inspirational
Thanks for your support
Great guest. Goiing to get my 3 daughters to listennto her
Respect to this pilot and her journey in the military…
Thank you for watching!
What brilliant interview and an amazing woman
Thank you for watching! 😁
Really amazing thank you Mandy and Phill!
Schools need to keep the "victim " attitude going as there is a whole industry supported by it.
I'm ex RAF (low ranker in the 1970s).
The Forces and Blue light services (in my opinion) have all bought into the civvie "management " style, and the trainers set the mindset which stifles the individual.
As with many other jobs all the peripheral non essential elements slow and absorb time drawing away from the core task. (Just my opinion).
Thank you for sharing
Amazing interview and incredible role model.
I just love we've ticked the box on this. Let's not think she wasn't pushed through.
Glad in a way she didn't lose her life because of this. I suppose the modern point
is to encourage others. Let's hope this is not a potential failing.
Thanks for watching!
Brilliant stuff as always! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the support!
Mandy's recollections would have been so interesting IF ONLY YOU COULD HAVE KEPT YOUR MOUTH SHUT and STOPPED INTERRUPTING AND LAUGHING OUT LOUD!!!!
Sorry Mandy but at 5:59 I bailed out because of the Loud Mouthed Yobbo who kept over talking you.
Male or female, it doesn't matter, what an amazing humble and inspiring person.
We agree!
What a delightful lady. No wonder she was so successful.
You have to Remember, the trouble with the Spitfire was sorted by a Women, Not Biggles. Also the Maths for the M/ C guns was worked out by a Father and DAUGHTER. ..
What an amazing woman and love what you are doing phill
Thanks for watching!
Hell what a Woman , makes you proud of our armed forces . hope they are many more given that opportunity .
Thank you for watching! 😁
Brilliant Phil & Mandy
Thanks for watching!
Great guest. 👍
Fantastic interview Phil,
Another great interview. I would be interested to understand the inflexibility in the RAF appointing cycle that led such a valuable person to leave. I assume with the RAF’s drive to recruit more women that this has been addressed. I hate to appear cynical, but I shan’t hold my breath.
brilliant channel phil !!
Thanks for your support! Help us spread the word!
Great chat guys 👍🏻
Glad you enjoyed it!
A similar thing happened to my roommate. He failed the aptitude tests for being a pilot... while already holding a pilot's license. He said it is because he didn't play video games. He appealed and got approved. He became a USAF pilot.