1. Judy Leden, MBE was born on 1959 and is a British hang glider and paraglider pilot.
18 Facts About Judy Leden
1. 2.
Judy Leden has held three world champion titles, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding.
3.
Judy Leden's flying career began while she was at university in Cardiff in 1979.
4.
Judy Leden started competing in 1982 and broke many records in 1983.
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Judy Leden currently holds world records for both hang gliding and paragliding.
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Judy Leden's work includes films, stunts, flying displays, teaching and writing.
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Judy Leden is a friend and supporter of Flyability, the BHPA charity to help disabled people to fly hang gliders and paragliders.
8.
Judy Leden was asked to fly at the Imperial War Museum display at Duxford as part of their 2011 Spring Air Show themed Celebrating Women in Aviation.
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Judy Leden has been British Women's Champion six times and in 1995 she won the Women's World Paragliding Championship.
10.
Judy Leden's father was one of the children saved by Sir Nicholas Winton prior to the outbreak of World War II.
11.
Judy Leden took Winton flying in a microlight on a number of occasions including his 98th and 100th birthdays.
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In 1989 Judy Leden became the first woman to fly over the English Channel by hang glider following a launch from a hot air balloon at 13,000 feet.
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In early 1992 Judy Leden took part in the Flight of the Dacron Eagles, a 1000-mile, three-week microlight and hang glider expedition down the rift valley in Kenya, filming for the BBC 1 Classic Adventure series with cameramen Sid Perou, microlight pilots Richard Meredith-Hardy and Ben Ashman and hang glider pilots Mark Dale, Tim Hudson and Louise Anderton.
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Judy Leden was awarded an MBE in 1989 for her services to hang gliding, and has received many other awards, including the Royal Aero Club Gold Medal for 1995, and Sportswoman of the Year from Cosmopolitan magazine and Middlesex county.
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Judy Leden received the Hussein Medal for Excellence in recognition of her flight to Jordan by microlight, and the Order of the Star of Jordan by King Hussein.
16.
Airways instructor Judy Leden flying Tandem with Cloud Appreciation Society founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney, showing him what its like to fly through the clouds on a hang glider.
17.
The Gadget Show presenter, Jon Bentley, flew with Judy Leden, competing with a peregrine falcon to track a lure.
18.
Judy Leden took BBC Breakfast Weather reporter Carol Kirkwood flying in a hang glider to see a cloud close up and weigh it, for BBC's The Great British Weather Show.