Former beauty queen Nanette Olsen releases life story

Six decades on she still has the dazzling smile, impeccable posture, and winning combination of warmth and elegance which wowed judging panels across the country. 

In her heyday Nanette won more than 200 titles, even travelling to New York to represent England. 

When the Suffolk model and dancer met a handsome US Air Force pilot their picture-perfect love story soon led to marriage and two children.  

Nanette and Bill Olson, known as Ole, travelled the world as he was posted to the USA, South Korea and Germany before returning to the UK and setting up home in Hethersett, near Norwich. 

Then tragedy tore through their fairytale.  

Early one stormy morning in November 1980 Bill was about to leave for work.  

Nanette remembers saying to him: “Surely you are not going to fly in this?” He answered: “Honey, we fly above this. See you later.” 

It was the last conversation they ever had. 

At 9.15am that morning two US Air Force Tankbuster aircraft from RAF Bentwaters, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, collided over Norfolk.  

One pilot ejected before his aircraft crashed in flames near Itteringham, between Aylsham and Holt. Bill Olson flew on and out to sea, trying to get back to his Suffolk base without flying over populated areas. But the damage to his plane was too great and he ejected into the sea off Winterton.  

Within minutes of the collision a search and rescue helicopter was scrambled from RAF Coltishall. Its crew spotted Ole in the water and David Bullock was winched down to try to free the American from the waterlogged parachute dragging him through the waves, and pluck him to safety.  

In gale force winds and waves of up to 15ft, the winchman became tangled in the pilot's parachute lines. As rescuers tried to haul them up the steel winch cable snapped. By the time divers from a second rescue helicopter arrived to free both men and pull them from the water it was too late.   

The double tragedy was reported around the world.   

The men were just 38; both left a widow and two young children.    

Helicopter winchman David Bullock, of Aylsham, had served in the RAF for 22 years and was posthumously awarded the George Medal for outstanding bravery. Ole was commended for his efforts to avoid crashing into a built-up area. 

His children were nine and six and Nanette devoted her time to rebuilding their shattered lives without their father. Ole had been a scholar and athlete as well as a military hero, with a master's degree in economics and the Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal.  

Every November a group gathers in an Aylsham cemetery for a poignant ceremony honouring both David and the US pilot he died trying to rescue. 

As the 40th anniversary of the tragedy approached, in what should have been their 50th wedding anniversary year, Nanette began planning a memorial event for friends and family at the home she had shared with Ole, and still lives in today. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and instead she searched through photographs and letters, and asked friends, family and colleagues for their memories of her beloved husband. 

Collected in a book, published in 2020, the project helped her re-live the happiest of times, as well as the saddest. Two years later she has created a sequel focusing on her own story.  

It is a social history too, beginning with her grandmother – one of 13 children born into a family living in a top-floor East End flat. Nanette was born after her parents moved out of London to Stutton, near Ipswich.  

Aged three she began dance classes. “From that day on dancing – and everything that goes with it – became my absolute passion,” she said. 

Nanette continued dancing throughout her childhood and when Anglia Television was launched in 1959 she began dancing on its live shows, in costumes created by her mum. Her dream was to become a professional ballerina. 

At 15, on holiday with her family at Butlins in Skegness, she entered a ‘holiday princess’ competition – and won. If she had gone on to win the £1,000 national prize it could have paid for another year of ballet training but she came second, so swapped ballet shoes and tutus for high heels and swimwear and began taking part in dance and beauty contests. 

In 1962 she was named Ipswich Town Football Queen – and presented with her trophy by Alf Ramsey. 

But she still adored dancing and, with her modelling and beauty contest career going well, entered the National Ballroom Queen championships. Walking through icy London on the way to the competition she was hit by a lorry. Nurses at the hospital where she was treated for a month said it was only the rollers in her hair, hidden beneath a hat in readiness for her glamorous dance-contest hairstyle, that saved her life. 

It took months for her injuries to heal – but eventually she was dancing and winning beauty contests again. At 18 she was named Miss Margate – with the prize including a holiday in Dubrovnik. It was her first trip abroad.  

She went on to win the national Butlin's Holiday Princess title, with the prize money paying for a brand new car for her parents (their first ever car), and then the prestigious ballroom dancing contest National Ballroom Queen of Great Britain. 

“I was very proud to win the Butlin’s Holiday Princess title because, out of all competitions, it started with the most entries throughout the UK. I was also extremely proud to win the Miss Anglia title for obvious reasons…my part of the world! But I have to say the title that topped them all for me was the National Ballroom Queen of Great Britain because I had to show that I could also dance,” said Nanette. 

Nanette at 21 (Image: Archant)

Many companies had their own beauty contests, meaning Nanette became the face of brands ranging from vodka to cruise ships. She came third in the Miss United Kingdom contest, third in Miss Britain – and represented England in an international competition in New York.  

“I enjoyed meeting many famous faces along the way. The most internationally famous was probably Roger Moore, but other stars included Tom Jones, Barbara Windsor, Norman Wisdom, Des O’Connor, Lonnie Donegal, Englebert Humperdinck, famous footballers and sports personalities, the list goes on!”  

As her career progressed opposition mounted to competitions involving parades of scantily-clad young women but Nanette said she never felt exploited. Of one stage-storming scene she said: “I understand the reasons behind the protest, but I don’t think that the women with their banners and flour bombs were aware that we weren’t being manipulated by men or management behind the scenes – I certainly wasn’t anyway!” 

Nanette had met Ole met at an East Anglian air show and they married in St Margaret’s Church, Ipswich in 1970. Their daughter Alexandra was born the following year. They then moved to the USA where Ole was made professor of aeronautical studies at the Virginia Military Institute. 

Their son Tony was born in the USA in 1974 and they went on to postings in South Korea and Germany before returning to East Anglia and settling in Hethersett, near Norwich, where Nanette still lives.  

Tony’s birthplace became an issue when Nanette discovered that a British woman could not pass on her citizenship. As soon as the family were back in Britain she wrote a letter to a national newspaper on the issue – and was astonished to see it become front-page news. Advised to consult her MP she contacted John MacGregor and within a month children born to British women abroad could apply for British citizenship. 

The South Norfolk MP was also a member of the Magic Circle and Nanette once joined him on stage at a charity fundraiser. She also became a dance teacher at Norwich’s Central School of Dancing. 

Today her daughter is a dancer in Las Vegas, where she lives with her family, and her son and his family live in Hethersett.  

After the overwhelming tragedy of Ole’s death Nanette had to find the strength to fill the terrible gap left in their lives.  

Now they have their own children – and, following Nanette’s book about Ole, they asked her to tell them about her modelling and beauty queen days. The result is And The Winner Is..., available from nanetteolson45@googlemail.com and lulu.com