I helped train some of the RAF's first female pilots almost thirty years ago (the captain of the first RAF all female fast jet crew was one of my UAS students).
Now we are well into the twenty first century I feel that it's slightly "old hat" to make such a big thing about T. C-T's exploits just because she is a woman. The HCAP award seems to be recognition that some old dinosaurs still exist therein and have only just awakened from slumber.