Britain's first transgender RAF pilot thanks colleagues for accepting her decision to become a woman

Happy: Ayla Holdom says she couldn't have hoped for a better reaction from her colleagues

The UK's first transgender military pilot has spoken out - to praise her colleagues for their "exemplary" attitude towards her transformation.

Ayla Holdom, 34, is a search-and-rescue pilot and a decorated RAF officer, who changed from a man to a woman.

Over a two-year period, she underwent three major operations and several other procedures to achieve a body she felt comfortable with.

Now the transformation is complete, she has come forward to praise the RAF and her co-workers for their "complete acceptance and empathy".

Ayla said: "All my RAF colleagues were brilliant. I think they were surprised because I was pretty adept at pretending to be a man.

"I walked macho, I sat macho, I worked out hard and I like a bit of banter.

"Even old and bold warrant officers who had grown up in the days when people like me would have been taken behind the bike sheds for a kicking, came to congratulate me.

"I can see why someone might think it's been difficult.

"Men go to war, women stay at home and mind the children - that's the traditional military narrative.

"But being transgender in the RAF has been, in some ways, easier than in civilian life.

"The military has a policy and there are rules and what we do is adhere to them. It keeps things simple. Even this.

"I did as little as possible because I wanted to stay operationally fit and healthy, to remain a fully functioning military pilot throughout."

She continued: "But if you are cursed with testosterone and a Y chromosome then you have to do what you need to get yourself out of the door every morning and be accepted as a woman.

"It makes it easier for the world to accept you as a woman if you look like one, even though that shouldn't need to be the case.

"Being transgender is one of the last areas of prejudice.

"It's like race or homosexuality a generation ago and I hope that transgender people can elicit the same change in society today."