Lady pilots and the Air Transport Auxiliary in WW2

About

The next Swythamley Historical Society talk is a rather different one – about the Air Transport Auxiliary in WW2.

The Air Transport Auxiliary or ATA was set up in September 1939 with some 23 male pilots. Their role was to be to ferry aircraft to the places they were needed by the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm. This was usually from the factory or repair shop but could also be from temporary storage units to which the planes had been moved shortly after construction so as to reduce the risk of loss by bombing.

The pilots were those otherwise not qualified for the armed services, e.g. through age, handicap (from wearing glasses to loss of a limb) and gender. They worked from various locations across the country which became known as Ferry Pools. In November 1939 Pauline Gower was given permission to recruit a few female pilots with considerable experience. Some 12 were tested in December and 8 joined from 1 January 1940. By the end of the year there were 26 women pilots including the famous Amy Johnson. In total some 166 women flew for the ATA at some point during the war. Their safety record was better than the men’s. One of these lady pilots was Audrey Macmillan, who became Sir Philip Brocklehurst’s second wife.

We are lucky enough to have been recommended a speaker, Caroline Speirs, whose mother, Rita Baines from Stoke, was also in the ATA during the war and even flew the iconic spitfire. Caroline will be coming to tell us about the ATA and what it was like for her mother and the other lady pilots. We’ll also be telling you a little about Audrey’s time as a pilot.

£4.00 per person.