Grandma flew Spitfires - Air Transport Auxiliary

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by Peter Clare, Mar 18, 2012.

  1. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    I live just down the road from this museum, I'll have to make a visit.

    The Air Transport Auxiliary Exhibition and Archive tells a forgotten story of courage, skill and sacrifice. 70 years on, it is difficult to believe that Britain was so desperate that the amateur pilots of Air Transport Auxiliary, (men and women), were allowed to fly dozens of different types of war plane between factories and front line squadrons. But it is true, as you will discover when you visit Grandma Flew Spitfires at Maidenhead Heritage Centre in Berkshire.

    Read more

    Air Transport Auxiliary dedicated exhibition and archive - home to Grandma Flew Spitfires!
     
  2. Ednamay

    Ednamay wanderer

    I thought everyone knew of the ATA women and was amazed when recently TV presented some information and interviews with flyers - better late than never. I suppose that I must allow for the fact that, since my generation, people have been too busy 'living' to consider what is now 'history'

    Edna
     
  3. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

  4. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

  5. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    And while we're rolling 'em out, Ferry Pilot (1941) BFI screenonline
    + synopsis from DVD release (with my bold emphasis):
    Ferry Pilot was made in 1941 by Crown Film Unit and directed by Pat Jackson (of Western Approaches fame) and focuses on the work of the wartime ferry pilots, the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

    By 1941, literally hundreds of RAF fighters and bombers needed to be flown each day between aircraft factories, maintenance depots and RAF aerodromes. Essentially a dramatised account of typical ATA deliveries, the film features coverage of the ATA’s own fleet of Ansons, as well as being notable for some excellent Spitfire film and very rare footage of the Whitley bomber, including take off and in-cockpit sequences. The opening section was filmed at White Waltham (masquerading as No.15 Ferry Pool). All the stars are genuine ATA pilots, including Jim Mollison and Joan Hughes. There is a superb sequence of a Spitfire and later on a Messerschmidt Bf110 makes an appearance - flown for the film by the RAF.

    PS: Alternate source with yet different blurb - Ferry Pilot (1941) DocuWiki
     
  6. Ednamay

    Ednamay wanderer

    And while we're rolling 'em out, Ferry Pilot (1941) BFI screenonline
    + synopsis from DVD release (with my bold emphasis):

    Thank you - I thought I remembered this from the war years but I was about ten and not sure that I saw it later.

    Edna
     
  7. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qt65y

    video in link

     
    DianeE likes this.
  8. DianeE

    DianeE Member

    A great video and a lovely lady.

    Thanks for posting
    Diane
     
  9. Nijmegen

    Nijmegen Member

    ATA woman flying instructor, Miss J. Broad, with a male pupil in an Oxford training aircraft (IWM).
    [​IMG]
    Just as in WWI, women found themselves emancipated. Just as in WWI, after the war things returned to as before.
     
  10. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  11. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    They don't make them like that these days. May you rest in peace Joy.
     
  12. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    'Spitfire Lady' Joy Lofthouse Dies Aged 94
    [​IMG]



    The interview above was filmed just a couple of months ago.

    Joy joined the ATA in 1943 with her sister after spotting an advert in a flying magazine.

    She was one of the only women who were allowed to fly with the ATA during the war.

    Joy and the other women of the ATA would wait for good weather before being handed a chitty, which would tell them where they were flying to, what they were flying and who they were linking up with, but the jet they all wanted to fly was the Spitfire.

    In an interview with Forces News, Joy described flying as easy, but it was the taking off and landing that was the tricky part, especially in the Spitfire:

    The job was a dangerous one, something which Joy found that out during one flight she went to shut the canopy as it flew away in her hand.

    Upon inspection of the aircraft logbook, there was evidence of the jet having a history of canopy trouble and that it hadn’t been fixed properly.

    Joy described joining the war effort as an exciting feeling because she didn’t appreciate what war was, but it was something interesting happening in her life, especially when coming from a mundane day to day experience in a small town in Gloucestershire.

    She had a motto for life which was: “Try anything, it might work!”

    [​IMG]

    Battle of Britain on Twitter
    RIAT AIRSHOW on Twitter


    Female Spitfire pilot Joy Lofthouse died 94 | Daily Mail Online
    [​IMG]
    Joy Lofthouse, who also flew Hurricanes, was one of only 164 women who were allowed into the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War Two

    [​IMG]
    Joy Lofthouse, who also flew Hurricanes, was one of only 164 women who were allowed into the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War Two. She is pictured (standing third from left) by a Spitfire at Sheborne-in-Elmet near Leeds


    [​IMG]
    The 'Attagirls' of the ATA, pictured in the Forties, were not allowed to fly in combat but their role was not without danger as they had to transport planes in treacherous weather
     
    Buteman, Peter Clare and 4jonboy like this.
  13. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Veteran pilot Joy Lofthouse, who flew Spitfires and bombers for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War Two, has died at the age of 94.


    WW2 Spitfire pilot Joy Lofthouse dies
     

Share This Page