Air Transport Auxiliary
www.hoover.org/hila/collections/19399779.html
Created in September 1939, the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) employed civilian flyers from thirty countries in addition the United Kingdom, with the United States providing the next-largest contingent. ATA pilots were responsible for ferrying aircraft for the Royal Air Force, the Fleet Air Arm, and the British army from factories to squadrons and shipping depots. In 1940 eight women pilots began flying for ATA (originally an all-male organization) with many more following their example, including about thirty from the United States.
More information on the history of ATA can be found at the British Air Transport Auxiliary web site at www.airtransportaux.com

The ATA was a civilian organisation set up by Gerard d'Erlanger, Director of British Overseas Airways Corporation, under the auspices of the Air Ministry. It began operation in 1939 and over the course of the war was responsible for ferrying over 300,000 aircraft between factories and front-line airfields, freeing RAF pilots for operational duty. By 1945 the group had pilots from 22 countries around the world, including Poland, Denmark, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Canada and the United States.

ATA personnel delivered 147 different types of aircraft including Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters, Stirlings, Mosquitos and Barracudas. They flew in all weather conditions but yet had an incredibly low accident rate, as Winston Churchill commented to Gerard d'Erlanger in 1944 in a letter of thanks to the ATA; "That this formidable task (aircraft delivery) should have been performed with so low an accident record resounds greatly to the credit of both your pilots and ground staff."

Tragically however, 173 air crew personnal lost their lives on ATA missions, including Amy Johnson the pioneering female civil aviator. When the ATA was disbanded in 1945, Lord Beaverbrook, first Minister of Aircraft Production, said: "Without the ATA the days and nights of the battle of Britain would have been conducted under conditions quite different from the actual events .... They were soldiers fighting in the struggle just as completely as if they had been engaged on the battlefront."
 
 

PIONEER WOMEN PILOTS
 

Lettice Curtis was the first woman to fly a four-engined bomber of the twelve women eventually attained a Class 5 Ranking. In a single day, Lettice flew two Class 1 aircraft, a Spitfire (Class 2), a Mitchell and a Mosquito (Class 4), and a Stirling (Class 5). This sudden change of type required tremendous mental dexterity.

It was not until the summer of 1943, that equal pay was introduced for the women. By now they were ferrying all classes of aircraft, with the exception of Class 6 flying boats. But other than the one Class, they flew the same distances and the same aircraft as the men. In addition to pilots, women were recruited in other roles within the ATA, and four women Flight Engineers served with the organisation. Unfortunately, one of these was killed in service.

Women were not officially allowed to ferry to the continent, though in late September 1944, Diana Barnato Walker managed to fly a Spitfire to Brussels, although at the time she was on leave from the ATA. Permission had to be sought from the Headquarters of the Second Tactical Air Force of the RAF to allow her to travel to Brussels. As a result of her flight, ATA women pilots were officially cleared to fly to the continent and some flew to Berlin. The opportunity was also there for several of the women to ferry the Meteor, Britain's first jet fighter.

As the war came to an end it was clear that the role of the ATA would end and that there would be fewer jobs for the women as the country returned to pre-war practices. Several of the women carried on flying after the war. In 1963 Diana Barnato Walker became the first British woman to break the sound barrier, in a Lightning T4 jet fighter.

Under Secretary of State of Air, Lord Balfour said, "The men and women of the Air Transport Auxiliary were civilians in uniforms who played a soldiers part in the Battle for Britain and who performed throughout the war a supreme importance to the RAF"

VI MILSTEAD WARREN
Canadian 99s Site
Born in Toronto, Ontario in October 1919, Vi learned to fly at the old Barker Field in Toronto (named after Canada’s most decorated WWI hero, Lt. Col. William Barker). Vi passed her Private Pilot’s Flight Test, #3339 in December, 1939, her Commercial Licence in April, 1940 and earned her Instructor’s Rating at Trenton, Ontario in July, 1941. Vi instructed at Barker Field until civilian flying ceased in Canada, due to wartime gas rationing in November, 1942.

She applied to BOAC in Montreal for service in the British Air Transport Auxiliary. At that time she had approximately 1,000 flying hours and easily passed her check out in the Harvard AT-6, going overseas in 1943 to ferry aircraft between manufacturers, maintenance facilities and Armed Forces’ units throughout Britain. After preliminary training at ATA Headquarters, White Waltham Airfield in 1944, Vi was based at Cosford. She ferried 27 different types of single engine aircraft and 17 different types of advanced twin-engine aircraft, as a First Officer (equivalent to a Captain’s rank in the military) Most fondly remembered, the Spitfire and the deHavilland Mosquito.
 
 
 
 

Marion (née Walsh) de Chastelain
A.J.G.D. De Chastelain "John," twice Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, Ambassador to the US, head of the International Commission on Decommissioning in Northern Ireland (b on 30 July 1937 at Bucharest, Romania). John de Chastelain is the son of American-born Marion (née Walsh) DE CHASTELAIN and English-born Alfred Gardyne de Chastelaine (Chas). John de Chastelaine was born to a life of privilege. His father was an oil executive in Romania during the false optimism of post-WW I Europe. His parents were dashing, cosmopolitan people who led an affluent lifestyle and rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful in Bucharest, "The Paris of the Balkans."

As the Nazis plotted to occupy Poland and Romania, the de Chastelains realized their danger. The British government recruited Chas to lead a sabotage team to destroy Romanian oil installations to keep them out of German hands. Marion escaped to England with John and his older sister Jacquie. She later took the children to live with her parents in New York. She was recruited by William STEPHENSON, the Canadian master spy in charge of counterespionage for the British and Americans. They remained in New York until Marion was given an assignment in England and relocated with the children. London was still being bombed, so Marion sent them to a boarding school in northern England. Chas was being held in protective custody by the Romanians to shield him from the Germans. 

Diana Barnato-Walker
During the post war years she continued flying for the W.J.A.C and concentrated on life as a single woman. In 1962 she won the Jean Lennox Bird Trophy presented annually to a British Woman pilot, it was given to her for her work with the Youth Organisation. Jean Lennox Bird was an ATA pilot during the war and was the first woman to win her Wings. She was killed in 1957. The second notable event during this time was the offer to attempt to break the sound barrier. Prior to this Diana wanted to attempt the woman's air speed record, but at the time there was no insurance cover available for women.

Diana knew that the flight was quite possible in the two seat version of the new Lightning jet fighter, but she needed to convince the Air Minister, the Right Honourable Hugh Frazer of her desire and ability to go through the sound barrier. She came up with twelve reasons why she should do this and eventually he agreed on the condition that she undertook all the same decompression tests as her male counterparts in Fighter Command. Medical tests were carried out over the course of a week at RAF Upwood, after which Diana was moved to Middleton St George where she spent several hours in the flight simulator.

On 26th August 1963, everything was ready including Diana. The sky was reasonably clear with slight cumulus clouds at about 3000ft. Squadron Leader Ken Goodwin went along with Diana as her check pilot, it was his job to confirm that the flight took place as computer control and data telemetry were still in their infancy, and there was no way of proving the speeds needed to pass through the sound barrier. The Lightning, XM996, was a Mk T4 two-seater training version from the Operational Conversion Unit. Diana says; "After takeoff in reheat I turned on to an easterly course to take me out over the sea. I was supposed to climb to 20,000 ft before turning north to do the timed run. It was decided that this was to be an attempt at the Women's Speed Record".

Unlike her Fairchild, which seemed positively lively compared to the Lightning, it seemed to take a long time to turn the aircraft and head out over the sea. In contrast to this seeming lack of manoeuvrability, once Diana pitched up to climb to her speed record altitude, the true performance of the Lightning became apparent. In less that a second she was through the 3000ft cumulous, it was an amazing feeling to realize that she was flying vertically! Within a few seconds the altimeter read 42,000 ft and she had not been cleared to fly at that height. Ken advised that she; "turned onto course and start the run from up here". With the afterburners lit she turned north in a shallow descent building up speed to 1,500 mph to start the run at 30,000 ft. The afterburners could burn in excess of 11,000 gallons of fuel, AvTag, an hour and after 20 minutes at full power the Lightning became the world's most expensive glider! Time then was of the essence. Slowly, the Mach meter moved up and the instruments in the cockpit went crazy as she passed through the sound barrier. Suddenly it was deathly quiet in the aircraft as all noise had been left behind.

That was it, in the culmination of an amazing aviation career, Diana had made history, she had passed through the sound barrier. She was presented with membership to the 'Ten Ton Club' the 1,000 mile per hour club and also given a club tie with the Mach number on it. Diana had attained 1.65 Mach speed, an unbelievable 1,262 mph. Diana made an excellent landing in the Lightning, which as anyone who has flown the type will tell you is also an achievement!

On the down side to a wonderful achievement Diana was rushed in to hospital on her return from the historic flight. She spent several months in hospital and underwent three operations during the following years to cure her of cancer. Thankfully Diana is now cancer free, perhaps the last act of her Guardian Angel. In 1965 Diana was awarded the MBE, and delighted in appearing on the same honours list as the Beatles! Up until the year 1969 she doubled the number of flying hours she had amassed during the war, flying for the W.J.A.C. among others, now renamed the Girls Venture Corps Air Cadets. She lives on her farm now and enjoys life as much now as she used to in her younger days. She loves to recount her stories and has given many children the chance to experience the joy of flying through her charity works.

 
LINKS

Camp X Official Site
The top-secret mission of a team of SOE agents
who successfully assassinated 'The Butcher of Praque' Reinhard Heydrich.
http://webhome.idirect.com/~lhodgson/Anthropoid1.html
http://webhome.idirect.com/~lhodgson/Anthropoid2.html
http://webhome.idirect.com/~lhodgson/Anthropoid3.html
http://webhome.idirect.com/~lhodgson/Anthropoid4.html
http://webhome.idirect.com/~lhodgson/Anthropoid5.html
 
 

Special Operations Executive - S O E  1940-1945 (French Section)
 
 

Stone & Stone: WWII Books