Spitfire Women of World War II

Spitfire Women of World War II
Giles Whittell

The story of the unsung heroines who flew the newest, fastest, aeroplanes in World War II – mostly in southern England where the RAF was desperately short of pilots.Why would the well-bred daughter of a New England factory-owner brave the U-boat blockades of the North Atlantic in the bitter winter of 1941? What made a South African diamond heiress give up her life of house parties and London balls to spend the war in a freezing barracks on the Solent? And why did young Margaret Frost start lying to her father during the Battle of Britain?They – and scores of other women – weren't allowed to fly in combat, but what they did was nearly as dangerous. Unarmed and without instruments or radios, they delivered planes for the Air Transport Auxiliary to the RAF bases from which male pilots flew into battle. At the mercy of the weather and any long-range enemy aircraft that pounced on them, dozens of these women died, among them Amy Johnson, Britain's most famous flyer. But the survivors shared four unrepeatable years of life, adrenaline and love.The story of this 'tough bunch of babes' (in the words of one of them) has never been told properly before. The author has interviewed all the surviving women pilots, who came not just from the shires of England, but also from the U.S.A, Chile, Australia, Poland and Argentina. Paid £ 6.00 a week, they flew – in skirts – up to 16 hours a day in 140 different types of aircraft, though most of them liked spitfires best.

SPITFIRE WOMEN OF WORLD WAR II

Giles Whittell

For Karen

Contents

List of Illustrations (#ud86b0f5e-e135-532a-b9e3-760470852a30)

Epigraph (#uf455ea0b-5d3b-5eca-831c-04e5838e31df)

Prologue (#u51845cb1-edea-5075-b17e-08b565fab77d)

1 Encounter (#udc15e82a-24ff-55c3-8fac-5e149da51c8c)

2 No Way Down (#u6f85eb43-2b10-52ef-88ca-162030f8d600)

3 Queen Bee (#u50bcf08b-8867-538d-b5d8-81b3083bcd14)

4 The First Eight (#ubbb3d45a-8015-52a6-8156-dd2ca49639fa)

5 All Over Europe the Air Was Free (#litres_trial_promo)

6 Escape From Poland (#litres_trial_promo)

7 None of Us Is Snobbish (#litres_trial_promo)

8 We LIKE You In Your Harness! (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Brab’s Beauties (#litres_trial_promo)

10 The Perfect Lady’s Aeroplane (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The Originals (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Team Cochran (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Over Here (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Flygirls in London (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Hamble (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Heroines (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Girl Flies Halifax (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Mayfair 120 (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Over The Top (#litres_trial_promo)

20 Eyes Wide Shut? (#litres_trial_promo)

21 Women of the World (#litres_trial_promo)

22 Left Behind (#litres_trial_promo)

23 Honeymoon in Belgium (#litres_trial_promo)

24 Better To Have Lived (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

A Note on Sources (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

By the same Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About The Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Illustrations (#udcbc243a-f0e4-5c18-994a-4b7314bf4bc2)

Amy Johnson RAF Museum

Gordon Selfridge and Rosemary Rees From ATA Girl, Memoirs of A Wartime Ferry Pilot by Rosemary du Cros

Rosemary Rees with a Miles Hawk Major From ATA Girl, Memoirs of

A Wartime Ferry Pilot by Rosemary du Cros

Audrey Sale-Barker Courtesy Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Sale-Barker and Joan Page Courtesy Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Gerard d’Erlanger Courtesy Robin d’Erlanger/British Airways Museum

Pauline Gower in a Tiger Moth Imperial War Museum

Lt. Col. J.T. Moore-Brabazon Imperial War Museum