Spitfires in More than One Sense

As the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain comes to a close it would not be right to let it go by without highlighting the work of these incredible women. As in every war women were called upon to do mens work and then at the end of the war pushed back into domesticity as if they had never been out of it, and these women were no exception.

Aeroplanes came off the production line and into the hangers at an ever increasing speed during the second World War as the battle's in the air were fought and won with the loss of lives as well as aeroplanes. The very few women who had flown before the war saw their opportunity, but their own battle was not an easy one either.

The persistence of one woman in particular Pauline Gower, saw the breakthrough. A shortage of pilots and the need to get the aircraft from factories to squadrons up and down the country prompted the British Air Ministry to engage trained women pilots. Pauline Gower who was an experienced commercial air pilot also ran pleasure flights before the war.  When civilian flying  was banned during the war she saw her opportunity and approached the Director General of Civil Aviation to discuss with him the newly formed Air Transport Auxilliary.   Despite some resistance she was not to be denied nor defeated and it was agreed that there should initially be only 8 women who would be allowed to fly the aircraft provided they were sufficiently trained.  It comes as no surprise that the women had to be more qualified than the men to be able to fly them.   Throughout her time with the ATA she ensured the highest levels of competence amongst the women and demanded the utmost professionalism.  By the end of the war there were overf 165 women pilots, many of whom had joined from overseas.

                                                     (Photograph by Bernie Condon)

Diana Barton Walker a  wealthy young socialite learnt to fly after just six hours of training, by the age of 22 years she had delivered over 200 Spitfires and other aircraft to squadrons throughout the country. In 1963 she was the first  British woman to break the sound barrier.

Another woman of note was Amy Johnson who became the first British trained woman ground engineer and for a time the only one in the world.  During the 1930's she set off in a Gypsy Moth from Croydon, London to Darwin, Australia, completing the flight in 19 days and 11,000 miles later.  Tragically her life was cruelly cut short in January 1941 when after joining the ATA her plane crashed into the Thames Estuary and she drowned.

So many of these women when interviewed in later life were to remark that it was the best time of their lives despite the dangers and difficulties surrounding them and not always due to the flights but also from some of their male colleagues.   Not surprising then that most of them had to return to a life of domesticity!