The
Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British
World War II civilian
organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories,
assembly plants, transatlantic
delivery points, Maintenance Units (MU), scrap yards, and active
service squadrons and airfields—but not to
aircraft carriers. It also
flew service personnel on urgent duty from one place to another and
performed
air ambulance work.
Mission
The original intended usage was to transport mail and medical
supplies. However the pilots were immediately needed to work with
the
Royal Air Force (RAF) ferry
pools transporting aircraft. By 1 May 1940, they took
over transporting all military aircraft from the factories to the
Maintenance Units to have guns and accessories installed. On
1 August 1941, the ATA took over all ferry jobs. This
freed the much-needed combat pilot for combat duty. Lord
Beaverbrook, (
Max
Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook), gave an appropriate tribute at
the closing ceremony disbanding the ATA.
“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 carried out the delivery of aircraft from the factories
to the RAF, thus relieving countless numbers of RAF pilots for duty
in the battle.
Just as the Battle of Britain is the accomplishment and
achievement of the RAF, likewise it can be declared that the ATA
sustained and supported them in the battle.
They were soldiers fighting in the struggle just as completely
as if they had been engaged on the battlefront.”
Accomplishment
During the war, the service flew 415,000 hours and delivered over
308,000 aircraft of 130 types including
Spitfires,
Hawker Hurricanes,
Mosquitoes,
Mustangs,
Lancasters,
Halifaxes,
Fairey Swordfish,
Fairey Barracudas and
Fortresses. The average aircraft
strength of the ATA training schools was 78. Total of 133,247 hours
were flown by school aircraft and 6,013 conversion courses were put
through. The total flying hours of the Air Movement Flight was
17,059 of which 8,570 were on UK internal flights and 8,489 on
overseas flights. 883 Tons of freight was carried and 3,430
passengers transported without casualty. Total taxi hours amounted
to 179,325 excluding Air Movements.
Administration
The administration of the organisation fell to
Gerard d'Erlanger, a director of the
British Overseas
Airways Corporation (BOAC). He had suggested a similar
organisation prior to the war in a letter dated
24 May 1938. In late August 1939, the ATA was placed
under
British Airways Ltd. for
initial administration and finance. On 10 October 1939,
Air Member for Supply and Organisation (AMSO) took over the control
of the ATA. The first pilots were assigned to RAF Reserve Command
and attached to RAF Flights to ferry trainers, fighters and bombers
from factory and storage to Air Force Stations.
Late in 1939, it was decided that a third and entirely civilian
ferry pool at White Waltham near Maidenhead in Berkshire should be
set up. Operations of this pool began 15 February 1940.
On 16 May 1940,
RAF
Maintenance Command through 41 Group, took control. Then on
22 July 1941, the ATA came under the control of the
Ministry of Production (MAP). Although control shifted to these
many departments, administration was always done by BOAC with
Commander Gerard d’Erlanger CBE.
Pilots
The organisation recruited pilots who were considered to be
unsuitable for reasons of age or fitness for either the Royal Air
Force or the
Fleet Air Arm (therefore
humorously referred to as "Ancient and Tattered Airmen"), pilots
from neutral countries and, notably, women pilots.
unique feature of the ATA is that physical handicaps were ignored
if the pilot could do the job. Thus there were one-armed,
one-legged, short-sighted and one-eyed pilots with the ATA.
Representatives of 28 countries flew with the ATA.
In late 1939, Commander
Pauline Gower
MBE was given the task of organising the women's section of the
ATA.. There were 166 women pilots (one in eight of the entire
service) who volunteered from Britain, the Commonwealth (Canada,
New Zealand and South Africa), United States, the Netherlands,
Poland and one from Chile. Fifteen lost their lives in the air,
including the British pioneer aviatrix
Amy
Johnson. One of many notable achievements of the women is that
they earned the same pay as men in equal rank as the men flying
with the organisation starting in 1943. This was the first time
that the British Government gave its blessing to equal pay for
equal work, within an organisation under its jurisdiction. (Note,
at the same time, American woman flying with the
Women Airforce Service Pilots,
the WASP, were earning as little as 35% less than male colleagues.)
Although initially restricted to non-combat types (i.e. trainers
and transports), women pilots were eventually permitted to fly
virtually every aircraft flown by the RAF and Fleet Air Arm
including the four-engined
bombers, but
excluding the largest
flying
boats.
Training
Although the first ATA pilots were introduced to military aircraft
at RAF’s Central Flying School (CFS), the ATA soon developed its
own training program. Pilots progressed from light, single-engined
aircraft to more powerful and complicated aircraft in stages. They
first qualified on one “class” of aircraft, then gained experience
on that class by doing ferrying work of any and all aircraft in
that class before returning to training to qualify on the next
class of aircraft. As a result, pilots progressed based on their
own capabilities, rather than on a rigid timetable. This not only
ensured that as many pilots as possible advanced, but those that
could not were still gainfully employed flying the aircraft types
on which they had qualified. Once cleared to fly one class of
aircraft, pilots could be asked to ferry any plane in that class
even if they had never seen that type of aircraft before. To do so
they had Ferry Pilot Notes, a two-ring book of small cards with the
critical statistics and notations necessary to ferry each aircraft.
A pilot cleared on more than one class, could be asked to fly an
aircraft in any of the categories on which he or she was qualified;
thus even a pilot cleared to fly four-engined bombers could be
assigned to fly a single-engined trainer if scheduling made this
the most efficient way to get the aircraft to its
destination.
The ATA trained its pilots only to ferry planes, rather than to
perfection on every type. For example aerobatics and blind flying
were not taught and pilots were explicitly forbidden from doing
either, even if capable of doing so. The objective of the ATA was
to safely deliver aircraft and that meant taking no unnecessary
risks.
See also
References
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A. . pg
12
- Air Transport Auxiliary, Air Transport Auxiliary.
(Handbook) pg 5-7
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A.. pg
208
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A.. pg
211
- Curtis, Lettice. The Forgotten Pilots pg 308
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A.. pg
12
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A.. pg
17
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A.. pg
92
- Walker, Diana Barnato. Spreading My Wings pg 42
- Curtis, Lettice. The Forgotten Pilots pg 200
- Schrader, Helena. Sisters in Arms. pg32
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A.. pg
58
Bibliography
- Air Transport Auxiliary, Air Transport Auxiliary.
(Handbook) White Waltham, England: Reminder Book, 1945.
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A..
Leicester: Harborough Pub. Co, 1946.
- Curtis, Lettice. The Forgotten Pilots: A Story of the Air
Transport Auxiliary, 1939-45. Nelson & Saunders, Olney,
Bucks, 1985 ISBN 0-947750-02-9
- Schrader, Helena. Sisters in Arms. Barnsley: Pen &
Sword Aviation, 2006.
- Walker, Diana Barnato Spreading My Wings, Patrick
Stephens, 1994 ISBN 1-85260-473-5
Books
- Air Transport Auxiliary, Air Transport Auxiliary.
(Handbook) White Waltham, England: Reminder Book, 1945.
- Bergel, Hugh. Fly and Deliver: A Ferry Pilot's Log
Book. Shrewsbury, Eng: Airlife Pub, 1982.
- Cheesman, E. C. Brief Glory, The Story of A.T.A..
Leicester: Harborough Pub. Co, 1946.
- Curtis, Lettice. Lettice Curtis: Her Autobiography.
Walton on Thames: Red Kite, 2004.
- Curtis, Lettice. The Forgotten Pilots: A Story of the Air
Transport Auxiliary, 1939-45. Henley-on-Thames: Foulis,
1971.
- De Bunsen, Mary. Mount Up with Wings. London:
Hutchinson, 1960.
- Du Cros, Rosemary. ATA Girl: Memoirs of a Wartime Ferry
Pilot. London: Muller, 1983.
- Fahie, Michael. A Harvest of Memories: The Life of Pauline
Gower M.B.E.. Peterborough: GMS Enterprises, 1995.
- Genovese, J. Gen. We Flew Without Guns. Philadelphia:
The John C. Winston Company, 1945.
- Great Britain, and Hugh Bergel. Flying Wartime Aircraft;
ATA Ferry Pilots' *Handling Notes for Seven World War II
Aircraft. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1972.
- Hawkins, Regina Trice. Hazel Jane Raines, Pioneer Lady of
Flight. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1996.
- King, Allison. Golden Wings. London, England: C.
Arthur Pearson Limited, 1956.
- Lucas, Y. M. WAAF with Wings. Peterborough: GMS
Enterprises, 1992.
- Moggridge, Dolores Theresa. Woman Pilot. London: M.
Joseph, 1957.
- Narracott, Arthur Henson. Unsung Heroes of the Air.
London: F. Muller, 1943.
- Phelps, Anthony. "I Couldn't Care Less.". Leicester:
Harborough Pub. Co.; sole distributors to the trade: H. Marshall,
1945.
- Schrader, Helena. Sisters in Arms. Barnsley: Pen &
Sword Aviation, 2006.
- Taylor, Leonard. Airwomen's Work. London: Sir I.
Pitman & sons, ltd, 1943.
- Volkersz, Veronica. The Sky and I. London: W.H. Allen,
1956.
- Walker, Diana Barnato. Spreading My Wings: One of Britain's
Top Woman Pilots Tells Her Remarkable Story. Sparkford:
Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1994.
- Walters, Anthony Jack. Air Transport Auxiliary (The Lost
Child). Wallingford: Aries Publications, 2006.
- Welch, Ann Courtenay Edmonds. Happy to Fly: An
Autobiography. London: J. Murray, 1983.
- Whittell, Giles. Spitfire Women of World War II.
London: Harper-Press, 2007.
Fiction:
- Gould, Carol. Spitfire Girls: A Tale of the Lives and Loves
Achievements and Heroism of the Women ATA Pilots in World War
II. Forfar: Black Ace Books, 1998.
- Matthews, Beryl. A Flight of Golden Wings. Sutton:
Severn House, 2007.
- Morrison, Margaret and Pamela Tulk-Hart, Paid to be
Safe. London, England: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., 1948.
- Schrader, Helena. The Lady in the Spitfire. Lincoln,
Nebraska: iUniverse, Inc, 2006.
- Singer, E. M. Mother Flies Hurricanes. Bend, OR:
Avidia Cascade Press, 1999.
- Terrell, George. I'll Never Leave You. San Jose:
Writer's Showcase, 2001.
Books that reference the ATA women:
- Bell, Elizabeth S. Sisters of the Wind: Voices of Early
Women Aviators. Pasadena, Calif: Trilogy Books, 1994.
- Jaros, Dean. Heroes Without Legacy: American Airwomen,
1912-1944. Niwot, Co: University Press of Colorado, 1993.
- Keil, Sally Van Wagenen. Those Wonderful Women in Their
Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War II. New
York: Rawson, Wade Publishers, 1979.
- Lomax, Judy. Women of the Air. New York, N.Y.: Dodd,
Mead, 1987.
External links
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