Aeroplane Monthly 1979-02
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L.Curtis - Anything To Anywhere (2)
First Officer Diana Barnato Walker, seen about to deliver a Spitfire IX, was the daughter of millionaire racing driver Woolf Barnato.
The author flew this Liberator VIII, KH266, into the small grass White Waltham airfield on the occasion of the ATA Pageant, held on September 29, 1945.
Similarly cleared was the author, seen here in the left-hand seat of a Halifax, the first woman ATA pilot to receive a multi-engine rating.
The first batch of women ATA pilots at Hatfield in April 1940. These pilots were restricted to delivering Tiger Moths, usually to Scotland, but by the end of the year were ferrying Hatfield-built Oxfords and Masters from Woodley.
This group of ATA pilots at Hatfield in September 1940 includes Joan Hughes, Margaret Cunnison, Mona Friedlander, Gabrielle Patterson, Rosemary Rees, Lois Butler, Marion Wilberforce, Pauline Gower and the Hon Mrs Fairweather. The aircraft in the background is a D.H.95 bearing the "B Conditions" marking E.1.
Philippa Bennett, at the age of 19, was one of the youngest members of the Civil Air Guard. She joined the ATA in June 1940 and ultimately became a Flight Captain cleared to fly four-engined aircraft.