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Spitfire Women Of World War II

by Giles Whittell

4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 · rating details · 55 ratings · 17 reviews

Hardcover, 292 pages

Published by HarperCollins Publishers (first published January 1st 2008)

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Nov 18, 2012 Petra X rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, popculture-anthropology, crap-authors-and-books-i-loathed

Women weren't allowed to fly combat planes in WWII, only deliver them, sometimes flying without instruments and under enemy fire. Doesn't make sense, but that's par for the course for sexism. I've read a few military books recently, notably The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, and the wonderful, if brutal, Brotherhood of Warriors, both very impressive books, so now its time to see what the women did when not on the 'home front'.

I've given up on this book. It is a very boring book ab...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Tim Chaplin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Although I was aware that female pilots had served in the Second World War, I did not know anything about the work that they did in ferrying aircraft in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). This book tells the story of the brave women who flew unarmed aircraft from the factory to RAF bases around the country. This was a time when there was a shortage of pilots and factories were mass producing aircraft to fight against invasion and ultimately for the D Day Normandy landings. Not only were the wome...more Although I was aware that female pilots had served in the Second World War, I did not know anything about the work that they did in ferrying aircraft in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). This book tells the story of the brave women who flew unarmed aircraft from the factory to RAF bases around the country. This was a time when there was a shortage of pilots and factories were mass producing aircraft to fight against invasion and ultimately for the D Day Normandy landings. Not only were the women pilots paid 20% less salary than their fellow male pilots, but they also had to face the sexist attitudes of Male officers, pilots and aircrew who didn’t believe that women would make good pilots and in heir view should stay in the kitchen. At first they only ferried trainer aircraft like the Miles Magister and Tiger Moths but eventually they flew Hurricanes, Spitfires and four engine bombers.

Amy Johnson gets a lot of attention as she was the pioneering aviator who set records and was seen as a great inspiration for women aviators. She later tragically got lost in bad weather when ferrying a plane and bailed out over the sea. Before the War flying was the pursuit of wealthy men who could afford to buy their own aircraft, but women like the Olympic female skier Wendy (Audrey) Sale Barker loved flying and became the first ATA girl. Other women were breaking records and in the case of the MPs daughter Pauline Gower had gained 2000 hours of flying experience flying joyriders for 5 minutes in a flying circus. She was the first woman who proposed that women should fly aircraft in the war. Women like Freda Sharland were encouraged by members of their family who were already bomber pilots to join the ATA. She had many letters rejected but didn’t give up and eventually succeeded. At first the RAF insisted that the first women pilots should only be 8 and not the originally proposed 12. They became known as ‘the first eight’ and were mainly instructors. At first they flew trainers but they moved to Spitfires and Hurricanes after Pauline Gower argued why there was no reason why women should not be allowed to fly aircraft like Spitfires and Hurricanes.

The women volunteered from different countries like Maureen Dunlop from South America. She became a Picture Post cover girl after being photographed getting out of a Spitfire. There was a lot of unwanted attention when the press got to hear of women flying aircraft. Characters like Diana Barnato Walker worked hard but liked to party hard too, going up to London and being ferried back to the air base afterwards. For most of the surviving women this was something that they were proud to do and most of the women interviewed did not wish to brag about their time in the War. The writer covers some of the glamour but prefers to concentrate on the danger and loss of life, Diana Barnato Walker lost her husband when his Mustang crashed. Many men and women lost their lives when their planes failed and they often had to fly aircraft to the scrapyard. Often they had to fly with no instruments in bad weather. They had no pre training instead they relied on a ferry pilot’s manual the bible of pilots often flying a particular aircraft for the first time. It was a dangerous job with no radar so pilots often used to crash into hills or would fly above the cloud cover and hope that they were above ground level when they emerged. Lettice Curtis flew from Prestwick to white Waltham in bad weather and was met by male pilots who could not imagine that a woman could fly in such weather. One in ten women lost their lives during the war.

Hamble became one of two woman only crew bases. The American Jacqueline Cochran recruited 25 women pilots and took them to the UK. She was against the stuffiness of the British and was seen as abrasive, she later returned to the US to set up the Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASP). She had argued that women should be allowed to fight combat missions. Only Women in the Soviet Union were the first to be allowed to fly combat missions. Eventually women in the ATA got equal pay thanks again to Pauline Gower who convinced a woman MP in the House of Commons to ask Stafford Cripps about whether women would get equal pay to men, with the threat of a fuss if he wouldn’t. However, Men still wouldn’t believe that in the case of Mary Wilkins Ellis who was to pilot a Wellington bomber that ‘a little girl could fly a big aeroplane’. After the war this prejudice continued when demobbed male pilots blocked Women pilots ambitions to fly as pilots and not aircrew on commercial airlines. Eventually these forgotten women of the ATA got a Veterans badge in 2009 under then PM Gordon Brown. This book is a great history of the brave women of the ATA, and a testament to their selfless bravery and pioneering spirit,

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Aug 19, 2010 Jessie Blackwood rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent read concerning the history of a group of women who were overlooked by history. Seriously, it was only in 2008 that Gordon Brown said a formal Governmental thank you to the survivors. What pioneers they were. Women who wanted to fly.

Combat was closed to women in the Second World War, we could work in supportive roles but not in the front line. Indeed our fellows on the Distaff side also thought that a woman's place was in the home looking after the children. So it is with little su...more

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Jul 18, 2010 Meg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone with an interest in the hidden parts of WWII and historically awesome women

Shelves: non-fiction, read-10, female-orientated-lit

An excellent look at a part of WWII that is often forgotten and absolutely fascinating to read and learn more about the women who didn't already have notability in history (Amy Johnson for example is well known outside of WWII but Lettice Curtis? Not so much.). The women of the ATA may not have been allowed to fly in combat situations but their bravery and understanding that they might die for their country - or the country they'd come to help in some cases - is as important, esp. considering th...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Stan Bebbington rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: world-war-2

For the whole of WW2 there was a shortage of trained pilots, this was never more so than in the early years. Clearly, using these pilots to fly new and repaired planes from the factories was wasteful and this led to the setting-up of the Air Transport Auxiliary. It was staffed by retired former pilots, from commercial aviation and by women flyers who were not permitted to engage on active duty. “Spitfire Women” is the story of this latter group. Because flying before the war was expensive they t...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Heikki rated it 4 of 5 stars

War is a bad thing by definition, but it does create unusual circumstances in which unusual things can happen.

When Britain prepared for and then joined WW2, it had enough pilots to fight the war but not enough pilots to ferry aircraft to the squadrons. Hence the ATA (Air Tansport Auxiliary) was founded, and soon it was seen that more pilots would be needed for it than were readily available.

This crack was forcefully hammered wide open by Pauline Gower in the UK and Jackie Cochran in the US, and...more War is a bad thing by definition, but it does create unusual circumstances in which unusual things can happen.

When Britain prepared for and then joined WW2, it had enough pilots to fight the war but not enough pilots to ferry aircraft to the squadrons. Hence the ATA (Air Tansport Auxiliary) was founded, and soon it was seen that more pilots would be needed for it than were readily available.

This crack was forcefully hammered wide open by Pauline Gower in the UK and Jackie Cochran in the US, and women entered the ATA. Originally they were allowed to fly docile aircraft such as the Avro Anson, but bit by bit Gower managed to grow the stable of airplanes her pilots were allowed to fly. Soon she had pilots taking to the skies in Hurricanes and Spitfires, and eventually gargantuan Lancasters and B-24 Liberators.

This book brings us delightful stories of such classic aviation heroines as Diana Barnato Walker, who flew a Tempest when it shed its air scoop and much of the lower part of the plane with it. The squadron officer who was to receive the plane chided her for delivering just half of the plane. There's Maureen Dunlop, who exited a Barracuda just as the reporters from Picture Post took her picture (see [...] for that great shot) and who flew many a hazardous delivery. And of course, Ms Duhalde, known as Chile for her native land, who promised to knock a Polish woman pilot's teeth off for jumping the landing pattern.

These ladies delivered thousands of airplanes but also died in the rapidly changing British weather, when they were surprised by a cloud, or flew into mountainsides when they became lost. The balance between a successful delivery and a fiery death in a crash is well told in this book. What is also well told is the incredible callousness of the all-male military aviation establishment, which refused to give the women pilots even rudimentary instrument flight training, which resulted in many deaths directly attributable to loss of spatial awareness.

The author has done a good job in presenting the big picture, but it could be structured better. Now we often are led from one situation into another which has no other connection to the grand narrative than the person we started with, and that makes it a little hard to follow the action. Also, in the Kindle edition, quotes were not indicated: many times you'd start reading a fist person narrative right after a third person viewpoint and it takes some time to figure out who is talking.

Nevertheless, these minor quibbles aside, these ladies deserved this book and all publicity they could possibly get. Now in their nineties, some of them still remember the ATA days as the best of their lives, and after reading this book, you will understand why.(less)

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Nov 28, 2011 Mel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Well, there isn't much more I can say that hasn't already been said by others save to mention the sheer privilege it is to be able to read about these incredible women....women who paved the way for girls like me to be able to fly today. My one minor comment which doesn't concern the actual meat of the book but rather the author's persistent belief that the words "England" and "Britain" are interchangeable. He makes continual reference to the "English" pilots when many of them were, in fact, fro...more

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Jun 01, 2011 J. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

This is an amazing book, not least because it’s nonfiction. Spitfire Women of World War II tells the story of the women pilots who flew ferry missions for the British as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II. Remember, in those days flying was still considered very much a male sport, Amelia Earhart and Amy Johnson notwithstanding. When it was announced in 1940 that women pilots would help ferry military aircraft, both lightweight trainers and sexy, high-powered fighters (later...more This is an amazing book, not least because it’s nonfiction. Spitfire Women of World War II tells the story of the women pilots who flew ferry missions for the British as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II. Remember, in those days flying was still considered very much a male sport, Amelia Earhart and Amy Johnson notwithstanding. When it was announced in 1940 that women pilots would help ferry military aircraft, both lightweight trainers and sexy, high-powered fighters (later including huge four-engine bombers), the public was divided. Some thought the women pilots were patriotic and brave, but another, outraged and vocal group considered them attention-seeking and selfish.

All sorts of adventuresome women signed up to fly for the ATA.
• Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from the U.K. to Australia, who lost her life in the Thames Estuary trying to get an Airspeed Oxford to RAF Kidlington in foul weather in 1941.
• Diana Barnato Walker, who successfully landed a Hawker Typhoon after the bottom half disintegrated and who lost two loves, a fiance and a husband, in separate flying accidents.
• Audrey Sale-Barker, model beautiful and an Olympic skier, such a natural pilot she looped and spun the aircraft during her first solo flight.
• Mary de Bunsen, with a hole in her heart, lousy eyesight, and a polio limp, who preferred taking tea with Thomas Hardy or watching the London blitz from a central rooftop with her mother to the social life of dances and balls.
• Joan Hughes, too small in stature to see over a four-engine bomber’s landing wheel, who liked to tell disbelieving men her height didn’t matter because she wanted the aircraft to carry her, not the other way around.
• Margot Duhalde from Chile, who spoke no English when she arrived in Liverpool in May 1941 but was desperate to fly.
• And Ann Wood, one of a handful of American women who volunteered to fly for Britain before the U.S. entered the war, who blasted beneath the Severn Railway Bridge in a Spitfire. Twice.

Spitfire Women is narrative nonfiction at its best, easily comparable to The Perfect Storm and a great read. I heartily recommend it for anyone who enjoys history, engaging characters, and real emotions of heartbreak and triumph. Five stars.(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Natalie rated it 3 of 5 stars

What impressed me most was that some of those women delivered the brand new Spitfires from the factory to the front, or anywhere they were going to be used, practically without any proper instruction. Handed them over to male pilots who then where trained and instructed before using them. Talk about technically challenged women ;-) But for once; I preferred the BBC TV Show over the book.

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Jan 16, 2013 Josie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, non-fiction

[Audiobook version]

I saw a BBC4 documentary on this subject a few years ago, and was blown away by the courage and skill of the women featured -- who, despite rampant prejudice and misogyny, often outperformed the men in the airforce. Listening to this was even better, because it was longer and went into the women's stories in more depth. I didn't want it to end!

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Mar 30, 2013 Allan Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an informative book on flying by women pilots in Britain during WWII, in part because the author has combined historical information on the Air Transport Auxiliary with current perspectives by a number of the pilots themselves. Some of these women have since 'flown on' and the book is a testament to the competence and courage of all within the ATA. This is well worth a read.

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Sep 13, 2010 Elizabeth added it

Shelves: flying, world-war-ii

I enjoyed this immensely, mainly because so many of the stories included here I *hadn't* heard before (and I have done a lot of reading about the ATA). This was also my first real intro to Jackie Cochran, a fascinating and wonderful character. As always with such books, I find myself a little envious of the author's research--all the people he got to interview-- how I'd love to have an excuse and the introduction to meet them myself!

This makes a really nice complement to Lettice Curtis's The For ...more

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Aug 17, 2012 RebeccaLouise rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a very detailed and comprehensive account of Spitfire Women and their courageous contribution to the War. I initially watched the BBC4 documentary and was fascinated so when I saw this book in a charity shop, I had to pick it up. I’m glad I did although sometimes I felt it got too bogged down by the finer details and I continually got lost in the jumpy narrative. The book really shone though when we heard from the women – whether through Whitell’s interviews or their diary entries etc....more

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Nov 03, 2012 Peter Jowers rated it 5 of 5 stars

Anyone who gets the wind up when they hear a woman's voice from the flight deck on a commercial airliner should read this book and be very, very re-assured!
Bless 'em all!

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Sep 28, 2012 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great book about the women of Britain's Air Transport Auxiliary, who flew unarmed and without radio or instrument training during WWII. Compelling.

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Apr 25, 2013 Gabriele Wills rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ww2, history

A fascinating look at the plucky women who did dangerous work during WW2 ferrying aircraft from factories to airfields across Britain.

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Sep 19, 2010 Monica marked it as maybe-someday

Recommended to Monica by: Noz

Shelves: wish-list, history

couldn't find the BBC documentary but heard it was very good

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May 24, 2013 Sarah marked it as to-read

May 20, 2013 Liza CK marked it as to-read

May 16, 2013 KOMET marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: second-world-war-non-fiction, history-of-britain-20th-century

May 15, 2013 Tera marked it as to-read

May 02, 2013 Debbie Robson marked it as to-read

Apr 30, 2013 Caroline Byrne marked it as to-read

Apr 12, 2013 Jilly is currently reading it

Mar 30, 2013 Chris Huwaert rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 02, 2013 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mar 15, 2013 Hannah Barnes added it

Feb 21, 2013 Kerrie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Feb 11, 2013 Philippa Spreadbury rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 25, 2013 Lea Wingo marked it as to-read

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