Photos of life in RAF Ferry Command

Constant Penn's colour photos

Constant 'Penn' Wilson, along with many other ATA pilots, subsequently served with RAF Ferry Command.

Penn was in 113 Sqn - RAF Ferry Command's Southern Atlantic Wing - for the remainder of WW2.

A mixture of military and civilian pilots from various Allied nations ferried aircraft from Montreal to Britain, via Nassau (The Bahamas), Natal (Brazil), Accra (Gold Coast, now Ghana), Maiduguri (Nigeria), Cairo (Egypt), and Rabat (Morocco).

Here are some of the photographs Penn took at the time, sent to me by his grand-daughter, Penny Forester.

Most background information comes from 'Ocean Bridge', by Carl A Christie.


Liberator engines over the Atlantic	B-24 passenger compartment

Penn flying a Dakota	Lockheed PV-1 Ventura

Penn and Carl Lange on board the troopship 'SS Pasteur'	... and two Scotsmen

Nassau, The Bahamas (Headquarters of the South Atlantic Wing)

Aircrew who flew for Ferry Command were the first to admit that most of their experiences lacked the hardships and dangers that other airmen had to endure during the war; some ferry Command personnel wrote back to the northern hemisphere complaining of 'boredom and sunburn'.


HQ 113 South Atlantic Wing	Dakotas and B-29

Bar Tenders, The Royal Victoria Hotel	Bruce Raymon and Albert Sharp at Paradise Beach

Bruce Raymon and Margaret Wunder	Dakotas and Liberator at Windsor Field

Crew Assembly, 113 South Atlantic Wing	Dot Johnson and Penn, New Year 1945

Paradise Beach

Natal, Brazil

Natal was the jumping-off point for the 1900-mile flight across the South Atlantic to West Africa.

Jack Groover Durham, another ex-ATA pilot, went missing in April 1943 in a flight from Natal.

Natal Control Tower

Control Tower

Accra, Gold Coast

Accra was the main western terminus of the trans-Africa airway for multi-engine aircraft. A round trip from Miami to Accra took about seventy-five hours in a Liberator.

Paul Bleecker Makepeace, an ex-ATA pilot, was lost out of Accra on a fllight to Natal in January 1943.

Accra Ghana Gate at RAF Camp

Gate at RAF Camp

Maiduguri, Nigeria

Maiduguri was an RAF Station in WWII. There are 7 Commonwealth War Graves there from that time.


Airmens' Mess	Transit Quarters

Cairo, Egypt

After the difficult flight to Khartoum, the 1,000 mile flight to Cairo was the easiest; pilots followed the green valley of the Nile River until a distant view of the Pyramids heralded the end of the long journey.


Bud Parsons and Penn on the Nile	Citadel

Penn at top of Mosque	Shepheard's Hotel, where, according to ferry pilot Don McVicar, "without our spray gun to kill cockroaches we would have been eaten alive"