W.---	Cadet	Mavis Agnes Kennard Davis
	b. 13 Feb 1917, Tenterden Kent	24 Jan 1944 to 24 Mar 1944

Father: Leonard James  Kennard Davis (Private in Royal East Kent Regiment, d. 1 May 1944 in Italy), mother Annie Mavis

prev: secretary, Foreign Office

Address in 1944: Forstal House, Selling, nr Faversham, Kent

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

d. 11 Aug 1977 - Chelsea

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Hilda Mary Stroud
	b. 13 Jun 1920, London	24 Jan to 4 Apr 1944

Father: Arthur E Stroud, a Government Clerk, Mother: Emily V [Martin] of 2 North Close, Danson Rd, Bexley Heath, Kent

Ed. Erith County School, Dartford

prev: Chemist, Fuel Research Station

"scar on left wrist"

One accident, for which she was held responsible:

- 31 Mar 1944, in a Magister, she damaged the starboard wing and the port undercarriage leg during a heavy landing.

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 m. 1944 in Dartford, Kent, Jack Derrick

d. 5 Oct 1980 - Stroud, Glos.

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Jill Elizabeth Hoar
	b. 20 Jan 1922, London	24 Jan 1944 to 22 Jun 1944

Father: George Henry Hoar, Mother: Margaret [Harper]

Ed. Welsh Girls School, Ashford, Middx and Dunelm College, Tankerton, Kent

prev: Hotel Receptionist; Clerk for Fairey Aviation Ltd; Aircraft Fitter with ATA

Address in 1944: Ellington Cottage, Ellington Rd, Taplow, Berks

 Ab initio pilot

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 m. 1947 in Kensington, London, Peter Alan Coles

d. 31 Mar 2006 - Bracknell, Berks

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.1034 *	3rd Officer	Martin Richard Nicholson
	b. 14 Dec 1924, Leeds	29 Jan 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

 Address in 1945: 4 Welburn Ave, West Park, Leeds 6

M.1049	3rd Officer	John Leslie Bennett
	b. 17 Oct 1914, Manchester	29 Jan 1944 to Sep-45

prev. Sales Mgr for BO Morris, Birmingham, then a Sergeant in the RAFVR Oct-39 to Apr-41

His grandson kindly tells me that "Your website has prompted a conversation with my Mum (his daughter) regarding my Grandfather's life in the war - She informs me that that she thinks he had wanted to be a pilot in the RAF but had not passed the necessary exams, so instead became a rear gunner/bomber in Lancasters.  

He spoke very little of his time in the RAF, but did regale a story of almost falling out of the gunning position in the Lancaster (through the floor), and of dropping bales of propaganda leaflets over Germany - they were supposed to cut the strings to let them flutter down, but instead just through them out in hope they would land on a German's head!  

There is then a period of time that is unaccounted for, but my mum wonders if he had had some sort of breakdown from some comments he made very late in his life about spending some time in hospital.  Then he spent 18 months in the ATA - my Mum remembers him talking about flying with the instruction manual on his knees as he flew all sorts of different planes!"

...and here are some of the photographs his grandson sent me:

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Sylvia Cyphus
	b. 27 Oct 1920, Stow-on-Wold, Glos	29 Jan-44 to 22 Mar-44

Father: Arthur Cyphus (a farm labourer), mother Lily [Archer]

Ed. Council School, Gt Rissington; Westwards Grammar School, Northleach (School Cert.)

prev: from May 1939, Telephonist, GPO Cheltenham

Address in 1944: 11 Great Rissington, nr Cheltenham, Glos

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 m. Oct 1963 in Cheltenham, Goldwin How(e) Edwards (d. 1992)

 d. Oct 1978 - Cheltenham

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Hilda Edmiston Scarth
	b. 19 Apr 1921, Dunoon	29 Jan to 6 Apr 1944

Father: Ninian H Scarth, Mother: Janie Finlay [Hutcheson], of 6 Lockend Rd, Bearsden, Dunbartonshire

Ed. Laurel Bank School for Girls, Glasgow; University of Glasgow

Address in 1934: 121 Southbrae Drive, Jordan Hill, Glasgow

Sailed from Buenos Aires to the USA in  Feb 1934 with her mother

Address in 1939: 28 Falkland St, Glasgow W2

prev: Technical Assistant, Ministry of Supply from 28 Aug 1942

Visited Canada (and the Niagara Falls) in Jul - Aug 1939, on what appears to have been a 'school trip'

  Ab initio pilot

[Contract Terminated]

 m. Basil Brockett Parrish CBE, Director of the Aberdeen Marine Laboratory, and they lived with Hilda's mother Janie at 82 Queen's Rd, Aberdeen until her death in 1970.

Hilda was a committee member of the 'Tenovus' medical research charity in 1980.

They moved to Denmark in 1982, and Basil became General Secretary of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, in Copenhagen.

Son Philip (d. 1998, age 35) , daughter Janet emigrated to Australia/NZ

Basil d. 1993

 Hilda d. 20 Dec 2001 - Christchurch, NZ

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.141	First Officer	Mrs Rosamund King Everard-Steenkamp
	b. 20 or 22 Jul 1907, Carolina, SA	7 Feb-44 to 31 Oct 1945

ATAM

ATAM

née Everard

father: Charles Joseph Everard, mother Amy Bertha [King] of Bonnefoi, E Transvaal, S Africa

Ed. Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris; St George's co-Ed School; Witwatersrand Technical College School of Aeronautics

S.A.W.A.A.F. Aug 1940 - Jan 1942

prev. exp: 2,000 hrs

"She was elected a 'beauty queen' in a South African competition just before the war"

prev. Instructor for WTC School of Aeronautics, Johannesburg

m. 1940 Nicolaas Fourie Steenkamp  (d. 1 Dec 1942 of fever, in Durban)

 Postings: 6FPP

2 accidents, neither her fault:

- 30 Mar 1944, when the engine of her Magister backfired and the propeller kicked back, injuring the engineer's hand

- 31 Dec 1944, she had to leave the perimiter track to avoid an oncoming aircraft in her Spitfire IX, and the aircraft tipped onto its nose.

"She has worked hard and been most willing to accept instruction ... This lady is an asset to the Unit"

The first woman in Britain to fly a jet aircraft (3 Aug 1945 at Molesworth, in Meteor III EE313)

d. Mar 1946 in Spitfire XIV NH695 which crashed at Button Oak, Pound Green, near Upper Arley, Worcs, after engine failure.

She had continued ferrying after leaving the ATA, for 1FPP RAF.

 Her Logbook is in the South African Air Force Museum, Swartkop.

 Buried Maidenhead Cemetery:

 "Great-hearted Greatly loved. Death hath no more dominion over her"

"Rosamund painted landscapes and still life in oils. Her style of painting was unconventional, spontaneous and exuberant and her work reflects her attraction to decorative patterns and design. Her use of colour was strong, defined and controlled by definite rhythmic outlines. She was not as prolific as the other painters in her family. Her work formed part of the Everard Group exhibitions of 1931 and 1935 and featured in the retrospective exhibitions held at the Tatham Art Gallery in 1982 and the Standard Bank sponsored exhibition of 2000 entitled 'The Everard Phenomenon'.

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

[Non-flying staff]	Filing Clerk	Olive Marie Gill
	b. 23 Oct 1902, London	10 Feb-44

B.A. (Hons) Oxon

 [St Hilda's College, Oxford]

W.153 *	3rd Officer	Winifred 'Pooh' Stokes
	b. 27 Sep 1918, Benwick Cambs	21 Feb 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

ATA

RAeC 1945

Father: Herbert Stokes, a garage proprietor, Mother: [Smith]

 prev. Bank Clerk; Ambulance Driver; WAAF

 Address in 1939: London Rd, Peterborough

Ab initio pilot

 with (l) Di Faunthorpe

 She gained her Royal Aero Club Certificate No 20942 on 3 Aug 1945, as part of the 'ATA Wings' programme

 Address in 1945: New Rd, Benwick, Cambs

m. 12 Nov 1946 in Ash Shatibi, Al Iskandariyah, Egypt, F/O (later Sqn-Ldr) Peter George Pudney Henson RAF

  1951

from Wellingborough, Northants

Winifred and 4-month old daughter Pamela sailed back from Egypt to the UK in September 1948; she and Peter then sailed to the USA in 1954 with daughters Pamela (age 6) and Christine (b. 1950 in York)

Peter d. 1956 missing presumed killed as a result of a flying accident in Florida;  flying a F-84 Thunderjet, he parachuted into the water 3 miles offshore but bad weather prevented a rescue.

"His wife and two small daughters live at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida" - The Montgomery Advertiser, 2 Feb 1956

 Address 1969-83: Lansdowne Rd, Bedford

d. 1 Apr 2002 - Bedford

W.165	3rd Officer	Ruth Mary Hornsby Russell
	b. 20 Nov 1920, Gravesend Kent	21 Feb 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

ATA
The Final 7 Women Pilots - Betty Keith-Jopp (W.167), Sue Alexander (W.163), Joan Arthur (W.166), Ruth Russell (W.165), Annette Mahon (W.164), Aimee de Neve (W.168), Katharine Stanley Smith (W.162

Father: George Ireland Russell, Mother: Irene, of 'Highfield', Linden Gardens, Leatherhead

3 sisters, 2 brothers

Ed. Parsons Mead School, Ashtead; King's College, University of London (B.Sc Hons in Geography)

prev: WAAF Meterorologist, based at Cranage and Kidlington

Ab initio pilot

Postings include: 7FPP

 Off sick from 19 Apr to 22 May 1944, with concussion after a flying accident in Magister T9813. She wrote about it later: "I was just sitting there as passenger, not touching the controls. Low flying always frightened me a bit and suddenly he [her instructor, seconded from the RAF, Sgt. Ronald Codlin] flew into some wires. The next thing I knew, we were on the ground. I realised I was not badly hurt and climbed out, then came the awful part. My instructor was trapped in the front cockpit and his leg was trapped and horribly twisted. I could do nothing to get him out ... it seemed ages before the ambulance came".

  Sgt. Codlin's ATA contract was terminated the same day.

 One other accident, not her fault:

- 30 Aug 1945, a forced landing in Sea Otter JN252, after the engine cut out twice and then picked up again.

[Her brother-in-law was killed in action in 1944]

Address in 1947: 54 Cranley Gardens, Kensington

Sailed to Bermuda 16 Dec 1948 and m. there, on 29 May 1949, Major Keith Wilkinson Adams MBE, RASC, originally from Cheshire:

 Their son Michael was b. 31 Mar 1950 in the King Edward VII Hospital, Bermuda.

They then spent 1953-56 in the Middle East, followed by a period back in the UK:

"ARMY OFFICER FINED

Lieut.-Colonel Keith Wilkinson Adams, of Greendene, Sea Lane, Bracklesham. who caused a car to stop on an approach to a pedestrian crossing at South Street, Chichester, was stated to have told P.C. D. Bond that he had been abroad and did not know the regulations. The Clerk (Mr. W. J. Booker) told the Magistrates that Lieut.- Col. Adams had written that he had been in the Middle East for the past three years and was staying at Bracklesham. Only the front part of the car was In a prohibited area. Defendant was fined £1. " - Bognor Regis Observer - Friday 26 October 1956

Then they all (Keith, Mary, children Michael, Susan, Simon and Victoria) moved to Australia in May 1958

 Keith d. 2004 in Adelaide, Australia

Ruth is featured here in 2013: 

https://youtu.be/FGNvxndyqtc
https://youtu.be/3iop5BgGtmg

d. 9 May 2014 - Darwin, Australia

"Adored wife of the late Keith Wilkinson Adams; Much loved mother of Michael, Susan, Simon and Victoria; Loved mother-in-law of Angela, Jim, Jackie and Laurie; Treasured grandmother of Erica, Timothy, James,Felicity, Olivia and Nicola and their partners Nicholas, Jessica and Anouck; and cherished great grandmother of Archer and Neve. Loved sister of Diana. A long and inspirational life, loved and admired by many and never to be forgotten" - https://www.heraldsun.com.au/tributes/notice/death-notices/adams-ruth-mary-hornsby-nee/4959447/

 Her son (who supplied many of the photos) tells me: "Aged 94, she ran a company, did public speaking engagements, co-hosted a local Adelaide radio program, and set up and monitored her own Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. She didn't appreciate glass ceilings."

Buried Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, Mitcham City, South Australia, Australia 

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.154	3rd Officer	Suzanne Palmer Chapman
	b. 8 Dec 1918, Swansea	21 Feb 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

mother: [Mills]

Postings: 15FPP

  ATAM

(r) with Flt-Capt Coltman

One accident, not her fault:

- 1 Oct 1944, she ground-looped in Argus I EV809, due to a faulty port wheel casting

Gained her Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate (No 20592) as part of the ATA's 'Wings' scheme on 29 Sep 1945

Address in 1945: Fernbank, Murton, Bishopstown, Swansea, S Wales

In 1949, she was a staff pilot at Hereford airfield.

m. 1951 in Hereford, John H Ashton

In 1956, Veronica Volkersz wrote that Suzanne was one of only 7 women flying commercially: -  "Suzanne Ashton flies an Auster 'talking aeroplane' on advertising work"  - and concluded that "The tragedy is that for women, commercial aviation is now - except, possibly, in Russia - a closed field."

[The others were Jackie Moggridge, Monique Rendall, Jean Bird, Zita Irwin, Diana Barnato-Walker and Freydis Leaf]

m. 1961 in Swansea, Richard John Hart

d. 5 Feb 2011 - Swansea

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.156	3rd Officer	Mrs Yvonne Margaret 'Peggy' Eveleigh
	b. 18 Aug 1917, London	21 Feb-44 to Sep-45

ATA

RAeC 1945

née Lucas

Father: Lieut. Albert James Lucas, R.F.C., (killed whilst flying in France in May 1917), mother Violet Cordelia [Chauncy] (m. 1932 Douglas G Shrubshall)

m.1939 in Surrey, Derek Ernest Eveleigh, who d. 22 Apr 1940 in the crash of BOAC's Lockheed 14 G-AFKD at Binn Uird, near Loch Lomond, Dunbarton, en route from Perth to Heston

 Postings: 5TFP, 2FPP

exp. in ATA: 178.35 hrs

 3 accidents, one her fault:

- 14 Feb 1945, the starboard tyre of her Spitfire IX MA639 burst while taxying, and the aircraft swung off the perimeter track and nosed over

- 20 Aug 1945, a forced landing in Oxford II T1258 after engine vibration caused by a bent propeller tip

- 3 Sep 1945, she failed to control the landing swing of Spitfire III SP196, damaging the starboard wing tip

Gained her RAeC 'A' Certificate No 20527 as part of the ATA 'Wings' scheme on 31 Aug 1945

 Address in 1945: King's Arms, Tedburn St Mary, nr Exeter, Devon

m. Oct 1946 in Aylesbury, Roger G Grace

m. Oct 1952 in Westminster, Maj. Charles E Kaiser

m. Edouard Stamfer

All three post-war marriages ended in divorce.

Wrote 'WAAF with Wings' in 1992:

"A very good book published in 1992 by Y M Lucas (Peggy) called ’WAAF with Wings’ tells the story of the ATA with contributions from the girls themselves. In it Peggy describes delivering a repaired Martinet to St Eval for target towing and collecting a damaged Spitfire from there to deliver to a Maintenance Unit.

Peggy Lucas continued flying and at age 84 qualified as a helicopter pilot!

 1993

Frankie Horsburgh, a Canadian, located 16 out of the 17 [ex-WAAF ATA pilots] for their first reunion."

- http://www.olivehouserock.co.uk/link/144/index_files/Page549.htm

d. 8 Jan 2008 - buried St Nicholas Church in Remenham, Berkshire.

She reverted to 'Eveleigh' as her surname:

see http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/stfrideswide/lucas.html

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.157	3rd Officer	Diana Faunthorpe
	b. 2 Mar 1920, Beaminster, Dorset	21 Feb-44 to Sep-45

Mother: Alice Overton [Wills], Father Bertram Platt Faunthorp (d. 1949)

Ed,. Prior's Field School, Guildford; in 1935 she was a member of the choir, the lacrosse team ("Faunthorpe is a useful member of the team as she can play defence or attack, but must try to gain more speed") and the tennis team, and competed in the high jump and the hurdle race.

Address in 1938: Greystones, Enton Green, Godalming, Surrey

Sailed, with her mother, to Montevideo, Uruguay in Aug-Dec 1938

prev. a WAAF plotter, RAF Fighter Command

 "Of the fifteen different aircraft types she ferried for the ATA (the Spitfire was her favourite) she received instruction on only four." The Times, 2010

Address in 1947: Bramshott Cottage, Wilmer Lane, Liphook, Surrey

Sailed to Kenya in September 1947, intending to settle there and giving her profession as a 'Child's Nurse'.

She then met and married Henry James Hamilton 'Jim' Home, a psychoanalyst based in the Sudan, and they returned to the UK together in 1950. (Marriage dissolved), 3 children [1 son, Jennifer, and Jessica].

Retired to Totners, Devon where she "painted and learnt glass engraving".

d. 27 Mar 2010 (age 90)

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.158	3rd Officer	Patricia Mary Provis
	b. 20 May 1923, Beckenham Kent	21 Feb 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

 Father: Roy Seymour Provis, Mother: Rose Mary [Wood] of Bankside, Oxted, Surrey

Ed. The Downs School, Seaford, and Chateau Mont Choisi, Lausanne

 prev: WAAF from 10 Jun 1941:

"CpI. Patricia Provis, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Provis, Bankside, Oxted, has one of the most interesting jobs in the W.A.A.F. as a maps clerk at an R.A.F. station in Coastal Command. She joined the W.A.A.F. in July, 1941, and passed her medical board on her 18th birthday. Experience in map reading and credits gained in geography at her school qualified her for enrolment in this trade, and she has been made responsible for the issue and preparation of maps and charts for the air crews of her station." - Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser - 22 Jan 1943

She said later: "Amy Johnson was my heroine.  When I was six she flew to Australia and I listened on my crystal set wireless and said I’d like to do it.” 

She was one of 17 who were transferred from the WAAF to the ATA in February 1944.

“They were only too glad to get rid of us with masses of pilots demobbed and waiting for flying jobs.”  After a medical the girls awaited an interview in the library of the Ministry of Aircraft Production and there Pat noted the titles of two books on aircraft technology.  When asked she said that she had read those books and learned quite a lot from them.  She put her selection down to ‘being a good liar’.

Ab initio pilot

Postings: 4FPP

“I was selected to join the 16 others who went in from the WAAF and I learnt to fly the Swordfish when I was 21.  I went solo after 12 hours training as we were all expected to do and if you didn’t you were sent back to the WAAF.  We were posted to various stations and given cross country training so that we could use railways for navigation.  (Roman roads came in useful, too).  There were no radios in those days for communication with control towers.  15 of the 17 intake went on to fly Spitfires, Hurricanes, Tempests, Typhoons and Barracudas - being able to fly one you were expected to fly all the rest.

My war was mostly comic - getting in everybody’s way! 

In January 1945 I crashed a Swordfish - that was comic too!  The petrol pumps packed up when I was close to Turnberry Airfield.  I thought that the forced landing would be easy but I made a horrible mess of it and finished up on the sea wall - what is now, I think, the ninth hole on the Turnberry Golf Course.  The most dangerous thing about a Swordfish was the climbing in and out of it.  However, on this occasion, there was no problem.  I just put my foot over the side and there was the ground.  I was still more or less on the airfield so the fire engine and ambulance came out pretty smartly but not before the Station Engineering Officer rushed up and said “Where’s the Form 700 and, by the way, are you alright?.”  Then someone said “*****, it’s a woman!”  I replied, “Yes it’s a woman, so can you see if you can find me a mirror?”

They took me in the ambulance to Sick Quarters where they gave me the very latest treatment for crashed pilots - a cup of tea and two Aspirins.”

I was blamed for it at the crash enquiry so did not progress to delivering Spitfires, etc.  Some eventually flew Lancasters and one of our people delivered a converted Lancaster for the Dam Buster raid.”

 One accident, definitely her fault:

- 12 Jan 1945, forced landing in Swordfish III NF369, after engine failure, due to "bad practice on the part of the pilot, who failed to check the contents of the gravity fuel tank before take-off. This tank was subsequently found empty."

m. Maslen Jones and lived in Rock, Cornwall

"Pat married after the war and did no flying for 44 years then she went up with an instructor in a Cessna from Bodmin Airfield (she had more flying hours than him) and found she had not forgotten how to fly. She said, “It’s like riding a bicycle - you never forget how to do it.”  Of her time with ATA she said. “I was very lucky to do it from scratch and be paid to do it!”

 d. 13 Aug 2012 - Wadebridge, Cornwall - "On August 13th 2012, peacefully at Trewiston Lodge, St. Minver, Pat, aged 89 years of Rock. Funeral service Glynn Valley Crematorium, Tuesday September 4th at 12.30 pm. No flowers please, donations in lieu for Cornwall Air Ambulance by retiring collection. Please wear bright clothes."

 All quotes from http://www.olivehouserock.co.uk/link/144/index_files/Page549.htm

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.159	3rd Officer	Miss Marjorie 'June' Farquhar
	b. 28 Jul 1921, London	21 Feb-44 to Sep-45

RAeC 1945

(r) with Edith Beaumont

Rather: Capt. Arthur Farquhar, of Town Farm, Aldbury, nr Tring, Herts

Ed. "Private and Finishing Schools", Francis Holland (London) and Chateau Mont Choisi, Lausanne

  With the Hertfordshire Hunt in 1940

prev: VAD,; from Oct 1941 WAAF

(c) with Edith Beaumont and Lettice Curtis

One accident: 

- 26 Aug 1944, she was commended for a forced landing in Magister L8054 after engine failure

Gained her RAeC 'A' Certificate No 20491 as part of the ATA 'Wings' scheme on 3 Aug 1945

 Address in 1945: 49 Milverton Rd, London NW1

 Mrs Cole from 1946, as reported by the Bucks Herald on 14 June;

"MARRIAGE OF MAJOR C. B. COLE AND MISS M. J. FARQUHAR

The wedding took place between Major Charles Brian Cole and Miss Marjorie June Farquhar at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Aldbury, on Friday.

The bride, younger daughter of Captain and Mrs Farquhar, of Town Farm, Aldbury, was given away by her father. The reception was held at “Hawkwell”, a Tring residence owned by the bride’s parents, and which is at present largely occupied by farm workers of the H.W.A.C. About 275 guests were present, and refreshments were served under a marquee, set up on the lawns of the house, the sunshine on the day making possible the use of the lovely garden. After the cake was cut, the health of the bride and groom was proposed by Mr. E. J. Gilbert, an old friend of the family. The best man, Capt. Michael Charlesworth, R.A., answered the bridegroom’s toast on behalf of the bridesmaids.

Major and Mrs. Brian Cole later left by car for Marlow, where they spent the week end at the hotel where they first privately celebrated their engagement, five-and-a-half years ago.

On returning from their honeymoon, they will live in London, at least until the bridegroom leaves the War Office, where he is at present employed.

During the war the bride was in the W.A.A.F., doing radar work, but, later, became one of the twelve out of five thousand successful volunteer applicants for A.T.A. [I wonder where they got that from?]

As a ferry pilot she flew all types of fighter and torpedo planes all over the British Isles. Her father and mother, both Canadians, liked and stayed in England after the Great War, in which Capt. Farquhar served in the R.F.C. They first came to Ivinghoe 18 years ago for weekend riding, and it was then that Capt. Farquhar became known as the 'fairy godfather' for the pennies he distributed to the children who presented themselves with clean faces. He came to live in Aldbury about 10 years ago.

The bridegroom, third son of the late Mr. Charles Phillips Cole and Mrs. Cole, of Tring, was studying architecture with his father at the Berkhamsted office of Messrs, W. Brown and Co. when war broke out. He was then embodied with the Hertfordshire Regiment, and in 1941 he went to India, where, after attending Staff College, he served on the staff of an Indian Beach Group. He was mentioned in despatches, and at the cessation of hostilities with Japan was a Lt.-Col. on the Q. Staff of the 14th Army.

It will be remembered that in April, 1945, the elder sister of the bride was married at Tring to the oldest brother of the bridegroom, Mr. Richard Cole."

At an ATA Reunion c.2011

d. 13 Sep 2017

Her son kindly tells me that  "Whilst serving in the WAAF she was engaged then on secret work with radar, directing allied aircraft to targets deep in Germany. She always chuckled about leaving the WAAF to join the ATA. Apparently the only reason to be allowed to opt out was due to pregnancy, but my mother managed to wangle it (without pregnancy!) to join the ATA. I think her father's contacts helped pull strings, as he had been a Royal Naval Air Service Captain in the Great War.

 I have been looking at her Pilot Log Book, and give a summary of her flying service below. For the record it was signed off by EP Lane, Flt?Captain and Adjutant of No 1 Ferry Pool ATA.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.161	3rd Officer	Frances Mary 'Frankie' Rudge
	b. 25 Dec 1914, Hamilton Ontario	21 Feb 1944 to 27 Apr 1945

Father: William Rudge, Mother: Mary, of 214 W Washington St, Painesville, OH, USA

Ed. Harvey High School, Painesville, OH

prev: Private Secretary; WAAF from 19 Aug 1941 (Section Officer from 8 Dec 1941) stationed at Greenock and then RAF Loughborough and Church Fenton.

Ab initio pilot

1 accident:

- 1 Sep 1944, a forced landing in Magister I T9747 after engine failure on take-off. After landing, the aircraft over-ran the airfield boundary and was damaged

Exp. in ATA: Magister: 103hrs 45min; Proctor: 38hrs 50min; Fairchild: 34hrs 55min; Moth: 12hrs 40min; Auster: 6hrs 05min; Swordfish: 3hrs.

m. 27 May 1944 in Haddenham, Bucks, Sgt Fergus Herbert Clarke Horsburgh of 6 Alexandra Place, Stirling, Scotland - they had originally met on the boat coming over from the USA in 1941.

Travelled back to Canada 23 Oct 1945 but returned to the UK

 Their son Brian Rudge Horsburgh died in 1969 aged 19 in Ottowa. Fergus was resident in Chateauguay, Quebec at the time.

  1993

d. 4 Mar 2005 - Exmouth, Devon

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.152	3rd Officer	Joyce Ann Fenwick
	b. 3 Mar 1918, Southampton	21 Feb 1944 to Apr 1945

ATA

WwW

 Mother: [Donald], from Edinburgh

Prev. WAAF from Jun 1942, stationed at RAF Ailton

Ab initio pilot

Postings: 7FPP

m. Sep 1944 John de Winton 'Johnnie' Tharp, also of the ATA.

"Flying Romance

There was a wedding in Old Bosham Church on Tuesday, which was the culmination of a war time flying romance, when Third Officer John Tharp, of the A.T.A., married Cadet Joyce Fenwick, also of the A.T.A. They are both pilots and ferry aircraft.

John Tharp is the second son of Mr. Charles Tharp, the well-known portrait painter, who has made his home in Old Bosham since the war, and whose beautiful picutres, portraits and landscapes are hanging in the Anchor Inn. Charles Tharp was at The Slade School of Art with Sir William Orpen and Augustus John, and has had many pictures hung in the Royal Academy. 

John Tharp was in the First Parachute Battalion formed in the early days of the war, but injured his back doing a jump, and was invalided out. Later he joined the A.T.A. 

The bride was given away by Third Officer John Gilbert, A.T.A. pilot, and her sister Marjorie Fenwick, was bridesmaid. The best man was Hugh Stewart, B.B.C. producer. The Rev. A. L. Chatficld officiated. Mrs. Turvey. the bridegroom’s sister, made the wedding cake, and decorated the church with the help of Third Officer (Mrs.) Bannister, another A.T.A. pilot. A delicious tea for 30 people was provided by Mrs. Leather at The Grange. Mr. Graham Tharp, who is a film producer for M.o.I., did a lot of work as M.C., and Mrs. Diana Britton did “billeting officer,” finding bed and accommodation for numerous guests, not an easy thing to do these days. After spending a night in Bosham, the happy couple left for the Scilly Isles to spend their honeymoon. " - Chichester Observer - Saturday 16 September 1944

 2 accidents, one her fault:

- 2 Dec 1944, a heavy landing in Spitfire V X4280, breaking the port undercarriage and wing

- 24 Feb 1945, her Argus I EV803 was hit whilst taxying, by Ida van Zenten in Argus FK337

 "She left ATA in April 1945, owing to a rather unexpected pregnancy that was only discovered when she went to the sick bay complaining of nausea" - WAAF with Wings

They moved to Kenya, but John appears to have died in an air accident in Tanganyika, 20 Jul 1951 - see Accident Avro Anson Mk I VP-KHT, 20 Jul 1951 (aviation-safety.net)

 Joyce and her daughter Gilian Carol, aged 8, sailed from Mozambique back to the UK in September 1954 to visit her mother in Edinburgh, then returned to Kenya, where they lived until they returned to the UK in 1962 before going to Fiji. 

m. c.1956 Maj. Kenneth Spicer Few (a lawyer who had been a PoW of the Japanese after the fall of Singapore, from Feb 1942 to 2 Sep 1945) (d. 1975)

They, together with daughter Sara (b. 21 Jun 1957), sailed to the UK from Kenya in Feb 1959, and back in Jun 1959, for four months. He is listed as a "Resident Magistrate"

d. 20 Dec 1973 - Cambridge

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.jpg):

W.160 *	3rd Officer	Barbara Lilian Lankshear
	b. 13 Oct 1917, Rusholme, Lancs	21 Feb 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

Father: Frederick Russell Lankshear, a Chemical Manufacturer; Mother: Lilian [Rhind]

Address in 1939: Claremont Rd, Bristol

prev. Secondary School Teacher

Ab initio pilot

Gained her Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate (No 20583) as part of the ATA's 'Wings' scheme on 26 Sep 1945

"3420 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 22 JULY, 1947
WOMEN'S AUXILIARY AIR FORCE - METEOROLOGICAL BRANCH
Commission resigned - Section Officer B L LANKSHEAR (4208) retaining her rank 7th July 1947"

Her son Michael wrote: "She worked on computers after the war and spent a life working on Main Frame sytems before computers became universal."

W.---	Cadet	Mary Emily King
	b. 4 Mar 1917, Hampstead, London	21 Feb to 1 Jul 1944

Father: Hon. Humphrey Hastings King KC, (b. 1880 in St Petersburg, RN in WWI, Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chester and Sheffield from 1930, of Orchard House, Holywell Hill, St Albans.

Mother: Marjorie Mary [Webb]

Ed. Queen Anne's School, Cavershal, Reading and Bedford College for Women

prev: British Institue of Adult Education;1940-41, Foreign Office; 1942-Feb 1944, WAAF

Address in 1944: 10 Warwick Sq, London SW1

 [ab initio pilot]

Off sick from 11 Apr 1944

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 poss. m. 1954 William C Poile and d. 1960

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.155 *	3rd Officer	Mrs Rosemary Leslie [or Lesley] Bonnett
	b. 1 Sep 1918, Bristol	21 Feb-44 to Sep-45

 née Bell

 father: Percy Harrison Bell (2nd Lt in WWI, who gained an RAeC Certificate No 5298, in October 1917) , mother Adele Helene [Gellatly, a midwife, d. 1967 in S. Africa]

Grew up in South Africa (1924 - Jan 1936)

prev. a Secretary, typist

m. early 1942 Flt-Lt Dorian Dick Bonnett DFC

  (39 Sqn RAF, d. 24 Oct 1942 in Lancaster I W4306, which crashed in England on return from a daylight raid on Milan)

 [ab initio trainee]

Postings: 15FPP, 7FPP

2 accidents, both her fault:

- 14 Oct 1944, when taxying on wet grass and in windy conditions, her Argus I EV792 collided with marker flags

- 9 Aug 1945, taxying in Andon I AX319, she struck a motor sweeper and the aircraft was damaged.

 Gained her Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate (No 20610) as part of the ATA's 'Wings' scheme on 3 Oct 1945

m. Oct 1946 in Surrey, Flight Captain Phillip Lambert Gibbs

  (also an ex-ATA pilot)

m. 1949 in Kensington, London, Richard C Towers

 Address in 1989: Garden Farm, Tufton, Haverfordwest

d. 25 Jan 1989

[Non-flying staff]	Driver	Mrs Joan Ursula Newnham 'Jill' Farquharson
	b. 28 May 1915, Newquay Cornwall	28 Feb 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

née Rees

Father: Harry Newnham Rees

 Ed. Thelema College, Newquay and Stoke House, Bristol 

 1934

m. 1940 George Evelyn Farquharson, b. 1913 in Ceylon; RAF

 prev: (1937-38) Chaufeusse; (1941-43) Timekeeper, Air Training Ltd.

Address in 1944: Wraycroft, Shere, Surrey

Postings: 8FPP, 9FPP, 15FPP

'A very able M.T. Driver'

 d. 12 Jun 2017, Gloucester

Her obituary here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5174393/Spitfire-pilot-one-Ata-girls-dies-aged-102.html

... is sadly 'fact-free' as regards her ATA career ...

  Download ATA Personal Record (.zip file):

W.151	3rd Officer	Sheila A Garrett
-	b. 18 Nov 1916, Marionville, Missouri, USA	3 Apr-44 to Jun-45

 a.k.a. Sheila Browning

Father: Albert Alvin Garrett

Next of Kin: Lt. Mrs. Lee G Morse (sister, aka Lynn Browning); 8500 Holloway Dr, Hollywood, CA

 Far right, representing "Missouri" in 1935

She appears as an uncredited extra in the 1936 movie "The Great Ziegfield" (This appears to be her only pre-WWII acting job; however, her sister Lynn Browning was signed to Warner Bros. and appeared in 11 movies between 1932 and 1940, until her career was cut short by a car accident).

m. 28 Jun 1936 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Harry [a.k.a. Henry] Frederick Wilcoxon, an English Actor born in Dominica, BWI, [he was 30, she was 19]

 1936

She and Henry travelled together from the UK to the USA in May 1937 on the "Queen Mary", and here they are shortly aftwerwards, "christening the old swimming hole at his Malibu Mountain Ranch [in California, and called 'Seven Oaks']":

 The Los Angeles Times

"The former Sheila Garrett, now Mrs Henry Wilcoxon, looked so good to a sheik of the Ageyli tribe that he tried to buy her from the British actor. The sheik offered 10 Pounds British, gold, three she-camels, a quantity of grain, a jewelled dagger, a prayer rug from the palace of the Emir at Mecca, and several hareem girls."

"Sheila and Harry Wilcoxon tossed an outdoor gala at Sevenoaks Ranch. They hired a blimp to fly over and drop favors with numbered ribbons and raced a flock of pigeons back to town. Guests with ribbon numbers corresponding to the winning pigeons got prizes."

They were divorced on 1 Jul 1937 - "An interlocutory divorce decree was granted today to Mrs Sheila Wilcoxon, known in films as Sheila Garrett. She testified that Wilcoxon always left her at home when visiting his ranch and was rude to her. Her sister, Lynn Browning, corroborated her evidence."

So in June 1938 she sailed back from Quebec to the UK, alone, and stayed there until October 1938, returning to the USA once more on the "Queen Mary".

 Next, we find her living in France at the outbreak of WWII, and sailing back to the USA on 19 Sep 1939. In the 1940 US Census she is listed as a "Model - Dresses", renting a house in E 54th St, NYC.

And somehow, between 1940 and 1944, she managed to learn how to fly, having apparently shown no interest in it before then. Her ATA file says she had been a "flying instructress" and to have served in "War Training Service US Navy".

She then travelled from New York to Liverpool, arriving on the 10 Mar 1944 to join the ATA.

Address in Apr 1944: 12-13 Montague St, London WC1

 She was taken on as a pilot cadet, and promoted to 3rd Officer on 12 Aug 1944.

After the ATA, Sheila travelled back to the USA from Liverpool on 3-16 July 1945.

m. 3 Mar 1946 George Alfred Moszkowski (b. 1894 in Warsaw) in Habana, Cuba

"Sheila Garrett was a very close friend of my mother’s. After the war she had a long-term on and off relationship with author Robert Ruark (Something of Value). She used to come and stay with us at our home in Mexico City for long periods, sometimes with and sometimes without Robert.

On one occasion she arrived by taxi in the middle of the night, having totally destroyed her beautiful white Chrysler 300 by hitting a rock (at about 100mph, according to her) somewhere on the highway driving down from the US. I believe the rock survived!

 My mother used to stay at her flat in London on her visits. I knew her very well; she was very tall [actually, 5ft 8in, but described as 'tall build'] and absolutely gorgeous!"

In the 60s, she lived in Long Valley, NJ, but also had:

 ...a flat at 7 Greycoat Gardens, London SW1

 She appeared in 7 episodes of a TV series called "Bonsoir" in 1962, as "herself".

"Towards the end of her life she lived in San Pedro near Marbella, Spain and married Bill Vanderveldt who had been a boyfriend decades before and had never really fallen out of love with her - they were blissfully happy together in Spain until Sheila sadly predeceased Bill. We visited on numerous occasions, including one trip when Sheila and my mother (both in their 60s) drove Sheila’s unairconditioned right hand drive Mini Countryman from Andalusia to San Sebastian to catch the ferry to the U.K.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.1061	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Dennis Mills Butterworth
	b. 24 Apr 1921, Manchester	27 Apr 1944 to Apr-45

prev. a Commercial Artist

RAF May-40 - 1944

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Jean Mary Akerman
	b. 17 Dec 1922, Camberley	8 May 1944 to 3 Jun 1944

Father: Maj-General William Philip Jopp Akerman CB, DSO, MC, Director of Staff Duties Artillery, Army Headquarters India (Retired 1942, d. 1971); mother: Olga Phyllis [Steevens, d. 27 Dec 1922, i.e. when Jean was 10 days old]

Step-mother: Annie [Alexander] from 1925. Two step-sisters, Rosemary and Susan.

Ed. Bedgebury Park, Goudhurst, Kent

prev. WAAF (WMTS India)

Address in 1944: "Rotherwood", Churt, Farnham, Surrey

[ab initio pilot]

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

m. 25 Apr 1946 in Churt, Flt-Lt Dr David Stewart Crichton MBE, MB, ChB; one daughter Susan (Penny) [Buckley] 1948-2016

d. 13 Jun 2018 - Salisbury

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Joan Mary Grinling
	b. 23 Sep 1917, Grantham Lincs	8 May 1944 to 10 Jun 1944

Father: Col. Edward Johns Grinling DSO, MC, TD, mother Helen Marie [Cafferata]

Address in 1944: Fairfields, Grantham, Lincs

prev. ATS, WAAF

[ab initio]

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 m. Apr 1948 in London, Brian Lester Howell

d. Jul 1972 - Colchester

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Rita Mary 'Ray' Neve
	b. 1 Jun 1920, Lambeth, London	8 May 1944 to 17 Jun 1944

Father: S Neve, Mother: [Atherfold] of 54 Lexham Gardens, London W8

Ed. Tunbridge Wells County School

prev: Secretary; WAAF

She "acted as clerk to the Housing and Health Committee, the Lighting Committee and the Waterworks Committee" in Tunbridge Wells.

"TRAINING AS FERRY PILOT

Her many friends In Tunbridge Wells will be interested to learn that Rita Neve, late of the Town Hall staff, has, after nearly three years in the Service, been transferred from the WAAF to the Air Transport Auxiliary.

In October, 1941, she trained at Cranwell and passing out as L.A.C.W. teleprinter operator was posted to a Bomber Command Station. After some months’ duty there, she went to the West of England for a wireless operator’s course, and subsequently to Northern Ireland, where she worked in this capacity under Coastal Command.

From Ireland she volunteered for a wireless mechanic's course, and, after completing this, was sent to a station in Training Command. Having previously applied for entry in the A.T.A., she recently passed the necessary testa and is now undergoing training aa Ferry Pilot.

During this somewhat varied career she also satisfactorily passed the Air Ministry Board as candidate for a Signals Commission, but time did not permit her to proceed with this.

We are sure that her friends will wish her good luck her new venture." - Kent & Sussex Courier - Friday 12 May 1944

[ab initio]

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 Assistant 2nd Officer, WAAF Administrative and Special Duties Branch, from 22 Aug 1945

"A candidate for Hanwell South Ward In the Ealing Town Council elections next week is 28-year-old Miss Rita Mary Neve, a former pupil at the County School, who was on the Town Clerk’s staff before she Joined the W.A.A.F. during the war. She Is now employed by firm of scientific consultants In London. Keenly interested In politics and local government, she is chairman of the Hanwell South Young Conservatives." - Kent & Sussex Courier - Friday 06 May 1949

Address in 1963: 10 Church Rd, Ealing, Southall

 d. 22 Mar 1999 - Tunbridge Wells, Kent

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W.---	Cadet	Dorothy Ritson Bell
	b. 27 May 1920, Carlisle	8 May 1944 to 25 May 1944

 Father: Alfred Redmayne Bell (an agriculturalist, d. 1925 in Nigeria), mother: Ruth Dorothy [Ritson]

prev: Private secretary; WAAF

Next of Kin: (uncle) Alan Brewis Bell

Address in 1944: Cardrona, Wise Lane, Mill Hill London NW7

Contract Terminated by ATA - unlikely to become an efficient ferry pilot

 m. 1945 in Paddington, John T Tierney (?)

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Heather Marion Lott
	b. 3 May 1917, London	8 May 1944 to 10 Jun 1944

Mother: [Rawson]

Ed. Ashford School, Kent

prev: Secretary; WAAF from 3 Aug 1942 to 7 May 1944

Address in 1944: 22 Ellerton Lodge, East End Rd, London N3

One accident:

- 16 May 1944, a taxying accident in Magister V1039, which struck another Magister N3826. She was not blamed, as she was obviously inexperienced and under instruction.

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 m. Oct 1954 in London, Richard J Jesson

 d. 27 Nov 2006 - Jersey

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Dora 'Joyce' Tildesley
	b. 22 Mar 1921, Wolverhampton	8 May to 9 Jun 1944

Father: Horace William Tildesley, a Company Director, Mother: Dora Louise Mills [Corker], of 167 Penn Rd, Wolverhampton

prev: WAAF; Nurse & Ambulance Driver

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

Address in 1954: Chequerfield House, Stubbs Rd, Wolverhampton

Sailed to Australia in Jan 1954, (profession: Radiographer), then flew to San Francisco (on Qantas) 25 Nov 1955

m. 1972 in Gloucestershire, Humphrey Carnfield 'Huff' Windeyer (b. 1899 in Australia, d. 1989 in Banbury)

 She lived in 'Hillside Cottage', Southrop, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire

d. 1 Jan 2006 - Banbury, Oxfordshire

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W.---	Cadet	Dorothy Margaret Stewart
	b. 26 Aug 1918, Edinburgh	8 May 1944 to 1 Jul 1944

Father: Thomas W Stewart, Mother: Annie C [ ] of 'Dunvegan', Hailes Approach, Colinton, Edinburgh

B.A. Hons in History

prev: WAAF 4 yrs 

[ab initio pilot]

1 accident, deemed to be her fault:

- 25 Jun 44: a heavy landing in a Magister which damaged the main spar centre section

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

m. 13 Jul 1946 in Cambridge, Flt-Lt Ivan Humphrey Jones Morgan LDS, (a dentist, remarried in 1971, d. 2006) from St Neots

 Daughter Susan b.  Oct 1947, son Anthony b. Jul 1950

Address: 7 Worts Causeway, Cambridge

 d. 12 Feb 1990 - Cambridge

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W.---	Cadet	Sheila Marion Tointon
	b. 20 Aug 1916, Hornsey	8 May to 17 Jun 1944

Mother: [Charles]

  prev: Shorthand Typist; WAAF from 12 Jan 1942

 Address in 1944: 3 Alum Chine Rd, Westbourne, Bournemouth

Ab initio pilot

 m. Jul 1948 in Wolverhampton, George D Dobson

Jennifer b. 1954 in Swindon

d. 27 Apr 2008 - Faringdon, Oxfordshire

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Sheila Willson
	b. 20 Jul 1921, Birmingham	8 May to 3 Jun 1944

Father: Thomas Willson, Mother: Lilian Nellie [Holden] of 'Holdene', Parkland Ave, Upminster, Essex

Ed. Palmer's Endowed School for Girls, Grays, Essex (prize and certificate from La Societé Nationale de Proffesseurs de Francais en Angleterre)

prev: Civil Service; WAAF

[ab initio pilot]

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Sheila Reddicliffe
	b. 6 Dec 1919, Kirkby nr Liverpool	8 May 1944 to 21 Jun 1944

ATA

Plymouth Herald

Father: Harold Gelsthorpe Reddicliffe, a Canned Goods merchant, Mother: Vera R [Whitty], of 32 N. Park Rd, Kirkby, Liverpool

Ed. Belvedere School GPDST (Girls' Public Day School Trust), Liverpool; https://www.belvedereacademy.net/GDST/; 

Bedford College, University of London

prev. Civil Servant (Clerk, P&T Censorship, Liverpool; Imperial Censorship, Bermuda); WAAF

[She travelled from Liverpool to Bermuda on 30 Jan 1941, with about 160 other civil servants and government officials.]

[ab initio]

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 Address in 1952: 29 Lower Belgrave St, London SW1

m. 1952 Peter Brian Beresford Lightbody

Published 'The Book of Callington' in 1982, and 'Callington: A Cornish Community' in 1987

 See https://archive.org/details/bookofcallington0000ligh/page/n1/mode/2up

d. 29 Jun 2017 - Callington, Cornwall

  2008

"Lightbody Sheila (Reddicliffe) Peacefully at Launceston, Cornwall on Thursday 29th June 2017 aged 97.

Sheila was a true European, reading German & French at Bedford College, Univ. of London in 1938-39; working in Imperial Censorship in Bermuda 1940-41; Pilot Training in WAAF at RAF Thame 1944; qualified as a Surveyor RICS; raising three boys in Post-War Britain at Liss, Hants, then from 1959 in Henwood & Callington, Cornwall.

Author of the Local History of Callington leading to the establishment of Callington Heritage Centre & of three Tudor period Novels. Determined, highly intelligent and always active she was an excellent wife, mother, mentor, companion & example to us all. Her sons, Nick, Simon & Ben, step-daughter Sally and their families" - https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/lightbody/4504909

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Helen Riddell Clark
	b. 6 Sep 1917, Selkirk	8 May 1944 to 10 Jun 1944

 Father: W M Clark

Ed. Dame Alice Owen's School (then in Islington, London - now Potter's Bar, coincidentally)

prev: Insurance Typist, Meteorologist

Address in 1944: 428 Mutton Lane, Potters Bar, Middlesex

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

 m. 1949 Philip (Greberg) Clark

d. 1963 - Brechin

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.168	3rd Officer	Mrs Aimee (or Aime) de Neve
	b. 19 Aug 1919 Gampola, Ceylon	8 May 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

nee Aime Gholdstein Jonklaas

Father: Ernest Gholdstein Jonklaas, a proctor of Gampola, Mother: Amelia Beatrice Cecile 'May' [Daniel], from Sutton, Surrey

Two brothers, Ernest May Jonklaas and Cecil Frederick Annesley Jonklaas; one sister, Evelyn Ninette

[Her brother Ernest attended Brasenose College, Oxford, played tennis at Wimbledon and represented Oxford University in a tournament in Newport, USA in 1925. He m. Alice Cox, from Woodmere, Long Island, USA in 1926. He d. 1955]

Ed. convent in South India

She and her mother visited the UK in 1925, and Aimee moved to the UK c.1935

Address in 1939: Hendon, London NW, described as a 'Commercial and Secretarial Student'

prev: WAAF

m. Oct 1940 in Marylebone, Rev. Tom Ryder, from New Chapel, Horwich, Lancs

m. 25 Sep 1943 in London, F/O Gilles Peter Cornelia de Neve  322 (Dutch) Sqn, RAFVR (d. 16 Jan 1944 in Spitfire Vb AD428 in a training accident nr Hawkinge, Kent)

Ab initio pilot:

In 'WAAF with Wings', by Yvonne Eveleigh, Aimee described moving on to the Harvard as "Very exciting! The Harvard felt so powerful after all the light aircraft and Marks (her instructor) liked to give me quite frightening shocks to make sure I was awake!" ... "My first Spitfire flight was unbelievable! This beautiful aircraft was actually all mine for a brief time. I was rather worried when I had to do several circuits, as a RAF aircraft had done a belly landing, and I had all the red flares, etc. thrown at me".

Postings: 15FPP, 6FPP

Gained her Royal Aero Club Certificate No 20545 on 11 Sep 1945, as part of the 'ATA Wings' Scheme.

Address in 1945: 56 S. Molton St, London W1

m. Oct 1945 iin London, Jan Mowinckel Helen, a Norwegian naval officer from Bergen (three children, Teeny, Erik and Jan Ernest, b. 1946, 1949 and 1953)

m. 1996 in London, Mark G  Williams, whom she met in Sri Lanka

Lived in Brighton, Sussex

d. Jul 2000 - Spain

Her ashes were interred in 'an English village' on 20 Jul 2000

"Man, woman or child, Aimee made time for them, and if she met a person for the first time her enthusiasm for life left a stranger breathless. Intelligence, bounding energy, beauty and charm were Aime."

see http://www.sundaytimes.lk/000820/plus5.html

W.167	3rd Officer	Eleanor 'Betty' Keith-Jopp
	b. 1 Apr 1920, Bristol	8 May 1944 to 17 Aug 1945

Father: Maj. Charles Henry Keith-Jopp MA, ICS (Indian Civil Service) (d. 21 Oct 1939); Mother:  [Evans]

Neice of William Stewart Keith-Jopp, also of the ATA.

Had a brother, Stewart.

Her father Charles was "a brilliant man and a scholar of Winchester and New College, Oxford, and a Boden Sanskrit Scholar. For many years he was a lecturer at Oxford University"

Ed. Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army

prev: secretary for BOAC; WAAF

Address in 1944: 4 Rodney Cottages, Clifton, Bristol 8 (Mother's address)

Ab initio pilot

Postings: 4FPP

2 accidents: 1 her fault:

- 29 May 1945; delivering Barracuda MX792, she "persisted too far in bad weather, found herself in cloud, and in turning, lost height. The aircraft struck the sea [between Anstruther Point and the Isle of May] and was lost, but the pilot was rescued."

["She saw the water a second before hitting it, did a good landing ‘all things considered’, but the aircraft started to sink until it settled on the sea bed. When Betty pulled the canopy release lever a giant bubble of air was released – but she had not released her parachute and harness straps.  When she did, ‘it took forever to get to the top.’  It was her lucky day and a little fishing boat chugged past and pulled her out of the water. " - ATA Museum

- 11 Jul 1945, her Argus FK338 was 'blown onto its nose' by one of the Liberators which were running up nearby at the same time. [Airfield Control got the blame].

m. 27 Mar 1948 in Bristol, Maj. Peter Stuart Huggett [ex Royal Artillery] and they lived at 26 Brunswick Sq., Gloucester 

Betty and one-year-old daughter Caroline sailed to South Africa in September 1953 and the family settled in Southern Rhodesia (where Peter was an Insurance Manager - and a member of the Rhodesia (Fire Insurance) Advisory Committee !) then South Africa. A second daughter, Eleanor, was born in 1955.

 d. 5 Jul 2016 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.166	3rd Officer	Joan Henrietta Arthur
	b. 5 Aug 1919, Ealing	8 May-44 to Sep-45

Father: George Arthur, a Civil Servant; mother Margaret, a nurse

prev. an insurance clerk

Address in 1945: 51 Hillfield Rd, W Hampstead, London NW6

 [Ab initio pilot]

Gained her Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate (No 20488) as part of the ATA's 'Wings' scheme on 3 Aug 1945

m. 1948 in Hampstead, Eric G Barton

 d. 5 Mar 1993 - Hatch End, Middx

W.164	3rd Officer	Annette Elizabeth Mahon
	b. 21 Oct 1918, Dublin	8 May-44 to Sep-45

 ‘Annette was posted to Prestwick as a Class II pilot to ferry mostly Fleet Air Arm aircraft to the Isles and the north of Scotland. She became known as “Queen of the Barracudas” – and a one woman PR campaign for the capabilities of this high-wing torpedo/dive bomber monoplane.’ RAF Museum

m. 18 Jan 1947, Dr Samuel 'Maurice' B Hill

 1993

Annette (3rd from left) at the unveiling of the ATA Memorial in Hamble-le-Rice, 2010

d. 7 Oct 2013 - Basingstoke

W.163	3rd Officer	Susan Mary Aurea Alexander
	b. 19 or 20 Apr 1920, Horncastle Lincs	8 May 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

Father: Capt William James Alexander (a Company Director, Motor Trade, d. 1947), mother: Mary Jeanette [Rawnsley] (d. Jul 1941) of Raithby Hall, Spilsby:

  Raithby Hall, the home of the Rawnsley family

Ed. Benenden, Kent (School Certificate)

prev: WAAF

Address in 1944: c/o L S Dodds Ltd, Spilsby, Lincs

[Ab initio pilot]

Postings: 4FPP

One accident:

- 31 Jan 1945, in Swordfish II LS215; she failed to keep the aircraft straight on take-off, and it swung, hit a snow ridge and turned over

Gained her Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate (No 20753) as part of the ATA's 'Wings' scheme on 22 Nov 1945

d. 9 Jul 2000 - Taunton, Somerset

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.162	3rd Officer	Katharine Mary Stanley 'Katie' Smith
	b. 1 Sep 1919, Croydon	8 May-44 to Sep-45

ATA	RAeC 1945
The Final 7 Women Pilots - Betty Keith-Jopp (W.167), Sue Alexander (W.163), Joan Arthur (W.166), Ruth Russell (W.165), Annette Mahon (W.164), Aimee de Neve (W.168), Katharine Stanley Smith (W.162)

Father: Alfred Ernest Stanley Smith MC, a solicitor (d. 1947); Mother: Jennie Drayton [Pitts] (d. 1967)

Ed.  St. John's School, Bexhill-on-Sea

Prev. Costume staff of the Westminster Theatre, London; 

Womens Land Army 12 Apr to 6 Oct 1941 ("looking after pigs and chickens in a Mental Institute at Teddington");

WAAF from Dec 1941, Meteorological Officer stationed at Aldergrove, N. Ireland

Address in 1941: 45 Normanton Rd, South Croydon, Surrey

Her elder brother Edward was a fighter pilot, serving in the Battle of Britain and ending WWII as a Wing Commander:

see https://bbm.org.uk/airmen/SmithES.htm

Ab initio pilot

Postings: 5TFPP, 15FPP, 7FPP

3 accidents:

- 15 Oct 1944, her Tiger Moth T5368 was blown onto its nose by a "heavy" aircraft taxying ahead of her

- 28 Feb 1945, the port tyre of her Swordfish III NS133 burst on landing, cause unknown.

- Jul 1945, a heavy forced landing in Fairchild KK477 after engine failure, breaking the undercarriage and tipping the aircraft onto its nose

Of the last accident, she wrote "The pay-off was that later that same day HQ phoned Ratcliffe and asked them to send in Fairchild 477, it was due to be broken up. Our operations cheerfully told them not to worry, we'd already broken it up for them!"

m. 5 Jun 1945 in Croydon,  USAF Sgt. Arthur Zachary Hirsch Jr, from Woodbury, Connecticut, USA (They had met at Aldergrove, where he was with the US Weather Office)

Gained her Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate (No 20497) as part of the ATA's 'Wings' scheme on 8 Aug 1945

 "Katie and her husband became involved with theatrical work, thus reviving their original interests" - WAAF with Wings

d. 16 May 2010 - Rose Lane Adult Care Home, Prescott, AZ, USA

" On April 1, 1946 she and Zach arrived in the U.S. and she obtained her U.S. Citizenship in 1951 in Worcester, Mass. Kay worked for Dennisons Stationery Store in New York from 1946-47. From 1965-73 she was on the costume staff at Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. In the off season, costume staff at the Minnesota Opera Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Children's Theatre. From 1973-79 she was on the costume staff McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ. From 1979-84 costume staff at the Dallas Ballet, Dallas Opera, Dallas Shakespeare-in-the-Park, SMU, Six Flags Over Texas.

In 1984 Kay and Zach moved to Prescott where she was the Resident Costumer at the Prescott Fine Arts Associations Community Theatre until 2008. During this time Kay designed and made costumes for over 110 Theatre productions. Kay was involved in the Girl Scouts serving as a Brownie Leader for 6 years, Girl Scout Troop Leader for 6 years, Senior Girl Scout Leader for 4 years and was the Girl Scout Coordinator in the Elementary School. She was involved in the Cub Scouts as a Den Leader for 4 years and her Den was selected by Howard Sanden, Brown & Bigelow Calender-printer artist to be painted on the annual Cub Scout Calender. Kay was an Executive Board Member of the Yavapai Humane Society for 10 years and originated the Santa Paws, Dog Show, and PR slide promotion programs. She was also a member of the British War Brides Association and 99's (Women's Pilots Association)." - https://www.ruffnerwakelin.com/obituaries/KatharineKay-Mary-Stanley-Smith-Hirsch?obId=487953

Arthur d. 2015

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.1073	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Geoffrey James Cooper
	b. 8 Dec 1917, Worcester	10 May 1944 to Apr-45

ATA

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M.948	First Officer	Thomas Aldren
	b. 5 Aug 1920, Lancaster	19 May 1944 to 13 Aug 1945

Parents: Richard Aldren, Isabella [Roberts] of 13 Mill St., Lancaster

prev. Local Government (Clerk, Public Health); RAFVR from 9 Jul 1940

Admitted as a "Freeman" to the roll of the City of Lancaster in 1938

 m. Jul 1944 in Lancaster, Joan [Boulton]

"TWO WELL-KNOWN members of the Lancaster Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society were married at St. , John's Church. Lancaster, on Monday. They are F.O. Thomas Aldren, formerly employed at the Lancaster Health Office, and now a Ferry Pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary, only son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Aldren, of Mill Street. Lancaster, and Miss Joan Boulton (who is on the staff of the Canadian Treasury), younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Boulton, of South Road. Lan- caster."

Address in 1945: 21 South Rd, Lancaster

 d. 1 Mar 1953 at Royal Infirmary, Lancaster

"EX-R.A.F. OFFICER Death at 32

A Flight-Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during the war, Mr. Thomas Aldren aged 32, of 21 South Rd, Lancaster, died in Lancaster Infirmary on Sunday. He had been in the infirmary for the past three weeks undergoing treatment for heart trouble.

A native of Lancaster, he was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. When he left school he became a clerk In the Corporation Health Department. In 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force. He gained his wings in 1941 and was commissioned as a flying Instructor. In the the latter end of 1943 [sic] he was transferred to the Air Transport Auxiliary, and ferried many planes across the country. He returned to the R.A.F. and at the end of the war was demobbed as a Flight Lieutenant. He was married at St John's Church Lancaster, in 1945 [sic].

Following his war service he went to Nottingham where he quailfied as a Sanitary Inspector and became a meat and food inspector.

He returned to Lancaster in October 1951 but since had not been able to carry on his work owing to ill-health. An ex-member of Lancaster Golf Club, he was a former winner of the George Thompson Trophy, and a very keen player. He was also a former member of LADOS and a member of the Vale of Lune Rugby Club.

His wife survives." - Lancaster Guardian

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M.991	3rd Officer (Seconded from RAF)	Ronald Walter Francis Chifney
	b. 6 Oct 1918, London	19 May 1944 to Apr-45

ATA

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M.1014	2nd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	William Edward Charles Wootton 'Bill' Abney
	b. 7 Jan 1921, Upminster	19 May 1944 to Apr-45

 son of Henry Charles Wotton Abney (1881-1953)

Address in 1944: West Lodge, Upminster, Essex

prev. RAF, and An Actor:

[Wikipedia: He "played Reverend Copley on Coronation Street in 1977, and Jim Lorimer in 1980. His other television credits include The Adventures of William Tell, Crossroads, Special Branch, Play for Today, All Creatures Great and Small, Robin's Nest and The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Abney was educated at Cranleigh School and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

As a film actor, Abney appeared in Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960), Two-Way Stretch, (1960), Cone of Silence(1960), The City of the Dead (1960), Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), The Legacy (1979), North Sea Hijack (1980) and Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).

As a writer, Abney wrote the story for "Poor Butterfly" (1969), an episode of Journey to the Unknown (TV series).]

Ferry Pool: 9

d. 26 Jun 1997 - Lambeth

from The Times, Tuesday, 8 July 1997: "Deaths: Abney, William, suddenly and peacefully on June 26th. Much loved friend of Barry and dear brother of Annabel and uncle of Robin Dewhurst and family. Service at Mortlake Crematorium, July 15th."

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M.867	First Officer (Seconded from RAF)	Laurence Alfred Chapman
	b. 13 Sep 1921, Upminster	19 May 1944 to Apr 1945

1946

ATAM

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M.1057	3rd Officer (Seconded from RAF)	James Waldron Brown
	b. 6 Aug 1918, Liverpool	23 May 1944 to Mar-45

prev. a draughtsman

RAF from May-41 to May-44

d. 20 Mar 1945 (Died in ATA Service) - passenger in Anson I DJ471 (pilot Frank Hill, also killed) which collided with a Typhoon at RAF Aston Down, Glos.

Both aircraft were approaching to land, but neither pilot could see the other; the Typhoon struck the Anson from behind and above.

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M.1054	First Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Raymond Harry Carter
	b. 19 Feb 1921, Rugby	23 May 1944 to Apr-45

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M.1065 *	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	J Phillippe Ducler des Rauches
	b. 26 Apr 1914, British Mauritius	26 May 1944 to 15 Apr 1945

Father: Philippe Ducler des Rauches

m. 12 Feb 1947 Marise Sauzier

F.C.C.S; Gen. Se. Mauritius Sugar Producers' Assoc.; Sec. Mauritius Ch. Of Com. And Mauritius Ch. Of Brokers 1946-53;

Mem. Maurtitius Labour Advisory Brd., Vice-Chair. Maurtitius Employers Federation

M.1066 *	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Roger Marshallsay
	b. Jul 1912, Poole, Dorset	26 May 1944 to  30 Apr 1945

 m. 1939 Barbara M [Deyes]

M.1084	3rd Officer [prev. RAF Flying Officer, 146431]	Albert Edward "Roy" Fairman
	b. 9 Nov 1921, London	30 May 1944 to 15 Feb 1945

Father: Albert Francis Bessemer Fairman, mother Lily Mildred [Ketley]

Ed. Sir Walter and St John's School, Battersea, London

m. Apr 1942 Grace [Varney]

 prev. RAF Flying Officer in Bomber Command from 21 May 1940 to 29 May 1944, based at Abingdon

Awarded the 1939-43 Star for at least 60 days of service in an operational unit, including at least one operational sortie

Injured by enemy action [flak injury to foot] and was released from the RAF on medical grounds.

prev. exp. 550 hrs on DH Moth, Proctor, Anson, Oxford, Hampden, Hereford, Manchester, Lancaster, Whitley

 Address in 1944: 32 Middleton Sq, London EC1

 Postings: 5TFPP, 6FPP, 14FPP

  Albert's Flight Authorization card, 16 Aug 1944

"A pilot of average ability, but very overconfident, combined with a happy-go-lucky kind of temperament. Capable of carrying out some very useful work, but may require curbing as regards weather, and needs firm handling generally"

"It may be that in view of his past experience in the RAF he has disliked the idea of having to pass through Training Pool with some far less experienced, and those who were ab initio."

He was only cleared for Class I and II (single-engine) aircraft, but it was intended that he should later also deliver Class III and IV (twin-engine) aircraft.

d. 15 Feb 1945 from injuries received in the crash of Mustang IV KH838 at Wrightington near Wigan, on a ferry flight from Lockheeds Renfrew to Rootes Meir.

"The aircraft was seen to complete a roll to the left, and commence a second roll. During the second roll the pilot was thrown out of the cockpit... After the crash the shoulder straps of the cockpit harness were found broken."

  At the crash site in 2010, including Albert's two younger sisters 

 See http://laituk.org/P-51KH838.htm,  and

https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/projects/north-american-mustang-kh838-wrightington/,

which describe the excavation of the crash site.

They speculate that "... the reported manoeuvres ... have been identified by experienced pilots as being consistent with an incapacitated pilot unable to maintain control of an aircraft or perhaps trying to hold the aircraft steady with one hand whilst trying to open the canopy to bail out? "

Buried Greenwich Cemetery

  "F/Lieut" appears to be a mistake

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M.1085	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Albert Bower Campbell
	b. 11 Jan 1913, Alderley Edge	10 Jun 1944 to Apr-45

 prev. RAF A/C inspector

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M.1105	3rd Officer (Seconded from RAF)	Ronald David Henry Brasher
	b. 3 Oct 1922, Yorkshire	20 Jun 1944 to Apr-45

prev. RAF, and an Engineer's clerk

d. 1986, Derbyshire

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M.1117	3rd Officer (Seconded from RAF)	George Gilbert Brown
	b. 9 Feb 1922, Finedon, Wellingborough, Northants	20 Jun 1944 to Apr-45

prev. RAF, and an electric loco driver

d. Feb 2004, Coventry

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M.1088	3rd Officer / Flying Officer [Transferred from RAF]	Michael George St. John Seelly
	b. 20 Mar 1923, Wolverhampton	20 Jun 1944 to 10 Feb 1945

 Father: Dr. Edward St. J Seelly, a Surgeon; mother Vera Adelaide [Pye, who d. 24 March 1923, i.e. 4 days after Michael's birth]

Edward then m. 1925 Gertrude [Downing]

 Ed. N.C. Pangbourne; Univ. of Cambridge (Part I of Engineering Tripos)

prev. RNR 1937-1940; RAFVR 1941-44, Flying Officer from Sep 1942

 prev. exp. 450 hrs on Stearman, Vultee, Harvard, Kingfisher, Catalina, Oxford, Blenheim, Bisley, Beaufighter in UK, USA and Canada

Address in 1944: Frampton-on-Severn, then Cleveland, Seaview Rd., Herne Bay, Kent

The RAF Selection Board described him thus: "Has the impulsiveness and overconfidence of youth. He has intelligence and could do well if he could apply himself."

 He had suffered a fractured skull in an air accident in 1943, but made "a good recovery"

 Postings: 9FPP, 5TFPP, 2FPP, 4FPP

"We have all gained the impression that he suffers from a rather big dose of over-confidence"

   Michael's Flight Authorization Card, 24 Aug 1944

 "If he is going to be any use to ATA he will have to realise that his past experience is comparatively small, and that he still has a lot to learn... If he does not realise this, he will inevitably have accidents, in which case the organisation will be better off without him."

d. 10 Feb 1945 in Miles Martinet RG883 which crashed into a slag heap at Thankerton Colliery, Holytown, 4 miles NNE of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in bad weather on a ferry flight from NAS Evanton to NAS St. Merry.

He was deemed to be at fault for the accident, having persisted in conditions of "snow, low cloud and visiblity of less than 200 yards."

 Cremated at Holmer Burial Grounds, Holmer, Herefordshire 

"Dr. Edward St. John Seelly was, until a few days ago, in practice in Frampton-on-Severn, [Gloucestershire]"

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M.1108 *	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	James William Haggas
	b. 14 Dec 1916, Bakworth Yorks	30 Jun 1944 to 15 Apr 1945

An Engineer

Address in 1949: 1 Poplars Ave, Hatfield, Herts

M.1123 *	2nd Officer	Charles Robertson Beverley
	b. 5 Mar 1899, Keith, Bannfshire, Scotland	3 Jul 1944 to 31 Mar 1945

prev. an Engineer

Address in 1935: 212 Wilmslow Rd, Cheadle, Cheshire

d. 17 Jan 1963 - Cheshire 

M.1112	Third Officer (Seconded from RAF)	Victor Cummergen
	b. 27 Mar 1916, North Shields	4 Jul 1944 to Apr-45

ATA

1946

prev. 3yrs 9months in RAF

A Dispenser

The RAF Selection Board in Harrogate reported that he "has good all round ability but is liable to lapses in concentration and is thus inclined to make mistakes."

d. 23 August 2012. The Pharmaceutical Journal reported his death: "Victor Cummergen, MRPharmS, aged 96, of 1 Widecombe Close, Bedford MK40 3DR. Mr Cummergen registered in 1948 and was formerly manager of various Boots stores in the North East, London Earl’s Court and Bedford."

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M.1120	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Alexander Sansonevitch Agaronoff
->	b. 27 Oct 1913, Samara, Russia	4 Jul 1944 to 15 Apr 1945

Ed. Denstone College, Uttoxeter, Staffs

Arrived from India in 1926 to attend school; 1931-32 in Egypt; naturalised British, 1935

Next of kin (Mother): Mrs R Martin, of Denvale, Old Wokingham Rd, Crowthorne, Bucks

prev: Estate Agent; RAF 1942-44

Also known as "Alexander Sterling"

Address in 1944: 21 Pembridge Sq, London W2

 Postings: 5FPP, 3FPP

One accident, his fault:

- 21 Mar 1945, he ran off the track whilst taxying Martinet RG994 in windy conditions; when he tried to get back on the runway one wheel fell into a concealed drain, and the aircraft nosed over.

"He showed signs of overconfidence, but otherwise his work was carried out satisfactorily"

[Contract Terminated by ATA]

Applied to be discharged from bankrupcy in April 1945: "lately carrying on business as Sterling & Co, 177, Regent St, and Piccadilly House, Piccadilly Circus". His hearing was on 17 April.

d. Aug 1994 - Chelsea, London

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M.1136 *	3rd Officer	William Mockler
	b. 7 Feb 1923, Dublin	11 Jul 1944 to 15 Apr 1945

 Address in 1945: 47 Upper Rathmines, Dublin

He carried on as a ferry pilot after WWII; in July 1951 the 'Belfast Whig' reported:

"Sydenham plane crash: Belfast pilot injured

A naval aircraft, a Sturgeon target towing plane, manufactured by Short and Harland, Ltd., overshot the runway when It was coming In to land at Sydenham airport yesterday and crashed Into the sea. William Mockler (27). a ferry pilot. Holland Gardens, Belfast was the only person on board. He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he was detained. He is stated to be seriously ill, suffering from head injurles. The plane, which was not seriously damaged, was a new one for delivery to the Naval authorities at Malta."

 ... and later a pilot for BEA. In 1968: "An airliner carrying 139 passengers made an emergency landing yesterday after an anonymous phone caller claimed that a bomb had been planted on board. Police received the call ten minutes after the plane, a BEA Vanguard, had taken off from Turnhouse Airport, Edinburgh, for London. The news was immediately radioed to the captain, 45-year-old William Mockler, and he returned to Turnhouse.

Police, ambulancemen and the fire brigade stood by as passengers escaped by the plane's emergency chute. Army bomb disposal men, police and air line officials then began searching the plane and baggage. No bomb was found." Daily Mirror

M.---	3rd Officer (Seconded from RAF)	Frederick William Christie
	b. 5 Dec 1917, Aberdeen	13 Jul 1944 to Oct-45

The ATA Benevolent Fund reported in 1958: "On 6 Sep 1944 while flying a Miles Magister he crashed at Toddington, Herts. He was based at Thame at that time, and had taken off on a test flight from Barton. He was admitted to Luton and Dunstable Hospital, suffering from concussion, fracture of the spine, fractures of both femurs, fracture of ankle, and shock. He has a complete loss of memory concerning the accident and has never recovered his memory about the events before or after the accident.

He was in L&D for about 6 months and the under treatment for several months as an out-patient at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. This was followed by a period in the RAF Hospital, Halton, and at Loughborough Rehabilitation Unit, finally returning to Halton. Altogether his treatment occupied nearly three years."

"Since his return to work his health has been poor - he suffers from stomach trouble, and also has nervous symptoms and sleeplessness. Also he told me he worries about trifles which a normal person would not consider.

He struck me as a very genuine person and not someone who was cadging."

The Fund agreed that a sum of between £50 and £60 should be awarded "towards the cost of a holiday for Mr and Mrs Christie and the two dependent children."

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M.1111	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	George Craven
	b. 4 Mar 1914, Keighley, Yorks	14 Jul 1944 to Apr-45

Lived at: 26 James Place, Edinburgh with wife Sadie

prev. a worsted spinner

Postings: 4FPP, 5FPP, 16FPP

"His progress was slow ... he showed a tendency to let things drift and not take action to remedy faults quickly."

At 16 Ferry Pool, he spent 1 month ferrying and he carried out his duties "satisfactorily."

d. Sep 1959  - Worth Valley, Yorks

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M.1089	3rd Officer	Alexander Majewski
->	b. 6 May 1901, Russia	17 Jul 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

 Married, 1 son (also Alexander)

prev. pilot, Polish Air Force; French Air Force; RAF Flt-Lt from 1 Jul 1940 to 10 Sep 1943

Awarded Order of St George

prev. exp. 3,500 hrs in Hurricane, Henley, Battle, Master, Lysander, Blenheim, Bisley, Oxford, Anson (685.30 hrs solo in England)

 Postings: 5TFPP, 6FPP

Two accidents, one his fault:

- 16 Mar 1945 - a forced landing in Hurricane IV KX878, after he ran out of fuel but neglected to use the reserve tank

- 31 May 1945 - a wheels-up landing in Spitfire XVI JB357, after the selector lever jammed.

 "A willing pilot and an excellent officer" ... "difficult to instruct as he has flown for a long time and has set habits, also the language question is a bit difficult."

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M.1106	3rd Officer [Seconded from RAF]	Ian Macdonald Munro
	[Scottish, but] b. 3 Nov 1902, Birmingham	25 Jul 1944 to 15 Apr 1945

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M.1115	3rd Officer	Feliks Pecho
	b. 30 Aug 1900, Zyrnow, Poland	28 Aug 1944 to 30 Sep 1945

c. 1930 http://zszachownica.blogspot.com/2018/07/piloci-komunikacyjni-na-niebie.html

ATA

Ed. Technical School

One of 6 former pilots of (Polish airline) LOT who joined the ATA - see also Leonard Satel, Klemens Dlugaszewski (Joined 1940), Mieczyslaw Witkowski, Ludwik Tokarczyk (M.1006, Joined 1943), and Antoni Switalski..

Next of kin (son) Lech Pecho, 1 Hrubieszowska Str, Warsaw

prev. Finnish Air Force, Polish Air Force, RAF 21 Dec 1942 - 1 Jul 1944 (Flt-Sgt)

[Having fled Poland in September 1939, he was one of 5 Polish pilots who joined the Finnish Air Force in early 1940, stationed in Luonetjärvi and flying transport aircraft.]

prev. exp. 7,500 hrs

m., 1 son

Address in 1944: c/o 1680 Flight RAF Transport Command, Abbotsinch 

 Postings: 5FPP, 16FPP, 3FPP

2 accidents, 1 his fault:

- 7 Jan 1945, his Proctor II nosed over when turning off the runway and was caught in an unexpected gust of wind;

- 13 Aug 1945, in a Seafire XV, he overshot on landing and it turned onto its back.

"This Polish pilot came to ATA with over 7,000 hrs experience, much of it in Poland, and on such types as Junkers 52, Lockheed 14, etc. In spite of the language difficulty, which made instruction rather slower than usual, Pecho has worked exceptionally well, and proved himself a most reliable, hardworking and trustworthy officer."

 m. 1947 in Fylde, Lancs, Jenny Nuttall

Resident in Toronto, Canada from 1949; Felix Pecho, a decorator. 

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M.1142 *	3rd Officer  [Seconded from RAF]	Wilfred Hector Aldrich
	b. 1 Sep 1919	5 Sep 1944 to 30 Apr 1945

d. Sep 2000 - North Somerset

M.1155 *	3rd Officer   [Seconded from RAF]	Peter Brockwin Hill
	b. 20 Jun 1919, Hampstead, London NW	5 Sep 1944 to 15 Apr 1945

prev. an aero engine fitter

Address in 1938: 'Crosby', 25 The Newlands, Wallington, Surrey

M.1129	3rd Officer	Wladyslaw Bronislaw Kazmierczak
	b. 24 Feb 1920, Skrzypna, Poland	2 Oct 1944 to 30 Jun 1945

prev. Sgt Pilot, RAF - shot down flying Wellington IV Z1495 on 25 Nov 1942 over Holland, and subsequently a PoW in Stalag Muhlhausen

Full story at https://aircrewremembered.com/kazmierczak-wladyslaw.html

Awarded Polish Vir Toti Militart (VM), Cross for Valour (CV)

One leg was amputated after the crash and he was repatriated in a PoW exchange via the Swiss Red Cross, after being considered 'unfit for active military service'

 Also used the surname 'Howard'

 m. 1953 in Surrey, Margaret M [Stanton] (son Nicholas M Howard b. 1958 in Oldham)

d. 30 Mar 1974 - Oldham, Lancs

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