W.135	3rd Officer	Pamela May Johnsen
	b. 30 Oct 1918, Bromley Kent	25 Aug 1942 to 31 Aug 1945

RAeC 1945

ATA

ATAM

Father: Maj. Olans/Olaus Charles William Johnsen DFC (1889 –1960), a WWI flying ace - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaus_Johnsen; 

Mother: Ethel 'May' [Bowater] (1896 - 1990)

Pamela had 6 brothers and a sister.

Grand-daughter of Sir Frank Bowater, Lord Mayor of London 1938-9, and Lady Bowater.

 Ed. Benenden School (as was Lettice Curtis, btw), and Munich

prev: Sub-Editor for a women's magazine; volunteer ambulance driver 

She had this piece published in the 'Mid Sussex Times' in June1937:

"FRAGMENTS OF TO-DAY.

Forget

The limp, wet bodies

Of burnt, semi-nude humanity

Sweating London’s grime on sunbaked sand ;

Automata, fragments of suburbanity,

Coming from months of toil on office stools !

Cocktails

Drunk by painted lips of painted fools

Who flee from life to bars, and bridge, and balls :

From life.

To whittle time away until Death calls.

But, O remember

The straight young limbs

Diving off rock in the moonlit bay—

Cutting the crest of a foam-tipped wave.

Thoughts thought from the depth of the uncut hay

About Life and Death, space and infinity ;

Sailing Before fresh, salt-laden breezes

Which often rise to fierce and yelling gales.

Drifting

Down to moorings with sunset in your sails. "

   Daily Mirror

She was also quite an accomplished golfer, competing at the Hayward's Heath Ladies Autumn Meet in September 1937.

In 1939, she and her sister Sheilagh were two of the 10 maids of honour to "the new Lady Mayoress [of London], Lady Bowater"

  Mid Sussex Times, 8 Nov 1938

  TheSketch, 15 Mar 1939

 Address in 1942: Gravetye Manor, East Grinstead, Sussex

 Started in Flight Operations until 23 Aug 1943

Ab initio pilot

Postings: 15FPP 

2 accidents, neither her fault:

- 23 Oct 1943, a forced landing in Magister P6371, after partial engine failure

- 23-Sep-44, during an emergency landing in Spitfire IX PV232 following a loss of oil pressure, the aircraft ground-looped and was damaged.

m. 11 Mar 1944 Flt-Lt Dr. Richard Braddyl Tulk-Hart, who was stationed at RAF Old Sarum, Wilts (d. 1996)

Address in 1945: 'Tainters', Piltdown, nr. Uckfield, Sussex

In 1948 she wrote, with Margaret Morrison, 'Paid to be safe', "A romantic novel of love and high adventure, told against the authentic background of the band of daring women who ferried the war planes."

"Miss Morrison, who has a big following as a writer of romantic fiction, here enlists the aid of a woman pilot who served with Air Transport Auxiliary during the war. This ensures an authentic background for the story of a girl who comes back to England after the fall of Singapore and personal tragedy, to find new hope and an exciting career in the ranks of the A.T.A."

d. 24 Jun 2010 (age 91)

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1934

1929

Mrs Mollison from 1932 to 1938

Amy was 'a slight young woman with heavily lidded eyes, dentured teeth, a shy smile and a soft Yorkshire accent' [she later developed a rather fake upper-class BBC one, possibly under her husband Jim's influence].

By 1929, a secretary (albeit one with an economics degree, and an engineer's licence to go with her aviator's certificate) turned solo record-breaking pilot and all-round nation's sweetheart. Married for six years to Jim Mollison (which was a Big Mistake).

On May 26th, 1932, after her solo flight from America, Amelia Earhart was the guest of the Royal Aero Club in London, and amongst the ladies in attendance were Lady Bailey, Amy, and Winifred Spooner (less than a year before her untimely death).  

"First combined aviation with work in a law office, but specialized on the former and in 1930 made a solo flight to Australia by way of learning her job. Has established a high reputation as a long-distance navigator-pilot in flights, many of which were records, to various parts of the world. Has not done much racing yet" [1936]

Amy originally applied to join the Air Transport Auxiliary on 29 February 1940. At the time she gave her address as the 'St George and Dragon Hotel, Wargrave', and quoted her previous experience as 'approx 2,000 hrs day, 500 night'. 'Types flown' were 'Most light types, several twins, Ford Tri-motor - about 50 in all'.

The form also had a space for "have you any foreign experience?", in which she wrote 'Nearly all except S. America.' She was, shall we say, not your typical ATA applicant.

After being made redundant, like Joy Davison (q.v.), when National Air Communications closed down, she spent the next few months trying to find something better, but to no avail. On the 20th April, ATA Womens Commandant Pauline Gower wrote to her to ask if she was still interested in joining, and, if so, "I shall be glad if you will forward us by return your log book and licence for inspection". Two days later Amy sent the documents, but asked if they could be returned as soon as possible, as she needed them for her medical examination on the 7th May.

A week later, Amy received a circular letter: "Dear Madam, We are holding interviews and flight tests here on Monday next, the 6th May, at 11a.m. Kindly let us know if you intend to be present". She wrote a short note back on the 2nd May:"I note the arrangements for Monday at 11a.m. & will be there".

This was the famous occasion when Amy turned up and saw another applicant "all dolled up in full Sidcot suit, fur-lined helmet and goggles, fluffing up her hair etc - the typical CAG Lyons-waitress type."... "I suddenly realised I could not go in and sit in line with these girls (who all more or less looked up to me as God!), so I turned tail and ran."

Luckily for her, when she telephoned ATA to make some excuse about having the 'flu, they said the job was being kept open for her anyway, the test was just a formality, and she could start when she liked. Which she duly did, on the 25th May, as a 2nd Officer.

Her initial instructor's report was OK: "A good average pilot who had no difficulty in converting to both Master and Oxford aircraft. Should be suitable for modern single engine service types and multi-engine trainer types. With a further period of dual should be quite suitable for Blenheim type."

Despite her extreme reluctance to join the ATA in the first place, clearly thinking it was beneath someone with her great experience (she thought she could have had Pauline Gower's job, "if I had played my cards right and cultivated the right people"), Amy settled well into the job and "worked hard and conscientiously". She was promoted to First Officer on July 1st 1940.

She was killed 5th January 1941, aged 37, after baling out into the Thames Estuary from Airspeed Oxford V3540. It seems likely that she was run over by the boat trying to rescue her.

A flurry of urgent telegrams and letters hurtled around on the 5th and 6th January, as everyone tried to find out what had happened to her:

ADDRESSED TO ALL RAF FLYING UNITS AND WESTON SUPER MARE FROM AIR MINISTRY: OXFORD V3540 MISS AMY JOHNSON LEFT SQUIRES GATE 1045 HOURS 5/1. REQUEST NEWS OF ANY SUBSEQUENT LANDING IMMEDIATELY. ALL UNITS TO ACKNOWLEDGE.

They all replied, along the lines of this one from No 3 Ferry Pool, Hawarden: REGRET HAVE NO INFORMATION REGARDING F/O AMY MOLLISON OXFORD V3540   (They obviously forgot she was divorced).

By the evening of the 6th, the concern was for the second of the two people thought to have been on board: IDENTITY OF PASSENGER OF OXFORD V3540 PILOTED BY MISS A JOHNSON WHICH LEFT SQUIRES GATE 1045 5/1. TWO PEOPLE BALED OUT IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL IDENTITY OF SECOND UNKNOWN

It was headline news in all the papers, of course:

Gloucester Citizen, 7 Jan 1941: "AMY JOHNSON DROWNED. BALED OUT OVER THAMES ESTUARY. Amy Johnson, the airwoman, is feared to have drowned after baling out of her plane over the Thames Estuary on Sunday. A woman passenger with her in the plane also baled out, and they came down some distance from a boat. An Officer who jumped into the sea in an effort to save them is also believed to have drowned. Just before Miss Johnson baled out her plane was seen to dive towards the sea. A speedboat put out immediately, but the men aboard failed to find her or her passenger. The flight authorisation papers from her machine were, however, picked up from the sea.

A Good Swimmer. Her father. Mr. W. Johnson, a Bridlington fish merchant, was telephoned by Miss Pauline Gower, head of the Air Transport Auxiliary, saying that the wreckage of his daughter's aeroplane had been found in the sea. Mr. Johnson told our reporter:— " Everyone knows Amy's skill as a pilot. If there had been any chance of getting the machine down safely she would have done it. She must have been injured, too, before she landed in the water, for she was a good swimmer. 'We were looking forward to having her home at Christmas, but she had to cancel her visit because of flying duties.  I spoke to her last Saturday night. She was very cheerful. She joined the Air Transport Auxiliary six months ago. She knew it was a risky job, but she felt she had do something for Britain, and flying was the job she knew best. Our one comfort is that she gave her life for her country.'"

The mystery of the 'passenger' was addressed by Pauline a few months later:

Hull Daily Mail, 27 Aug 1941: "AMY'S LAST FLIGHT Miss Pauline Gower, Commanding the Women's Section Air Transport Auxiliary, stated yesterday at a London luncheon that she had checked Johnson's last flight and had "absolutely no doubt how she died" in the Thames Estuary last January. The famous airwoman, Miss Gower said, ran short of petrol in bad weather, and when she baled out "it was just bad luck that she happened to be over water. In baling out the type of 'plane she was flying it is often necessary to jettison a door, and this door coming down may have given rise to the rumour that there was another passenger aboard."

Pauline wrote to Amy's parents on the 10th January: "Apart from the loss to the Nation of one who, by her achievements, had endeared herself to all, we are suffering our own particular loss. Since she had been with me, she not only proved herself to be a pilot of the calibre one might expect, but we had come to rely on her and she had made friends with all and sundry."

Amy's aircraft included:

a 1928 DH.60G Gipsy Moth (G-AAAH) which she named 'Jason', and is now in the Science Museum;

a 1930 DH.80A Puss Moth, G-AAZV, 'Jason II';

a 1930 DH.60G Gipsy Moth, G-ABDV, er, 'Jason III'.

After 1930 she owned:

a 1932 DH.60G III Moth Major, G-ABVW,... ummm, let me guess... yes... 'Jason 4', and

a 1932 DH.80A Puss Moth, G-ACAB, 'The Desert Cloud'

Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial:

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1933

Ed. at Marlborough College. His father, Dr. Samuel Harvard Johnson, was the Medical Officer for Hessle, Hull. His mother was Ethel Ida [Booth] and he had an elder sister, Kathleen.

prev. a pilot for BOAC.

prev. exp. 4500 hrs (day), 500hrs (night) on "All Moths, Avian, Spartan Cruiser, DH84, 86, 89, Airspeed Envoy, HP42, and 'C' Class Flying Boat" in "France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Africa and the Far East".

Member of Hull Aero Club, and owned a 1930 Avro 616 Avian IVM G-AAVP:

Single. Next of kin his mother, c/o Walney Hall, Southfield, Hessle

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Scotsman - Friday 2 Jun 1939:

"AIR PILOT FINED £10 ON MOTORING CHARGE

Philip Harvard Johnson, an air pilot, at Perth, whose address was given as the Royal British Hotel, Perth, was fined £10 and had his driving licence suspended for twelve months when found guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday of driving a motor car in Dundee while under the influence of drink. 

No evidence was led for the defence. Sheriff-Substitute Malcolm, addressing Johnson, said his occupation and position made it more incumbent on him than on most people to refrain from drink."

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manchester Evening News - Thursday 8 February 1940

"BLACK-OUT AIRMAN FINED £25

Described as an air pilot engaged on aerial black-out survey at the time of the offence, Philip Harvard Johnson, giving an address at the Woodcourt Hotel, Brooklands, was found guilty at the Manchester City Police Court of being under the influence of drink while driving a car and when disqualified. A third charge of driving dangerously was dismissed.

Mr T. A. Cunliffe, barrister, for the defence, said that at 11:20 p.m on February 18, a police war reserve officer saw a car driven by Johnson zig-zagging slowly towards London Road ; near Whitworth Street. The car reversed, mounted the foot-path and collided with a warehouse wall. When questioned about his licence, Johnson told the officer he had written to the Air Ministry and had got a letter to say that he was engaged on aerial duties which gave him special facilities.

Johnson said that on the night of the offence he had had ten whiskies and sodas between 7:30 and 11. This was his usual drink.

The Stipendiary Magistrate fined him £20 for driving a car while under the influence of drink, £5 for driving while he was disqualified, and banned him from driving for three years."

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address in 1940: 'Thornhill', Stamford Rd, Bowdon, Cheshire

Postings: White Waltham, Ringway

Seconded to Atfero, 20 Mar 1941

 m. Sep 1941 Joan [Hartley], son Timothy (later a Lt-Cmdr, RN) b. 1944

 d. Aug 1984 - St Austell, Cornwall

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.--- *	Captain	Oscar Philip Jones
	b.  15 Oct 1898, Beckenham, Kent	c. Jan 1940 to  c. Jan 1942

RFC in WWI; with Instone Air Line before 1924

One of the original 16 pilots of Imperial Airways in 1924

January 1935: "AIR LINER PILOT IN MOTOR SMASH. Captain O. P. Jones, the well-known Imperial Airways pilot, was yesterday involved in a motor smash at Coulsdon, Surrey. Ten minutes later he was circling low over the scene of the accident in a Paris-bound liner. It was in Burton Road, Coulsdon, that Captain Jones' car came into collision with another, both vehicles being wrecked. Apart from scratches no one was hurt."

Awarded Master Pilot's Certificate in 1935

17 May 1935: "PILOTS TRAGIC FLIGHT Knowing Widowed Mother Was Dead. With the knowledge that his widowed mother had met with a tragic death, Captain O. P. Jones, a well-known Imperial Airways pilot, had to complete a flight in the course of his duties before he could travel to Hove to identify her body.

His mother, Mrs. Florence Effle Jones (80), had been found dead in the sitting-room of her flat with the gas tap turned full on. The police, who at once telephoned to Imperial Airways, got into touch with Captain Jones, who learned the news just before he had to undertake the flight.

The police are stated to have found a note in which the dead woman said that loneliness and depression had been too much for her. Captain Jones was the first pilot in the world to cover 1,000.000 miles in the air. That means that he has spent about 10,000 hours in the air or more than a year's continuous flying. He has been apilot with imperial Airways for more than 11 years. He has often piloted royal passengers, including the Prince of Wales, and recently the Duke and Duchess of Kent."

May 1935: "FATAL DEPRESSION. MOTHER'S LAST LETTER TO CHILDREN Mrs. Florence Jones (60), mother of Captain O. P. Jones, an Imperial Airways pilot, was found dead in a gas-filled room at her home at Cambridge Road, Hove, yesterday, and at the inquest at Hove to-day a verdict of "Suicide while of Unsound Mind" was recorded.

In a letter to her son and daughter she wrote: "Loneliness and depression and money troubles have become too much for me. Love to all of you." Captain Jones said that his mother had had fits of depression since the death of his father in 1914. She had no need to worry over money, as she had a small income." 

 Postings: 2FPP (As CO)

* File not seen

M.220 *	First Officer	Edward Warder Jordan
	b. 2 Apr 1895, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire	4 Apr to 5 Nov 1941

 Father: Samuel Warder Jordan, a farmer (d. 1933); Mother: Mary Sophia

 Address in 1911: Moat House, Gotherington, Cheltenham

prev. RE 1914 - 1916, RFC/RAF 23 Jan 1918 - 1920, 1923 - 1936 (transferred to Class C on reaching age limit. Machines flown: 'All single engine types')

2 years dispatch riding in France

In 1923, "Pilot of more than average ability, slightly spoilt by too much confidence." By 1924, "has become much steadier than he was on the last course"

Address in 1939: Belmore House, Bath Rd, Cheltenham

 Postings:

 A 'civil air pilot' in 1952

 d. 12 Nov 1978 - Cirencester, Glos

* File not seen

1946

https://jordansmill.com/history#williamfifth

https://www.thecomet.net

Ed. Wellingborough

prev. gave his occupation as a 'Haulage Contractor', but he was also a member of the family that owned "Jordan's Mill", near Biggleswade, from before 1900:

 1908

RAF from July 1940 to March 1942 (A.C.2 and L.A.C)

Taken on by the ATA as a Pilot Cadet; 3rd Officer from 18 Aug 1942, First Officer from 23 Jun 1943.

 "On the 16th January 1945, during the period of the Ardennes offfensive, 12 Spitfires needed to be flown from Hawkinge in Kent to the French Air Force Wing at Luxeuil. When the pilots arrived to collect them the landscape was covered in snow, the temperature was well below zero and a biting east wind blew in heavy gusts.

The first three to get away were flown by Johnny Jordan, [M.926, Joseph] McSween, and [M.941] Basil Wrightson." - "ATA's Polar Expedition", according to Brief Glory

 "William (5th). always known as 'John’, did his milling apprenticeship in Norwich, before joining the RAF at the start of WWII.

Although a quiet man, John was known to be quite mischievous... His 'no fear' attitude often got him into trouble. He’d been thrown out of school for building a car during school hours, and he was thrown out of the RAF for flying friends to the pub when they had been confined to barracks. With his RAF career cut short, he went on to join the ATA delivering planes and by the end of the war he'd flown over 80 different types of aeroplane.

 ICCL

Being an ‘adrenaline junkie' of his day. John started on motocross bikes and went on to race F5000 cars, winning the Sports GT Series in 1973-74. He held the top lap speed record at Silverstone and Snetterton for 20 years. John never tired of flying his Boeing Stearman Biplane. delivering daredevil aerobatics.

Passions aside, John followed in his family's footsteps, buying Holme Mills from his grandfather in 1949. By then he'd met and married Pamela (nee Logsdon) in 1946. They had three children — Bill. David and Lindsay."  https://jordansmill.com/history#williamfifth

Jonathan Kent kindly tells me "I met him first in the 1980's, as our group Auster aircraft had been moved from its one time base at Panshanger to a farm strip at Little Gransden, near Biggleswade.  Jordan kept his well known Super Stearman G-AROY there, also a Pitts Special. He had brought his Stearman back from the USA where he did some years as a cropduster with it. He still had the cropdusting hopper in it, with a rudimentary windscreen, as he was known to take people for flights in the hopper!

He said he had around 18,000 hours flying time and had delivered 300 or more Spitfires in the ATA. He had prior to ATA service been dismissed from the RAF for 'gross indiscipline in the air and on the ground''..

 Henry Labouchere, a Tiger Moth and de Havilland expert based in Norfolk, borrowed John's Stearman to fly it in a feature film called 'The Aviator' in (then) Yugoslavia.

John also appeared in a feature film, 'Biggles', flying the Stearman as a German ace complete with spiked helmet.

Several interviews were done with John including an ITV film with Mavis Nicholson presenting, which went into his history at the Jordans Mill, his self-imposed exile to the USA, his motor-racing exploits, etc.

A legend."

Post-WWII, he he took over his grandfather's run down flour mill [Holme Mills in Biggleswade] and built an animal feed mill on the same site which he continued to run until July, 2004.

He was also the owner of four local garages, including Manor Garage (Commercial Vehicles) in Biggleswade.

d. 1 Apr 2006, Biggleswade, Beds:

"One of the area's best known businessmen and public figures died at the weekend.

John Jordan, pioneer of the Jordans grain empire in Biggleswade, passed away in his sleep on Saturday night at his family home in the town. He was 84.

Hours before he died he had spent the afternoon with family and friends visiting the Shuttleworth Collection of aircraft at Old Warden, a place he loved, being an experienced aviator himself."- The Comet

https://www.thecomet.net

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Ginette Marie Hélène Jullian
	b. 8 Dec 1917, Montpellier France	27 Jan-43 to 23 Mar-43

 Not really an aviator at all (jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane in 1944 doesn't count), Ginette failed the training course for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in 1943, but went on to become an S.O.E. secret agent, 'Adele'.

father George, formerly in a shipping firm; mother Yvonne Lozes. Married at age 16 (one son), divorced.

She travelled to England in 1940 'to be with her fiancé', but he (Philippe de Scitivaux - an aviator in the Free French Air Force) was shot down and taken prisoner in April 1942. He was then sent to Oflag XXI-B in Poland, so she must have been at rather a loose end.

She spent the first 3 months of 1943 training with the ATA (although no record of her flying, or of what her instructors thought of it, survives), then immediately applied to SOE to be trained as an 'agent in the field'. 

She was initially told she would not be needed, so then went off to the B.C.R.A. (which was the French Intelligence Service set up by de Gaulle while in the UK) for 8 months.

By early 1944 she was back with the S.O.E.; they found that she had good morse (16 wpm, apparently), and was "Keen on silent killing and has a fair working knowledge." [Presumably this was thanks to her BCRA training, as I don't think the ATA syllabus covered 'silent killing'.]

SOE wrote that she was "very keen and enthusiastic about her job. Lived in Algeria where she was married. Often talks about North Africa which she knows well. Her character is mentally stable. She is a quiet type of girl, rather on the shy side but is determined and obstinate".

She parachuted into occupied France on the 7th June, 1944 to be a W/T operator, but soon discovered that all the people she was supposed to contact were nowhere to be found. However, she found some others and they spent 3 months generally harrassing and sabotaging the Germans. After that she didn't want to return to the UK; re-united with Philippe, they married and moved to Tahiti. 

She drowned there in 1962 while scuba-diving; Philippe, by then a Vice Admiral, died in Toulon in 1986.

[with thanks to Justin Davis]

M.--- *	Pilot	Meindert (or Meyndert) Symen Kamphuys (or Kamphuis)
	b. 7 May 1900, Zandijk, Holland	13 Jan to 27 Mar 1941

Father: Simon Gerardus Kamphuys (d. 1935 in Amsterdam), a Director of the British Cocoa Mills (Hull) (BCM) Ltd, a company producing cocoa butter, as well as other firms in Amsterdam.

Mother: Margaretha Elisabeth [Barmentloo]

Meyndert was also a Director (and later Managing Director) of British Cocoa Mills Ltd,  in Tower St., Hull.

His younger brother Henri (or Henry) Simon Kamphuys (b. 1918)

  1936

was a pharmacologist for the firm.

Address in 1934: Koog Aan de Zaan, Holland

m. 1935 Maria [Mary] Clasina Eva [Brassem]

"Mr Kamphuys came to England from Holland in 1935 to establish the British Cocoa Mills. Although his home was in Holland, he was a frequent visitor to Hull."

RAeC Certificate 13925 dated 7 Jun 1936, taken at Hull Aero Club

He and Maria were fined £2 and £1 respectively for "entering the Hull exclusion area without a permit" in April 1940; they pleaded ignorance of the recently-introduced regulations.

 Postings:

Subsequently joined the exiled Dutch Air Force in the UK, ending up as CO of the Dutch Communication Flight.

 Visa for Brazil, 1946

[Meinhert and Mary knew pioneer (and ex-ATA) pilot Jim Mollison well, and whilst Meinhert was away in South America in 1946, Jim and Mary began an affair. Meinhert and Mary agreed to part; he made her an allowance of £500 per year and she (and, later, Jim) moved into a house called 'Lowlands', in Hurley, Berks.]

Address in 1947: 82 Portland Pl, London W.1

 d. 15 Jul 1947 - Logrono, nr Bilbao, Spain. He and his brother Henri were killed in an aircraft accident.

"Hull Businessmen die in Plane Crash

Mr Meyndert S. Kamphuys, managing director of British Cocoa Mills, Ltd, Hull, and his brother, Mr Henry S Kamphuys, were both killed when a plane in which they were flying to Africa on business crashed in the Lumbreras Mountains in Northern Spain. Also killed was the pilot, [ex-ATA Ralph Harold Henderson], well known in London flying circles. The plane had been privately chartered." - Hull Daily News

 The aircraft, according to "Mollison - The Flying Scotsman" by David Luff, 1993, was an Airspeed Consul belonging to BCM.

The BCM factory burned down on the 29 Nov 1948, killing 12 people.

After his death, Mary inherited Meinhert's wealth. She married Jim Mollison (as his third wife) on 26 Sep 1949, at Maidenhead.

  from "Mollison - The Flying Scotsman" by David Luff

* File exists but not seen

M.250	First Officer	Stephan Karpeles-Schenker
	b. 18 Jan 1901, Vienna Austria	15 Feb 1941 to Nov-45

1938

BG

 Vice President, International Federation of Forwarding Organisations in 1929

Arrived in the UK from France in Jun 1938, and immediately sold his D.H. Hornet Moth OE-DKS in London

Director of Rosenberg Loewe & Co, shipping and forwarding agents, Aug-38 to May-40

He was interned on the Isle of Man under the 'Defence of the Realm Act' from 15 Jul 1940 to 12 Dec 1940. His release was facilitated by Leslie Runciman, Margie Fairweather's brother and MD of BOAC at the time.

Address in 1941: 64 Queensborough Terrace, London W2

"A loyal and likeable officer. Efficient, hardworking and reliable."

with Martyn Steynor in a 'taxi' Anson (ELC)

m. Margit V Rupp in 1949 in London (d. 1978)

d. 30 Dec 1990 - London SW1

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Listen to an interview with Stephan here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009816

ATA

Lionel said his parents were "Phillip B Kay, and Hazel Madeline King (both dec'd)", but it is dubious whether Philip was actually his father, and in any case he was still alive, although Hazel d. 30 Jan 1919 in the post-WWI flu outbreak.

Ed. Salt Lake City High

Nick Dunning tells me that "Lionel was formally adopted in June 1919 following the death of his mother by Louis LaVell, who may well have been Hazel's partner. Louis was a professional riverboat gambler. 

In 1930, he is listed as an air mail pilot living in Boise, Idaho [Kay Air Transport]

In La Grande, Oregon in July 1934, there was a grand parade celebrating "Progress". And there, to take up passengers were "Bob King and Lionel Kay, of the Kay Air Transport Co. of Boise, Idaho, with a big seven-passenger Travelair monoplane."

"Kay has had six years with the United Air Lines" (strictly speaking, Varney Air Lines, which became part of United in 1930.) United was reorganised after the Air Mail Act of 1934, so perhaps this prompted Lionel to set up on his own.

m. Dec 1932 Marjorie [Moore, later Davidson] (1 son, Peter, b. 1933)

He then went to Peru in 1936 to fly for Compania de Aviacion Faucett. Here is his license:

 with thanks to Nick Dunning

His second wife, Anita Peral Kay, was of 'Spanish extraction' (divorced 1943, daughter Jane Faire b. 1939 in Lima, Peru)

 prev. exp. over 10,000 hrs 

Address in 1940: 40 Main St, Randolf, NY

Permit to leave USA granted 6 Nov 1940

Postings: 1FPP, 4FPP, 8FPP, 14FPP

Convicted for drunk driving in Sep-41

3 accidents, 2 his fault:

- 22 Oct 1941, his Dominie nosed over due to "inefficient use of brakes while taxying";

- 4 Aug 1942, forced landing in a Fairchild after partial engine failure, and

- Off sick from 23 Jan 1943 to 16 Nov 1943, after he crashed in a Whitley VII after engine failure due to lack of of fuel. He was assessed as being to blame for the accident.

He allowed his contract to run down twice, but renewed it in Jan 1942 and Jun 1944.

Sailed to New York from Greenock in 1943, arriving 28th July, with fellow ATA pilots Virginia Farr, Ann Watson Wood, Grace Stevenson, John Yingst, Dorothy (Furey) Bragg and Mary (Zerbel) Hooper.

 "A very experienced and reliable pilot. He has rather a blunt manner."

  m. Jan 1944 Olga Mary 'Peggy'  [Mills, b. 16 Feb 1923 Ilford, Essex] (twin daughters Marvine and Marie b. Feb 1945 in Idaho)

 After ATA, sailed back to the USA with Olga on 24 Sep 1944, and then returned to Peru where Lionel worked for Faucett Airlines again until 1951, except for a visit they all made to Olga's father's house (1 Templars Ave, Golders Green, London NW11) in July1948.

Also flew for airlines in Pakistan and India

d. 5 Dec 1954  - died from a perforated ulcer on board the 'SS Steel Architect' when travelling from Calcutta to Wilmington, NC with Olga and his 3 daughters

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

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

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

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):

M.44*	Flight Captain	William Lovett 'Stewart' Keith-Jopp
	b. 29 Jul 1891, British India	11 Sep 1939 to Nov-45

Brief Glory

ATAM

WWI pilot; he lost an arm and an eye.

Commended for Valuable Service in the Air, 14 Jun 1945

d. Dec 1956, Cambridge 

Address in 1939: 15 White Hall Parade, Cardiff

RAF 1919-28, Sgt Pilot

a Flying Instructor; Club Instructor at Newcastle, 1929

"An able and competent instructor but he should endeavour to use more tact and drive with the other instructors"

Grosvenor Trophy, 1929, 1949

d. Sep 1972, Cardiff 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.290	First Officer	Leslie Arthur Reginald Kemp
	b. 8 Mar 1908, Bromley Kent	24 Feb 1941 to 30 Sep 1945 [1,679 days]

Ed. Bromley County School

prev. Managing Director/Sales Manager, A.E. Gould [Coach builders] , 220 Regent St. London NW1

prev. exp. 98 hrs on Avian, Tiger Moth, Puss Moth, Gipsy Moth, Moth Minor, B.A. Swallow

Address in 1941: 243 Baker St, Regents Park, London N1

Postings: 2FPP, 1FPP, 8FPP

"A good and capable pilot, good navigator and very keen on the job. General behaviour also good."

d. Jun 1964 - Surrey(?)

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father Ralph was a market gardener and pig breeder

 Educated at Kings School, Chester

m. with 2 children in 1941

Next of Kin: Dora Kemp (Mother), 41 Belmont Park, Lewisham London SE13

prev. a Garage Proprietor

Address in 1941: 42A Longfield Ave, Upton, Chester

Postings: 3FPP

"A good officer, gaining experience"

22 Mar 1943: "Pilot reprimanded for indiscipline and unsatisfactory conduct in the presence of the Station Commander at RAF Station Cark"

26 Sep 1943: "Average pilot, discipline good, has shown no tendencies to repeat offence mentioned above."

d. Sep 1954 - Bristol

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.65 *	First Officer	Ernest Arthur David 'Jim' Kempster
	b. 9 Oct 1900, Leighton Buzzard	c. 15 May 1940 to 29 Jun 1945

prev. a motorcycle speedway rider 

Early days at White Waltham, Anson taxi pilots - Ronny Malcolm, Douglas Fairweather (M104), Jim Kempster and Harry Ellis (M139)

Brief Glory

d. 29 Jun 1945 (Died in ATA Service) Anson I DG916 crashed into River Rhine en route Le Bourget to Pilsen due to bad weather.

Flt-Engineer Harry Race was also killed, and he is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Jim Kempster's body was never found.

Commended for "valuable service in the air", 14 Jun 1945

 Download Harry Race's Personal Record (.zip file):

M.24	Flight Captain	Donald Ian Menzies Kennard
	b. 3 Apr 1895, Prestwick	11 Sep 1939 to Sep-42

1931 (Flight)

ATAM 1939

prev. Scots Greys, Highland Light Infantry;

RFC then RAF 1914-1919, 1921-22 (retired due to ill health)

pre-WWII racing and professional pilot - about 7,000 hrs exp on light types

d. 15 Sep 1942 (Died in ATA Service) - Liberator III FK217 swung on take off at Boscombe Down, hit a hangar and caught fire. Flt-Eng FH Moseley also killed; 2 other aircraft damaged.

Tony Phelps (q.v.), who was due to fly in the Liberator, wrote about it later: "Not Ken. It just couldn't be Ken. One of the Grand Old Men of flying. A founder member of the ATA and one of the best pilots who ever lived."

His ashes were scattered off the coast of Scotland on 22 Sep 1942. 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.130 *	3rd Officer	Ruth 'Helen' Kerly
	b. 6 Jan 1916, Putney	23 Aug 1943 to 30 Sep 1945

RAeC 1938

ATA

Father: Frederick Gyles Kerly (d. 1920), Moher: Ada Martha [Edwards]

 prev. a Shorthand Typist

 Address in 1939: Thorley, Avondale Ave, Hinchley Wood, Esher, Surrey

Postings include: 15FPP

Two accidents:

- 25 Jun 1944, a forced landing after engine failure in a Mustang. For this, she received a Certificate of Commendation:

"For exceptional airmanship. In spite of limited experience, on June 25th 1944, under the most adverse circumstances caused by technical failure, she landed her aicraft (Castle Bromwich) in a small field with minimal damage. In respect of which this certificate is issued by way of recognition and record."

-  4 May 1945, another forced landing, this time in Spitfire XIV TZ104, after a serious oil leak. She had to land on an unserviceable part of the airfield, (only slightly damaging the propeller) as another aircraft was landing on the runway. 

m. 1947 in Westminster Charles Walter T Clark (d. 1985)

d. 26 May 1992 - Surrey

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Kerly

Helen's daughter gave her mother's helmet and goggles to ATA pilot Alec Matthews in 1994, and they are now in Birmingham Science Museum's Spitfire Gallery.

M.646	Acting First Officer	Harry John (Johan) Sixten Kindberg
- >	b. 29 Dec 1911, Norrköping Ärberg, Sweden	6 Jul 1941 to 10 Jun 1942

[Moved to USA in 1915; naturalized American 1936]

Ed. Public School, Stanton, IA

prev. a commercial pilot, City Ice and Fuel, St Louis

prev. exp 425 hrs

Address in 1941: 5741 Enright Ave, St Louis

Next of kin: (sister) Mrs Gertie Keating, 4007 Delor St. St Louis, MO

Postings: 4a FPP

Off sick from 31 Jan to 10 Jun 1942 after he suffered a head wound in an accident:

- 30 Jan 1942, he took off from the wrong runway, without permission, and his Magister struck a signal mast.

Before his accident, a "reliable and conscientious pilot. Very quiet."

Contract Terminated - Medical Grounds

d. 14 Aug 1968 - Seattle, WA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

m. 1922 Bernice [Lyles], 1 child

Army Air Corps in WWI; "Sergeant King landed in France Sept 1918, but never saw active service owing to his immediate transfer to the officers training school at Camp de la Valbonne, France. He was recommended for a commission but the armistice was signed before any action was undertaken." [Marshall Messenger, 11 Mar 1919]

Chief Pilot for National Airways, Detroit, from 1929 to 1931

Address in 1940: 843 31st Ave, San Francisco

After ATA, he and Gene Moraga "went to the aid of the British a second time, this time as an instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force", [Oakland Tribune, 29 Oct 1940]

d. 8 Apr 1953, buried San Bruno CA

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):

1929

RAF Jan 1919 to Jan 1927

prev. Ground Engineer and Instructor at Norwich Aero Club, Chief Flying Instructor, Sports Association Flying Club.

In 1933, he and Miss Winifred Florence Hudd (Norwich Aero Club's first lady pilot) spent part of their holidays on a flight abroad in one of the Club's machines, DH60 Gipsy Moth G-ABAE.

 Winifred in 1935

"They intend to visit Berlin."

m. 1934 Frances Anne Stewart [Henfry, d. 1981], one son Robert b. 1935

He advertised in 'Flight' in 1938 as follows: "Situation Wanted. EX-NORFOLK and Norwich Aero Club Instructor (Mr. A. Kirkby) seeks a position where his 19 1/2 years' experience of aviation can be made full use of; chief ground engineer to Norwich Club for 10 years, also 1,510 hours as pilot in charge of aircraft, including 910 hours instructional flying, accidents nil, experienced air photographer, with own equipment; age 35, married.— Address, Airport, Norwich."

prev. exp. 1,933 hrs on "DH60, DH87, Puss, Leopard, Avians, Comper Swift, Miles Hawk, BA Swallow, Klemms, BA Drone, Dart Kitten, gliders various" in UK, Belgium, Germany and Iraq.

Address in 1940: Leigh Vicarage, Sherborne, Dorset (Telephone: "Yetminster 85")

 Postings: 6FPP, 7FPP

"A thoroughly sound and reliable pilot" who was recommended for the Class 3&4 conversion course but "expressed reluctance to undergo this training. At his own request, he was allowed to return to duty in Classes 1 & 2."

Off sick from 4 May 41 to 2 Aug with pleurisy, from 17 Dec 1941 to 13 Mar 1942 with a dislocated clavicle, and from 30 Dec 1942 to 8 Nov 1943 with 'bronchial catarrh'.

"His health is his greatest handicap."

[Contract Terminated 17 Nov 1943]

d. 1950, Ware, Herts 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

Father: William Leonard Kleaver

Ed. High School

m. 1936 Mary Lee [Speight]

USA Pilots Licence No 5639

In 1929 he flew his grandfather "William Kleaver of Scott River" and his uncle H.J. Kleaver "Superintendent of Schools at Dunsmuir" on a air trip round Scott Valley and Marble Mountain.

"When pilot Ken Kleaver's motor quit cold 1,500 feet above Eureka, Calif., he was left no alternative but to land. Two nurses riding as passengers were uninjured when Kleaver picked a soft spot in the mud alongside a slough and gently nosed the ship over. Kleaver was not hurt. Here's the way they landed." Arizona Republic, 23 Nov 1930

He then did barnstorming and stunt flying for the 'Crusading Flying Fleet', "well known transport flyers, who have thrilled many crowds with their feats of danger and daring. Also, they will carry aloft any passengers who are looking for thrills."

By 1936 he owned one of only two Fokker C-2 Tri-motors in the USA, and offered 14 passengers a joyride from Bend Airport, Oregon in his '$92,000 airplane'.

Address in 1940: Yreka, CA

Postings: 1FPP, Hawarden, Ringway, 2FPP

Suspended without pay for a week in Jan-41 for 'General Misdemeanour'

He and Ralph Canning were nicknamed the 'California Prune Pickers' by their English counterparts.

RAF Ferry Command from Apr 1942

In 1956 he was reunited with a schoolfriend from Dunsmuir, Eugene Babb: "The human interest angle is that, in the meanwhile, both men have been girdling the globe many times over, Babb as skipper for various shipping companies, Kleaver as captain for airlines all over the world. Each had been in and out of the same port many times, unknown to each other."

"Kleaver is the Calistoga representative for the Valley Chevrolet Company."

d. 2 Jan 1962 - Shasta County, CA 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Valentine Klusek (Polish)

Ed: Bylac Grammar School

Next of kin: (mother): Victoria Klusek

Also had a brother, Louis, who lived at 1595 Odell St., Parkchester, Bronx, N.Y.

prev. a pilot and automobile dealer. US Air Corps Reserve.

Address in 1940: 2242 E Hamilton Ave, Springfield

Postings: 3FPP

1 accident, 18 Aug 1941, due to 'taxying in strong wind with insufficient care'

 In April 1941, he was a lunchtime speaker at a meeting organised by the Chamber of Commerce in Charleston; "Klusek returned from England a few days ago for a week's leave of absence, and left Springfield today for Canada whence he will fly bombers to England." He said that "superior ability in recruiting new pilots will be one of the strong factors which will enable England to win over Germany in the present war."

Seconded to AtFero

In 1942, after leaving the ATA, he was pilot of a "big ship" being delivered across the Pacific "for General MacArthur's forces to use in checking Japan's drive southward", when they hit a tropical storm near Oahu. His co-pilot said "Finally we found a hole and got down lower but there was nothing but water and believe me, there's lots of it between the United States and Australia." Eventually they landed but "did not have enough gasoline left to taxi off the runway."

d. 2 Nov 1987 - Springfield

 findagrave.com

Buried Cavalry Cemetery.

"A resident of Dawson for 35 years, he was the president and founder of the Kluzek Industrial Empire Corp. in Dawson. He was a member of St. Joseph's Church in Buffalo; Elks Lodge 158; O.X. Five Aviation Pioneer Club; and the Silver Wings Fraternity of Aviation Pathfinders. He served as a captain in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940 and ferried Liberator bombers across the Atlantic to England.  Surviving are three daughters, three sons, six grandchildren; one sister, four brothers, several nieces, nephews and cousins. "

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	2nd Officer	Enid Frances Lilian Knight-Bruce
+	b. 19 Feb 1889, Bloemfontein, South Africa	1 Apr to 27 Nov 1941

Father: Bishop George Wyndham Hamilton Knight-Bruce DD; mother Louisa [Torr], from Carlett Park in Cheshire.

Her father was Bishop of Bloemfontein between 1886 and 1891, Bishop of Mashonaland between 1891 and 1895, and Vicar at Bovey Tracey, Devon, between 1895 and 1896. He died on 18 Dec 1896

 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Knight-Bruce

Next-of-kin: Col. J C L Knight-Bruce, of The Sea House, nr Brighton

Enid had an elder sister, (Caroline) Ethelfloed Knight-Bruce, and two brothers

 She was awarded £7 by the Royal College of Music in 1911, and £8 in 1912, for violin.

2 Apr 1915: "A DANGEROUS DOG. At Newton Abbot, on Tuesday, Miss Enid Knight-Bruce, Highweek, was summoned for being the owner of a dangerous bulldog, which was not kept under proper control.

Supt. Crooke said he would not ask for the animal to be destroyed, but simply for an order to be made to keep it under control.

Several witnesses spoke to having been attacked by the dog. Defendant said she did not consider the dog very dangerous. It had very high spirits, and turned to people half in fun. 

Miss Knight-Bruce was ordered to pay the costs, £1 16s. 6d. " - Teignmouth Post and Gazette

"Enid Knight-Bruce, of Western House, Newton Abbot, was fined £2 on Tuesday, for failing to comply with an order on March 26th to keep a dangerous bulldog under control. " - Teignmouth Post and Gazette - Friday 10 Sep 1915

She was engaged to "Mr. Piers Gilchrist Thompson, second son of Canon and Mrs. Thompson of Hayes Rectory, Kent, and Liberal ex-MP for Torquay" in 1925:

  Looking forward to it!

... but eventually she m. 23 Apr 1938 in Babbacombe Church, nr Torquay, Devon, Capt. Ralph T Edge:

"The bride is an experienced pilot, and holds the position of hon. flying instructor to the Women's Reserve. She flew from Brackley to Oxford, and motored from there to Torquay.

A keen student of industrial problems, she has also engaged in a good deal of philanthropic work. In pre-war days she opened a rest-home for men engaged in the dock strike in London, and another of her activites was assisting in the distressed areas of Wales and the Midlands under the auspices of the Industrial Christian Fellowship. She later went to America and gave a series of lectures on 'Industry', 'Mediaeval Economics', and 'England'" - Western Times - Friday 29 April 1938

 She does not seem to have used her married surname after 1940.

prev: HQ, Postal and Telegraph Censorship (Air Force Section)

prev exp: 400hrs

Address  in 1941: 384 Kensington Close, London W8

"A careful pilot and is shaping well" on 29 May, but went on indefinite sick leave (collitis) from 6 Aug and did not return to duty

exp in ATA:

Moth: 38hrs 40min;

Magister: 2hrs 35min.

Resigned

Moved to 2a Kensington Court Gardens, London W8, and lived with her sister Ethelfloed (who d. 1956)

d. 25 Apr 1969 - Kensington, London

[I'm not entirely sure when or where Enid was born; her ATA record has "19 Feb 1900, Eastham, Cheshire" but her Royal Aero Club Cert. has "19 Feb, 1903, Bloemfontine (sic) South Africa". My guess is 1889 in Bloemfontein, as her 1969 death certificate says she was 80 at the time, and anyway her father died in 1896.]

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.297	First Officer	Nathan Stolzer Kohn
	b. 31 Oct 1910, St Louis MO	11 Jan 1941 to 29 Jun 1942

Father: Wolfe Kohn (originally from Finland, a Banker); mother Fannie (American) from Tuscumbia, AL

Ed. Vanderbilt University, New York University

m. 1933 Edith [Koggan]; 2 children, David b. 1944 and Wolina

prev. US Army 1930-34; Commercial Pilot - President of Jersey Air Service, Paterson NJ from 1936

Address in 1941: 10-04 Bellaire Ave, Fair Lawn NJ

A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1938 when he failed to appear in court. He was charged with operating an amusement concession without a ($50) license.

"Mr Kohn has been in the Criminal Court, Hackensack NJ, twice in recent years: once when accused of obtaining $150 and an aeroplane from two Baltimore men in an aeroplane sale deal and again when he faced the same charge in relation to an alleged fire insurance loss."

 Arrived in the UK 28 Feb 1941

Postings: 1FPP, 15FPP, 3FPP, 4bFPP, 14FPP, 4aFPP

"A pilot of great ability with a high sense of duty, who is responsive to considerate treatment."

Contract Terminated - Refused to carry out flying duties

Later a Lt-Col in the USAAC Air Transport Command; post-WWII he was active in real estate and then founded an import-export business.

d. 6 May 1966 (age 56) - Eaglewood, NJ

"For a number of years, Mr Kohn had figured prominently in activities designed to aid the State of Israel get firmly established. He also helped lay the groundwork for the organization of its Air Force."

He had "considerable financial holdings" in Israel, and in Cuba before Fidel Castro gained control; he once received a Bible from Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion for his work.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/240113

Father: Adam Kolendorski (American), mother: Katherine (Katy) (Polish)

He "excelled in woodwork and other manual arts subjects, and learned to fly a plane while working as a 'grease monkey' at a field near his home. He moved to California, and became a pilot for an air service."

m. 1938 Charlotte Mae [Reynolds]

Address in 1940: Star Route, Lakehurst, NJ

His wife was granted a divorce in Los Angeles on 3 Feb 1940, on the basis that he "spent most of his time at an airport and finally went to Canada to join the Royal Air Force."

 Travelled to Liverpool from Montreal on the 'Duchess of Bedford', arriving 10 August 1940.

ATA Contract Terminated 3 Sep 1940 - Joined the RAF as part of the 'Eagle' squadron of American volunteer pilots.

It sounds like Stanley carried on hoping for a reconciliation with Charlotte; on the 27 Oct 1940 "According to Stanley Kolendorski,of Lakehurst, NJ. the thrill of training to fire a shot for his ancestral Poland almost compensates for the threat of his wife to divorce him when he joined up. He is hoping she will reconsider her decision when she gets a picture of him in his British uniform - her picture, in her wedding dress, is the sole mural decoration of the little cubicle that is his exile bedroom tonight."

Asbury Park Press, NJ, 21 May 1941 - "After receiving word that their son, Stanley, is missing after a flight from England during war operations [on the 17th May], Mr. and Mrs Adam Kolendorski are anxiously awaiting further word from the British Air Ministry to learn whether the youth is dead, a German prisoner or has returned safely."

The full story emerged later.

"After being scrambled early in the morning in Hurricane Mk IIb Z3186 (71 (Eagle) Squadron) to intercept Ju88's and He111's coming across the channel, at 20,000 ft they came across escorting Bf 109's of the II./JG 53 "Pik As" over the Thames Estuary.

Mike Kolendorski turned his aircraft sharply to intercept a pair of Bf 109s, when a second pair opened fire on him. A warning was given over the R/T, but too late for Kolendorski. It would seem that he was killed in his cockpit as no attempt by him to bale out was observed. Other 'Eagle'-squadron pilots saw his aircraft crash land in the water and reported Stanley Michel Kolendorski KIA after they had returned to their airbase.

F/O Kolendorski's body was washed ashore in the Netherlands on 13th August 1941 near 'Paal 16' at the beach of Rockanje / West-Voorne, Voorne Putten island, Zuidhollandse Eilanden region. His remains were buried at the General Cemetery "Maria Rust" in Rockanje, municipality of West-Voorne."

 findagrave.com

He is also one of 13 WWII and Korean War dead who are commemorated on the Asbury, NJ, War Memorial, dedicated in 1954.

d. 17 May 1941 (age 26) 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.615*	First Officer	Richard Nelson 'Dick' Kraschel
	b. 25 Jan 1919, Harlan, IA	7 Jul 1941 to 20 Jul 1942

1941

 Father: Nelson G. Kraschel, former Governor of Iowa, mother Agnes

Ed. Iowa State College, University of Colorado

Learnt to fly in 1936 at Des Moines, IA

prev. Instructor, Livingstone Airways, Waterloo, IA then USAAF Flight Instructor at Cimarron Field, Oklahoma City

Dick joined the ATA when his parents were away on vacation. "I thought it would be easier if they didn't know my plans", he said.

It turned out, however, that he needed his parents' permission anyway, so his mother (when she found out about it) flew to Montreal and gave the necessary consent.

During his ATA Service, he ferried more than 60 types of planes, "losing 48lb in the process."

"The work, the climate and the food sort of piled up on me and got me down", he said.

Post-ATA, he joined the Bell Aircraft Co. as a test pilot on 14 Sep 1942, but was killed 29 May 1943 when his parachute failed to open after he bailed out of a test flight near Niagara Falls.

 findagrave.com

RAeC 1930

ATA (with thanks to Dana MacDuff)

Her parents were Capt William Henry Nicholson and Sybil Wigham.

Educated at Roedean, got her 'matric', and went into welding research as an engineer, working for Arc Manufacturing Co. in Shepherd's Bush.

She married John Lambton in March 1934, and they had one son, Peter. **

In 1937, she and the Hon. Ruth Cokayne took a 'light-hearted summer tour' to Budapest (via Brussels, Cologne, Munich, and Salzburg) in a Gipsy Moth; a trip which they reckoned cost them about £55 each in total.

 Ruth C (l) and Ruth L (r) ('Flight')

They muddled along in a breathless, schoolgirlish sort of way. In Frankfurt, all their possessions were confiscated but then 'we found ourselves in the officers' mess, where the entire squadron shook our hands with the utmost solemnity, clicked heels, Heiled Hitler and gave us lunch! Another round of handshakes, our belongings were duly returned to us, and we Heiled Hitler gratefully ourselves as we took off'.

She was an early recruit to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in 1940, starting on the 25th June as W.20 - the 20th woman employed by the ATA. (Ruth Cokayne also joined the ATA, as W.40, in April 1941).

They admitted that she 'flew very well indeed and was exceedingly keen', but pretty soon, she had her first accident. In November 1940, she landed a Fairey Battle and ran into an unmarked drainage ditch. The problem was, she wasn't cleared to fly the Battle at all, it being 'out of her class', and she was suspended for 5 days with loss of flying pay.

Her husband John was killed on active service in Gibraltar in 1941, and she then met and married an American, First Officer Edwin Dana Ballard, also of the ATA, in 1942.

Things were going better (for a while); in June 1942 she was considered a 'good steady pilot, handling the larger types of aircraft excellently'. However, she was actually demoted to Second Officer (for three months) in August 1942, for landing a Mustang in dangerously bad weather conditions.

She was suspended (again) for a week in February 1943, for taking off in a Spitfire with the hood open. Her instructor said she was 'a very high spirited officer who finds discipline somewhat irksome, and as a result is subject to occasional outbreaks. However, if handled with a little extra understanding & consideration these outbreaks are at no time serious or to the detriment of her work. As a pilot her keenness and desire to get work done are exceptional'.

The following month, March 1943, she taxied a Tiger Moth into an oil bowser, and was held responsible: 'taxying without due care'.

Nevertheless, in mid-1943 she was put on the conversion course to fly 4-engine (Class 5) aircraft; unfortunately, her training ws suspended after 3 days as 'it was considered that the Stirling was proving too much for her to tackle under emergency or adverse conditions.'

In 1944, another instructor (presumably less understanding & considerate than the previous one) agreed that she was 'an excellent pilot who works hard and efficiently' but 'her sense of discipline is poor and she is uncooperative and frequently obstructive'.

She tried again in May 1944 for Class 5 and this time was successful, eventually flying Halifaxes for a total of 9hrs, Lancasters 31hrs and Stirlings 5hrs. She was one of only 11 ATA women cleared to fly 4-engine aircraft.

She made it right through until 1945, but then pushed her luck too far. In January, she and Edwin were hauled before a disciplinary court for 'drinking during an unauthorised period in spite of a warning by a senior officer' and 'insubordination'.

The Court was inclined Not to Overlook the Offences. "After considering the evidence, and after hearing verbal evidence given by Commander Whitehurst and Captain Rome the Court reached the conclusion that the charges were fully substantiated, and after reviewing the record of both these officers, who as pilots have undoubtedly done a good job, the Court nevertheless came to the conclusion that their disciplinary record throughout, as disclosed by the History Cards, has left a great deal to be desired, despite repeated warnings, and that this incident is so bad as to warrant their instant dismissal".

She and Edwin were duly dismissed, on the 23rd January 1945. They moved to the USA (to Edwin's home town of Hadley, MA), had 2 more children and then moved to Nassau, Bahamas.

l to r Ann Wood-Kelly, Lettice Curtis, Ruth and Winnie Fair, Nassau 1957 (ELC)

She died 25 July 2003; both hers and Edwin's log books are now in the Maidenhead ATA Heritage Centre.

And her 1930 MG M-Type, which she acquired at the age of 16, still exists!

** Her son Peter joined up with ex-ATA pilot Austin Young in 1959, in a CIA plot to overthrow Castro. They went to Cuba, but were captured almost immediately, and Peter was sentenced to 25 years jail.

 Austin Young and Peter Lambton, awaiting trial

When released in 1963, he declared flatly that the charges against him were true; "I tried and failed to help destroy Castro and I have no regrets." 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1928

ATA

prev. an electrical engineer

ATA Pilot Contract terminated 21 May 1943 - after an accident in Feb 1942, ("a great loss to us") he became Officer in Charge, Squires Gate and finally Adjutant, No 1FPP

d. Sep 1972, Solihull 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.--- *	2nd Officer	Francis Henry Warren Lane
	b. 22 Jun 1899, Twyford, Berks	18 Sep 1940 to 7 Mar 1941

 Father: Albert Francis Lane, a Colliery Agent, Mother: Mary [Warren]

2nd Lieut,  RFC in WW1

RAeC Certificate 5709 dated 17 Feb 1918, taken at Ruffy-Baumann School, Acton, on a Caudron Biplane

Address in 1918: 8 Laburnam Rd, Maidenhead, Berks

m. 1924 in Maidenhead, Olga [Greiner]

Address in 1930: The Chase, Belmont Park Avenue, Windsor

 Postings:

 d. 1972 - West Glamorgan

* ATA File not seen

M.627	First Officer	James Victor 'Skippy' Lane Jr
	b. 10 Feb 1915, Los Angeles CA	18 Jul 1941 to 20 Jul 1942 and 14 Apr 1943 to 13 Apr 1945

prev. an Operator of Motor Boats, and then a Flight Instructor for Dallas Aviation School, TX

 Address in 1941: PO Box 9695 Los Feliz Station, Los Angeles

Postings: 6FPP, 4bFPP, 1FPP, 3FPP

11 May 1942, Suspended for two days for "taking off down wind in (adverse weather)

27 Sep 1943, Reprimanded for disobedience of airfield regulations at Litchfield

6 accidents, 2 his fault: 

- 7 Dec 1941, landed a Hurricane wheels-up after engine failure;

- 11 Apr 1942, Commended for his prompt action when he force landed a Blenheim after he noticed signs of lubrication failure;

- 30 Jun 1943, he made a single engine landing in a Blenheim IV after port engine failure;

- 12 Dec 1943, when taking off in a Martlet the arrester hook dropped onto the runway; he abandoned the take-off but the aircraft swung and a wingtip was damaged. He had failed to check the arrester hook was locked.

- 11 May 1944, he had to land his Thunderbolt wheels-up when the failure of a weld on the port undercarriage strut meant it got stuck in the 'up' position.

- 30 Aug 1944, his Vengeance caught fire as it was landing, due to a filler cap coming adrift near the exhaust

"A steady and capable pilot, and a good officer" "Always willing"

m. 20 Feb 1943 in Calcutta, Constance Evelyn [Gibbon, b. 1904 in India]

During the period July 1942 to April 1943, he flew 'The Hump' for CNAC (China National Aviation Corp.). see CNAC Captain James Lane

Sailed back to the USA 18 Apr 1945, with Constance, and fellow ATA pilot Donald Richardson (M.575), his English wife and their son.

m. 1953 Gladys Irene [Rupert]

d. 12 Mar 1961 (age 46) - Los Angeles

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.52	First Officer	Dora Lang
	b. 30 Mar 1914, London	8 Sep 1941 to 2 Mar 1944

RAeC 1939

ATA

 nee Tily

Father: Thomas William Tily, a Garden Contractor, d. 1969; Mother Amelia [Fielding] (m. 1902) of 103 Stanlake Rd, Shepherds Bush

One brother (Thomas William II, b. 1902) and a sister Amelia May (b. 1904, d. 1967 in Cape Town, SA)

m. Oct 1935 Henry Albert Lang, a motor engineer

She joined the government-subsidized Civil Air Guard flying scheme, and got her RAeC Certificate in March 1939. She gave her occupation then as 'fancy goods manufacturer'.

Intriguingly, she referred to herself then as 'Miss Dora Tily'.

Prior to WWII, she had 12 hours solo on Gypsy Moth, B.A. Swallow and Miles Magister (later supplemented by, as she wrote, '26 hours duel with the RAF') - she was a Corporal in the WAAF, stationed at Hornchurch in Essex as a 'plotter'.

She wrote originally to the ATA in March 1941, following an appeal put out on the wireless by Lord Londonderry:

"Dear Sir,

I possess a pilot's 'A' licence and would very much like to qualify as a ferry pilot. I have 25 hours in my log book and have since done some passenger flying in RAF machines (Magisters). I am studying for a navigator's licence. I would be pleased of the opportunity to fly at my own expense to complete the required number of solo hours necessary to qualify for the advanced training provided under your scheme. I will be very eager to hear if any arrangements can be made.

ACW Dora Lang."

She got the standard reply at the time which was a) you need more hours, and b) we have no training facilities so, No.

She didn't give up, though; she wrote back straight away to say "I am informed by the Air Ministry that I may be able to do the training in Southern Ireland. Can you tell me how many hours I need?"

Well, they said, 50, although people may come here for a flight test with 30.

While she was mulling this over, (things changed quite rapidly for the ATA as 1941 wore on), on the 29 July they said, actually, "there are a few vacancies, come to Hatfield for a flight test."

She took her test on the 9th August, it was satisfactory, and she reported for duty on the 6th September as a Second Officer.

Postings: 6FPP, 4bFPP, 15FPP

She flew 17 hrs on Moths, 2 on Harts, 8 on Magisters, and a Swordfish, and was posted to training pool in March 1942. Her instructors' reports were consistently positive: "This pupil came to ATA at practically 'ab initio' stage, but very satisfactory progress made in school has been furthered during stay with T.P. and she should make an excellent ferry pilot. Keen and quietly confident.... very active and attentive".

In May 1942 she went on the conversion course for Hurricanes, and was then posted to Prestwick in July. She was recommended for Class 4 conversion at an early date: "an intelligent and conscientious pilot whose flying is neat and tidy. "

She was promoted to First Officer in March 1943. 

She had an 'incident' in June 1943, for which she was held responsible; when taking off in Spitfire BL991, she attempted to retract the undercarriage too soon after take-off and the throttle slipped back, allowing the aircraft to sink until the propeller tips hit the ground.

Otherwise things progressed well, until the 2nd of March, 1944, when she had two accidents in rapid succession.

She had just been off sick for 2 days, but said she felt better. With her Flight Engineer Janice Harrington (q.v.), she ferried a Hudson VI FK458 to RAF Cosford, but then ground looped on the icy runway, causing slight damage to the port wing, which she did not report. She and Janice had examined the undercarriage but couldn't see any damage; she then had lunch at RAF Cosford, and "both she and her flight engineer appeared very calm and cheerful, and neither showed any sign whatever of tiredness or strain."

 Janice Harrington

Marion Wilberforce wrote that "F/O Lang was a most straightforward officer, and I feel convinced that she would have reported the possibility of damage to the wing had she suspected that such might have occurred. If such damage had been revealed her Pool C.O. would have been contacted before she was allowed to leave the Pool."

They were allowed to leave, however, and she and Janice were then killed in Mosquito VI HP932, which crashed on approach to Lasham.

The official report says "Whilst approaching to land the aircraft appeared to undershoot slightly, the throttles were opened gently and then fully, whereupon the aircraft climbed sharply 100 feet, stalled, crashed and was destroyed.

Insufficient evidence to determine the cause, but it is clear that upon the application of full power the pilot failed to get the stick forward quickly enough to prevent the nose of the aircraft rising.

Insufficient evidence to determine responsibility."

Buried Maidenhead Cemetery - Sec. D. Row W. Grave 18

Janice was buried alongside her - Sec. D. Row W. Grave 19.

On the 10th, her husband wrote: "during her service with the ATA my wife always received the greatest kindness, and she was very proud to be serving in your organisation."

On the 3rd May, her mother added this: "I know my daughter was very happy in her work & with her many kind friends in the ATA & wish to thank them for all their sympathy in our great loss."

 It looks like Henry remarried almost immediately - in October 1944 - to Margaret C Cowper, and died in 1950.

The location of her log books (which may have been given to Henry, or Dora's parents, at the cessation of hostilities) is unknown.

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

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	Kathleen Gloria Large
	b. 29 Jan 1923, Charlottetown, Canada	5 Jul-42 to Sep-42

The Charlottetown Guardian, Aug-42: "Gloria is the daughter of Mr and Mrs H R Large of this city. Mr Large served in the World War with the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot. He enlisted in the early days of the war along with five other signallers. Weeks, Stewart, McLeod, Gardner and Whitlock who all made a good record overseas."

[Contract Terminated by ATA - 'Unlikely to become an efficient Ferry Pilot']

"Well done Gloria - the first Canadian Woman Ferry Commander visits her native city.

Gloria has made good in a big way. She passed the most rigid air test examinations as well as in meteorology, navigation, air rules, and other exams which entitled her to the rank of Flight Lieutenant in the RAF. Quite an accomplishment for a girl only 19. Miss Large now ferries all types of aircraft and will soon take her place with the British Air Transport Auxiliary in England."

[Perhaps the best we can say about this piece of nonsense - she was only ever a Cadet, and her ATA contract was terminated within a month of her starting - is that 'there was a war on'.]

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1932

Next of kin: (father) Dr. Cecil Edward Last, c/o Queen Mary Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey (he was a surgeon there)

Ed. Lancing College

m. 1933 Margaret Lillian Burton [Leach] [divorced c.1940]

prev.

- 1926-28 Tea Planting in Ceylon (and a rifleman with the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps);

- Director, British Air Transport (Croydon and Redhill), and 

- BOAC Stores Dept.

Address in 1940: 32 The Waldrons, Croydon, Surrey

Postings: 1FPP, 4FPP, 14FPP, 16FPP, 5FPP

A less-than-stellar ATA career, on the whole; he was:

- Suspended without pay three times;

-- for 2 days in Feb 41 for flying a type of plane for which he was not classified;

-- for 3 days in Apr 41 for flying in unsuitable weather, causing him to make a forced landing, and

-- for 4 days in Apr 43 for unauthorized aerobatics near Luton Airfield;

- Reprimanded in Feb 42, for "not starting a delivery flight until after 11:45", and

- Posted to 16FPP in Jun 42, at the request of the Officer Commanding 14FPP "on account of unsatisfactory discipline."

Off sick from 27 Sep 1942 to 8 Jan 1943 after a motor accident.

"This officer, after a somewhat tempestuous start, settled down enormously and has become a most efficient and hard-working pilot."

"Discipline poor."

Contract Terminated 15 Apr 1943 - Resigned.

 As a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, 1943

m. 1973 Brenda N [Baxter]

d. May 1991 - Worthing, W Sussex 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.88	First Officer	Opal Pearl Laster-Anderson
	b. 17 Aug 1906, Fulton KY	10 Jun-42 to 9 Apr-45

Mother: Mrs Ada Thompson, 615 Pine St, Michigan, IN

Ed. Lowell Grade School, Blow High School, St. Louis

prev. a Flying Instructor [and a former hat designer (and allegedly striptease artist, although I think that was actually Bobby Sandoz, and anyway it's all very innocent)].

prev. exp. over 2,100 hrs - she owned a "Clip Speed Wing Laird"

m. Willard Anderson [divorced 1937, 1 son Norman Richard]

Address in 1942: 202 So. State St, Chicago, IL

Postings: 15FPP, 6FPP, 16FPP, 1FPP

She sailed back on leave on the 21 Aug 1943, with Evelyn Hudson, Margaret Lennox, Roberta Sandoz Leveaux, and Catharine van Doozer.

"Little Norman Anderson of Chicago welcomes home his mother, Opal Laster Anderson, 37, after a 14-month absence abroad with the ATA." - Ludington Daily News, Sep 1943

 "My most harrowing experience occurred last month in England when a bomber I was flying suddenly shot straight up into the air. I knew that two test pilots had been killed thru just such a plane reaction, and the experience I have gleaned thru years of showmanship in barnstorming, plus plain good luck, is all that saved me."

Reprimanded for "Breach of ATA Standing Orders G.4 and G.12" in 1943

 Frankie Francis, her CO, described her as "a very keen and hardworking pilot who is boisterous in temperament. A good officer but perhaps a little apt to speak and act without thought for possible consequences."

Norman Whitehurst said "Flying and discipline are both good. A keen and enthusiastic worker who is helpful and kind."

On her final day with the ATA, 9 April 1945, she ferried a Mosquito from 192 Sqn, Foulsham to 44MU, Edzell, and a Dakota from Ratcliffe to Kemble.

She later said "England is the worst place in the world to fly. The roads read like a bunch of snakes."

Post-WWII, Opal moved to Ontario in 1951, worked in Hollywood as a hat maker and also for General Dynamics in Pomona, continued to fly until the 1970s and then renovated aircraft and pony carts in California.

m. 1962 Malcolm Averitt [divorced 1970)

 d. 8 Jan 1994 - Ontario, Canada

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

Private in US Army in WWI

m. 1931 Margaret 'Bessie' Clara [Mitchell]

prev. Operations Manager and Airline Pilot

Address in 1940: 5018 Bryan St, Dallas, TX

"James Laudeman, Texas flier who has been in the ferry service of the Royal Air Force in England will speak at the Tuesday night meeting on current phases of the air conflict between Britain and Germany." Dallas Morning News; 15 Dec 1940

Returned to New Orleans from Honduras, 5 Dec 1941 (ie 2 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor)

d. 7 Oct 1946 from cerebral hemorrhage - found unconscious on a sidewalk near his hotel in Galveston, TX. 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

(naturalised Canadian 1932)

previously (from Jul 1939) a Pilot Officer in the RAF. Before that, he had been involved in a flying accident whilst being carried as a passenger, and this "seemed to affect him when he had to be carried as a passenger or member of the crew". However, they said "I have no hesitation in recommending him as a pilot. He has more sense of responsibility than most pilots of his age".

d. 4 Nov 1940 (Died in ATA Service) - Oxford R6019 flew into hill at Brynford nr Holywell, Flintshire, in poor visibility

buried Hawarden, Cheshire

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1927

Ed, Leeds Modern School for Boys; Leeds and Reading Universities.

Address in 1940: 6 Allerton Lodge, Harrogate Rd, Leeds 7

 m. 1929 in Leeds, Olive Mary [Crawford]

prev. a Company Director; Farmer

Postings: 2FPP

Two accidents, both his fault:

- 9 Sep 1941, when he made a bad landing in a Hurricane and applied the brakes 'coarsely';

- 10 Sep 1941, he landed (another) Hurricane with the wheels up.

Off sick from 14 Sep to 29 Oct 1941 with 'neuropathic fatigue', from 8 Jul to 18 Aug 1942, then 16 Sep to 10 Nov 1942 after a flying accident, 

 "An extremely willing pilot, whose flying has been limited due to his accident"

d. 8 May 1959 - Leamington Spa

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.108	First Officer	Freydis Mary Leaf
	b. 22 Sep 1920, Cambridge	17 Feb-43 to Oct-45

RAeC 1939

1943

 Father: Lt. Charles Symonds Leaf RM, mother Hon. Catherine Blanche [Kay-Shuttleworth]

"She is a granddaughter of Lord Shuttleworth. Her name is Norwegian and refers to the sister of Lief the Lucky, a Viking warrior... she is 6 feet tall - almost as tall as her mother - dark and striking-looking"

prev: Mobile VAD Nurse, RAMC

Address in 1939: Freckenham Manor House, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

She was one of two hundred 'debutantes and ex-debutants' in the 'Guard of Honour to attend her Majesty the Queen' in March 1939:

  The Sketch

Postings include: 15FPP, 1FPP

One* accident:

- 28 Sep 1945, she 'exhibited bad airmanship' in (of all things) Tiger Moth DF210, when she taxied behind an aircraft with two engines running, and nosed over.

 Experience in ATA: 700 hrs in 40 aircraft types.

[Her brother, Lt Edward Derek Leaf DSC, FRGS, RNVR was killed in action, 15 Feb 1944.]

In January 1948, she and Margaret Frost were among the earliest recruits for the newly-formed WAAFVR:

 Margaret and Freydis, Nottingham Evening Post, 17 Jan 1948

 Others included Roy Mary Sharpe and Ruth Russell.

She and Veronica Volkersz flew RAF-surplus Tempests to Pakistan in 1949, for Mayfair Air Services.

In December 1953 she was awarded her RAF 'Wings', one of 5 women (all ex-ATA pilots) to do so when serving with the short-lived (1 Feb 1949 - 1954) Women's Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (WRAFVR). The others were Jackie Moggtridge, Benedetta Willis, Joan Hughes andJean Lennox-Bird.

 "Miss Leaf is at present training girls for flying at the Women's Junior Air Corps in London and takes the girls up regularly in a Fairchild Argus called 'The Grey Dove'. Last year she took 1,950 students into the air". Also involved in the WJAC were Diana Barnato Walker, and Anna Daab.

In August 1954, she became the first woman to win the title of 'British Air Racing Champion' when she won the Goodyear Trophy in her Miles Hawk Major G-ACYO:

She was presented with the Cup by Mr John Profumo at the Royal Aero Club:

 RAeC

She also came 3rd in the King's Cup Air Race in 1954, and was described as "Britain's top woman pilot":

[She only owned G-ACYO from August 1953 to August 1954, and then sold it to Frederick Howard Stirling; he managed to write it off 28 Nov 1954 when he crashed at Elstree, Herts]

m. 1955 in South Africa, Timothy Herbert Abbott Sharland

In 1956, Veronica Volkersz wrote that Freydis was one of only 7 women flying commercially: -  "Freydis Leaf, who until recently was chief aviation advisor to the Women's Junior Air Corps, has left England to marry and settle in South Africa"  - 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, Suzanne Ashton, Zita Irwin and Diana Barnato-Walker]

   Ancestry

d. 24 May 2014 - Benson, Oxfordshire

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freydis_Sharland

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):  

1939

educated at Beaumont, Windsor and Trinity College Dublin.

RAF Jan-Oct 1936

prev. exp. 270hrs

Address in 1940: Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin

Postings: 2FPP

"This officer, since he has been in this pool, has improved as a worker. He has a very poor idea of discipline and needs very careful handling. " He also had 4 accidents, all of which were deemed to be his fault.

He was demoted to 2nd Officer on 1 Sep 1941 for "Carelessness in regard to secret documents", and then his contract was terminated on the 18th.

d. 16 Jan 1989 - Dublin

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Thomas Headley Leathart, a Lead Manufacturer, mother: Janet Ruth Grant

"Five foot three and of generous proportions" (Lettice Curtis);

[Check]

"a very experienced pre-war racing pilot and... looked like George Robey" (Mary du Bunsen).

[I'm not so sure this is fair... here's a picture of George Robey for comparison:

Hmmm...]

"One of the first 20 British women pilots to obtain the RAeC certificate, and the first outside London"

[Amazing - as Connie got her certificate No. 8,085 in 1927, 14 years after the first woman pilot Hilda Hewlett - but true; she was only the 12th woman to get an RAeC certificate. And the previous 11 women had obtained their certificates at one of Hendon, Brooklands, Northolt or Edgeware, all more-or-less London]

l to r Edith Chalmers, Adelaide Cleaver, Sir Sefton Brancker, Rosalind Norman and Connie before the start of the 1930 Heston Spring Flying Cruise to Germany

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, with Leslie Runciman (q.v.), she ran Cramlington Aircraft, a company which repaired damaged aeroplanes. She also designed and flew her own glider.

Leslie Runciman and Connie (centre)

She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College, and then Ethelburgas School back in Newcastle. By 1939, her mother had moved to Ottery St Mary in Devon, but Connie was still in the north-east, at Morpeth in Northumberland.

In December 1939, aged 35, working in the map department at Bristol Airport, she applied to join the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Her experience at the time was over 700 hours, making her one of the most experienced women pilots in the UK, so she started as soon as they could sort themselves out (Pauline Gower was only allowed to take on 8 women to begin with)... which turned out to be August 1940.

Connie owned

 RAeC

• the 1922 Sopwith Grasshopper (WO 2698, G-EAIN, the only one ever built, which she acquired in 1928),
• a 1927 DH.60 Moth (G-EBRX, later PH-KLG),
• a 1929 Westland Widgeon IIIa (WA1776, G-AAJF), and
• a 1932 Comper Swift, G-ABUU.

Address in 1940: Mill Greens, Angerton, Morpeth, Northumberland

 1942 caricature by 'Sammy' Clayton

Mary du Bunsen says that "Connie hated to fly high, because she said it was further to fall... she was reputed to make most of her approaches from below ground level if possible".

She ended up serving for nearly 4 years, her contract being terminated in June 1944.

Postings: 15FPP, 12FPP

Her initial report said that she 'flies well and although rather lacking in polish she is perfectly safe and has useful experience behind her'. In fact, her flying was always described as reliable and steady, and she was cleared for Class 4 (advanced twin-engined) aircraft from May 1942, and promoted to Flight Captain in March 1943.

She had three accidents, none of which were her fault:

- 2 Jan 1942, the undercarriage of her Blackburn Skua L3020 collapsed after a normal landing;

-  5 Jun 1942, the tail wheel of her Wellington was bent after taxying over rough ground,

- 3 Dec 1943,  her Spitfire 1a X4244 tipped onto its nose after its port wheel sank into an unmarked hole.

Her health let her down after her third accident, it seems. Having only been off sick for a bout of tonsilitis in early 1941, followed by 'flu that December, she was then off sick continuously from 4th December 1943 until 10 June 1944. She returned and did a perfectly satisfactory Class 1 ("only") check, and was posted to 12 Ferry Pool 'for ferrying and maps and signals work' on the 13th. Her short time at 12 FPP went well, apparently; she was "most helpful" and showed great "knowledge of all departments", so they employed her as an Operations Officer.

It's clear that Connie wanted to stay on. She wrote to the ATA on the 17th June:

"Dear Captain Mead (HQ ATA),

Thank you for your posting notice but I believe you should have put "etc"; I find I am temporary adjutant as well, although we hope to get assistance from Ratcliffe on Monday.

Mrs Wilberforce now suggest I should stay on Operations during Miss Jeffery's leave, i.e. 8 weeks from the 27th June. As you know my contract expires on the 1st July and I wonder if you can possibly extend it, in some form, for another fortnight, after which, if there are any further suggestions for my future, I should come to White Waltham and talk to you about it.

I know this is not exactly the usual way to go about such things but I did Operations fairly often during my two years at Hamble and feel that, if I can be of further use here, the problem of how to pay me ought not to be insuperable. I like the work here and have already got in some flying so I do hope you can resolve whatever difficulties may crop up."

 The ATA refused, and wrote back on the 19th June:

"I am instructed to say that it is not possible to consider any extension of this officer's current flying agreement.

If she wishes to sign a new flying agreement, under which she would revert to the rank of Third Officer on her present flying classification, she may do so. Alternatively, an administrative contract is also available to her as an Assistant Operations and Maps and Signals Officer, with the rank of Second Officer (Admin) at a salary of £300 per annum, plus 15s 6d cost of living bonus. It is however understood that Miss Leathart is not desirous of accepting an operations post."

Obviously, Connie didn't fancy starting all over again as a Third Officer, either. So, eventually, she was grounded (they cancelled her insurance on the 30th June) and told to report to White Waltham and return her uniform and equipment on the 7th July.

So ended, on a rather downbeat note, Connie's wartime ATA career. Her log shows that she flew "Moth, Magister, Hart, Proctor, Harvard, Master, Oxford, Lysander, Anson, Battle, Dominie, Albacore, Fulmar, Gladiator, Hurricane, Spitfire, Swordfish, Walrus, Henley, Skua, Courier, Blenheim, Airacobra, Beaufighter, Fairchild, Hampden, Wellington, Whitley, Hudson, Albermarle, Auster, Beaufort, Envoy, Ventura, Barracuda, Boston, Mosquito, Manchester and Mitchell" aircraft - a total of nearly 800 hours.

Lettice Curtis says "Although she never became senior in the ATA she was definitely superior in experience and in later years her common sense, stability and lack of fear of her superiors, many of whom she had watched learn to fly, made her a valuable friend and adviser."

The Times wrote "She continued flying until 1958 when, reluctantly, she finally disposed of the last of her aeroplanes.

Connie Leathart remained a reserved, private person who shunned any form of publicity. In a sense this was a pity as many of her feats went unremarked. In retirement she farmed in Northumberland, where she bred Kyloe cattle[actually, it seems that "she did not breed Kyloe cattle; she did once have a couple of them, but both were bullocks"] and raised sheep. An accomplished horsewoman throughout her life, she continued into her fifties to ride regularly to hounds with the Morpeth and Tynedale hunts. She never married."

A friend of hers tells me: "I knew her for the last 20 years of her life, she was my parents' employer and my grandparents' before them. An amazing and eccentric and very kind lady."

Died 4 November 1993 in Northumberland, aged 89, leaving £518,086

...

and John G D 'Jack' Armour (q.v.), who was her first flying instructor in the ATA, was her cousin(!)

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.26	Commander	Leonard Marshall Leaver OBE
	b. 5 Feb 1903, Weston-super-mare	11 Sep 1939 to Nov-45

1929

Manx Aviation & Military Museum

An 'Automobile Engineer' in 1929

"A very steady pilot and a great asset to any ferry pool"

Officer Commanding No 2FPP from November 1941, and ran it in "an extremely satisfactory manner".

d. Dec 1974, London 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.703	First Officer	Charles Leonard Lee
	b. 26 Dec 1900, South Wigston, Leicestershire	2 Dec 1941 to 18 Sep 1944

Father: Thomas Senior Lee, Mother: Florence Elizabeth

Ed. Bluecoat School, Walsall, Staffs

prev. RFC from 1917; RAF from 1919; A Commercial Traveller for B. Dean & Co, Walsall

prev. exp. 35 hrs on Miles Hawk, Avro Avian, Gipsy/Tiger Moth, Puss Moth, B.A. Swallow

m. 1926 Mildred M [Nune]

Address in 1941: 13 Westbourne St, Walsall, Staffs

Postings: 12FPP, 6FPP, 7FPP, 8FPP

 2 accidents, both his fault:

- 28 Mar 1942, his Avro Tutor collided with a stationary Magister

- 12 Nov 1942, he failed to correct the landing swing in a Spitfire and nosed over.

Off sick from 6 to 19 Oct 1942 with 'carbuncle'; from 24 Dec 1942 to 25 Jan 1943 after the Spitfire accident; 15 Feb to 1 Mar 1943 with 'airsickness'

 "A careful and conscientious pilot. A Well disciplined officer"

Posted to Medical Pool 23 Aug 1944

[Contract Terminated 18 Sep 1944]

 d. 1956 - Wolverhampton

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

Learnt to fly in 1928, then was an airline pilot, circus joy-ride pilot and instructor.

prev. exp. 1,150hrs

Address in 1940: Dayton, OH

Postings: 3FPP, 6FPP

Seconded to Atfero 20 Mar 1941

He was offered an extension to his 1-yr contract, but declined: "It is purely a matter of finances as I have enjoyed working for your organisation."

d. 14 Aug 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - one of four ATA pilots, travelling as passengers, amongst the 22 killed in the crash of Liberator AM260. Others were Elbert Anding (M.316), Buster Trimble (M.112) and Martin Wetzel.

The cause of the crash was that "the pilot in command [Cpt Richard Charles Stafford of BOAC] started the take off procedure from runway 06 which was not suitable for the takeoff as it was too short for such aircraft."

Philip's widow Nell Cole Lee was also, like Mrs Anding, convinced that BOAC or Atfero was responsible by negligence for his death, and in fact threatened to sue them for damages. The situation was not cleared up until 1943, when the British Government agreed to provide her with an ex-gratia payment of $8,000, of which $2,000 was invested for her 2 children (Helen Cole Lee and Francis, who was born after Philip's death).

She then wrote, "May I offer you my sincere thanks and appreciation for the grant. While it is true that the death of my husband did not leave me in dire straits, it is also true that my children will not have all the advantages in life that they would have had had he lived."

The official ATA report summed it up in November 1944: "Thus, a case which had developed a very unpleasant atmosphere, and might well have left an unhealed focus of bitter anti-British sentiment, was concluded on an entirely satisfactory note." 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):  

M.--- *	2nd Officer	Geoffrey Thomas Legge
	b. 8 May 1896, Torquay, Devon	2 Apr to 15 Aug 1941

Father: John Thomas Legge, Mother: Alice, of Croydon

 East Surrey Regiment, then RFC, RAF from 12 Dec 1917; 4 Sqn. Transferred to unemployed list 1 May 1919, back in the RAF as F/O from 11 Mar 1924

 m. 11 Sep 1918 in Sanderstead, Surrey, Vera Elsie Madeleine [Stokes]

Address in 1939: 'River House', Strood, Kent - described as a 'civil servant'

His son, Sgt. John Stephen Legge, RAF d. 3/4 Mar 1941 aged 22 when his Stirling crashed into the Channel after a night raid. Commemorated at Runnymede.

 Postings:

 d. 4 Nov 1972 - Lincoln

Commemorated at Lincoln Crematorium

 * File not seen

Father: Thomas Geoffrey Leith (Canadian); Mother: Olga Renfrew Schwartz

Next of kin: (Aunt) Mrs Robertson-Eustace

Ed. Luckley College, Wokingham

prev: ATS Subaltern from 1938 (MT Driver)

prev exp: 28hrs

Address in 1942: Merethold, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey

One accident, her fault:

 - 6 Aug 1943, she made a rough landing in a Hart, the port wing touched down and the a/c ground-looped.

Contract Terminated by ATA

m. 1946 Capt. Jack Murray Wall, in Hampshire

d. 25 Nov 1989 in South Africa

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.410	First Officer	William 'Buck' Brewer Lemons II
	b. 23 Oct 1917, Cleveland, Mississippi	17 Mar 1941 to 24 Dec 1942

Mother: Lulie Bell Lemons, father dec'd

 prev. Crop Dusting for Finkles Bros. Dusting Co. in Leland, MS and Aero Crop Dusters in Avon Park, Florida

Address in 1940: Box 704, Belle Glade, Palm Beach FL

Postings: 1FPP, 14FPP, 16FPP, 4aFPP

Suspended for 1 week in November 1941;

Suspended for 7 days for Low Flying over Carlisle, in Sep 1942

2 accidents, neither his fault;

- 1 Mar 1942, he ran into a snow bank when landing a Spitfire in slippery conditions, and

- 16 Nov 1942, the starboard inner engine of his Fortress failed, but he landed successfully on the remaining three.

 "Has proved to be satisfactory as a pilot, but has a poor sense of discipline"

"Since his arrival at this Pool (16FPP) he has carried out his duties well and is now showing a creditable sense of discipline."

Sailed back to the USA on the "Queen Elizabeth" on 25 Jan 1943 with fellow ferry pilots Howard L Cooper (M.512), Robert F Sliker (b. 1904 in Morrisroe NJ), Andrew J Burke (b. 1902 in Bonham Texas), Nelson E Brown (b. 1921 in Guilford, PA), Raymond P Hoover (M.345)

He was engaged to a Miss Isobel Swift in April 1943; "Miss Swift was associated with Pan-American Airways"...

... however...

m. 24 Jun 1944 Carol 'Tootsie' [Bryant] of Dearborn, MI, the grand-niece of Henry Ford

William was "a test pilot at Henry Ford's Willow Run bomber plant"

 They moved to Winter Haven, FL in 1958.

d. 12 Jan 1979 (age 61) - Winter Haven, FL. "He was a former Winter Haven City Commissioner"

His son David (b. 1947) earned his solo flying license at the age of 16 in his father's J-3 Cub and became an airline pilot for Pan American and then Alaska Airlines, retiring in 2007.

Carol d. 2012, David in 2013

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.84	First Officer	Margaret Elizabeth 'Peggy' Lennox
	b. 24 Jan 1906, Chicago	10 Jun-42 to 30 Nov-45

CB

1943

Father: William James Lennox (b. 1876 in Canada), Mother Grace 'Annie' [Arnold]

Ed. Lakewood High, Cleveland School of Art, Western Reserve University, New School for Social Research

prev: Art teacher, Model, Secretary, Flight Instructor in the CAA Flight Training Program at Providence RI, and Dallas, TX

m. 5 Jan 1933 in John Albertsen [a "horseman", b. Denmark] in Ripley, Chautauqua County, NY [divorced]

Address in 1942: 301 37th St, St Petersburg, FL

Peggy featured in this advertisement for Camel cigarettes in 1942, which appeared in literally hundreds of different newspapers throughout the USA:

"Don't Let those eyes and that smile fool you. When this young lady starts talking airplanes, brother, you'd listen .. Yes, and with Instructor Peggy Lennox, it's strictly Camels, too - the flier's favorite. "Mildness is a rule with me", she explains,"That means Camels. There's less nicotine in the smoke" **

One of her students said "Miss Lennox is always patient, never gets sore, but boy, is she exacting! Every manoeuver has to be done just right before you learn anything else."

 Arrived from Nova Scotia on the 29 June 1942 with fellow ATA women pilots Una Goodwin and Mary Zerbel

After her time in the ATA, she sailed back to New York on the 'Queen Elizabeth' on 2 Dec 1945, with Roberta (and one-year old Guy) Leveaux, James MacCallum, Ann Wood and Gilman 'Ben' Warne.

Post-WWII, Peggy won the Montreal to Miami All-women Air Race in 1949, then in 1951 she finished first in the 986-mile All-Women International Air Race from Orlando, Florida, to Windsor, Ontario.

 Peggy in 1951, after finishing first

m. George B Firkal (a musician, divorced 1957)

m. Dec 1961 Wallace Jutten Drown in Duval, FL

Recipient of the Silver Wings Award in 1979, celebrating her 50 years of flying and "helping to break sex discrimination barriers for pilots and instructors"

Later owned apartments and stores in Fort Lauderdale, FL., and was known to fly prospective clients for a bird's eye view of the land.  "I stay with flying because once you get it in your blood, you're never the same", she said.

 d. Jun 1985 - Fort Lauderdale

** Please don't take this as an encouragement to smoke Camels, or any other Camelidae (e.g. llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, or guanacos.).

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.28	First Officer	Anna Zofia Maria Leska
	b. 4 Nov 1910, Warsaw, Poland	6 Jan 1941 to 30 Nov 1945

 prev. Polish Air Force; Polish Section in UK

She escaped from Poland by flying an aircraft to Romania, where she was interned. She managed to escape and, with two fellow countrymen, drove to Bucharest and then Paris, which is where she met her future husband, Flt-Lt Mietak Daab.

Following the collapse of France, they managed to find a boat to Plymouth,

 1942 caricature by 'Sammy' Clayton

d. 21 Jan 1998 - Warsaw

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1929

ATA

prev. a journalist

prev. exp. 'about 700 hrs'

RAF 1924-30; entered Cranwell from Eton, Jan-24 ; P/O from Dec-25, eventually F/O

Invalided out "solely through being unfit for tropical climates"

RASC Nov-39 to Apr-40 (Driver)

RAE Farnborough Jul-40 to Dec-40, to do Pilot's Notes on aeroplanes. "The work I am doing is a useful one, but I do feel that there must be many better-qualified people to do it who for one reason or another cannot fly, and I really believe I would be more use as a pilot."

1 Sep 1940, he wrote:

"Dear Mr d'Erlanger,

You may not remember me, but we were at Eton together (I was at S.G.L.'s, 1919-23) & I remember you perfectly well, although we did not happen to come across each other very much.

I happened to see Keith Jopp today at Boscombe Down, who told me that you wanted experienced pilots in ATA. I believe you would find that I was all right, & for my part there is nothing I should like more than to get back to flying..."

He was offered a contract on the 16th September; after his 15-minute Tiger Moth flight test, the Chief Flying Instructor recorded that he was "above the average", except that " He flies with a little too much abandon and all turns are too steep"

He was posted to Kirkbride (west of Carlisle, the 16th and last Ferry Pool to be opened), but his father died in October 1941, and he applied for a transfer to be nearer London to wind up the estate. This was not possible, however, and he wrote to ATA a month later:

"I have suffered from Lupus Erythematosus since 1928... since joining ATA a year ago I have been able always to go to London to get the regular treatment, from the doctor I have had for years, that this complaint necessitates... I must therefore request to be posted immediately to White Waltham, with permission to take one day off a week instead of two consecutive days a fortnight."

While this was being considered, he had a car accident, in December 1941; this left him with severe concussion and some 'postconcussional phenomena such as slight giddiness on turning quickly". His doctor wrote "I recommend that he not return to flying for at least three months."

In fact, he did not return to flying until May 1942, doing a refresher course from 8 May to 2 June. He had made arrangements to move into a small cottage owned by Anthony Phelps (q.v.), but before that could happen he was killed in a flying accident.

d. 12 June 1942 (Died in ATA Service) - Hurricane AG680 crashed into a hill at a height of over 1500ft in Keld, N Yorkshire, in poor visibility and low cloud.

He was blamed for the accident, having persisted too far over high ground in bad weather. Also, "He failed to obtain weather information for his route before taking off and continued to fly in conditions worse than those prescribed in ATA Standing Orders."

Buried Maidenhead Cemetery

 "They shall mount with wings as eagles"

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Ed. St Andrews College, then Madras College

prev. Flt-Lieut in RAF 1932-38, then Lieut in RN 1938-39

Postings: 4FPP, 4aFPP, 8FPP, 14FPP

Suspended for 2 days without pay in May-41 for 'continued unpunctuality'

"Very good pilot, inclined to be careless with money... he reported to No 8 F.P. with his uniform in a disgraceful condition."

[Resigned]

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.118	3rd Officer	Mrs Kathleen Marjorie 'Betty' Lester
	b. 9 Jul 1915, West Bridgeford, Nottingham	14 Jun 1943 to 28 Feb 1945

née Haylock

Father: Edward Montagu Haylock, a Ballroom Manager; mother: Lillian [Jones]

Ed. Alderman Newton's School. Leicester

prev: ATS Convoy Driver 1939-1943 (Sergeant)

m. Oct 1940 in Leicester, Flt-Lt Philip Stanley Lester, RAF

 Address in 1943: 315 Uppingham Rd, Leicester

Postings: 6FPP

One accident:

- 18 Nov 1944, she needed to taxy between two aircraft and asked a rigger to help her. Unfortunately, her Anson XI NL238 skidded on mud and hit the tail of a Hurricane. The rigger was blamed!

 m. 1950 in Leicester, Dennis M Wilson

 d. 2001 - Ringwould, Dover, Kent

  "An extraordinary Woman"

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1937

ATA

prev. ground engineer

RAF trainee pilot, Jun-40 to Feb-41 - "The reason for his withdrawal from training is due to the failure to pass his examinations."

prev. exp. 166 hrs

Address in 1941: Dixons Rd, Broughton, nr Stockbridge, Hants

Postings: 1FPP

He bought himself this 1932 Aston-Martin Le Mans, [registered APG 410, previously owned by Richard Shuttleworth; it still exists] in September 1941, for £175.

d. 15 Mar 1942 (Died in ATA Service) piloting Fairchild HM178 which stalled and crashed on approach to White Waltham. His fellow ATA pilots Bridget Hill and Betty Sayer (qqv) were also killed; Pamela Duncan (qv) was thrown from the aircraft during the crash and suffered burns.

He had turned back due to bad weather, but was held to blame for the accident.

Yorkshire Evening Post, 17 Mar 1942: "AIRWOMEN KILLED Ferry Pilots' 'Plane Hit Bungalow. The Ministry of Aircraft Production announces that Flying Officer Graham Lever, Third Officer Bridget Hill, and Third Officer Bessie Sayers lost their lives in a flying accident on Sunday. The accident occurred in the course of their duties with the Air Transport Auxiliary. The 'plane crashed on to a bungalow. A fourth passenger in the machine, also a woman A.T.A. officer, was injured. Twenty-six people were injured when they rushed to the house to extricate the passengers in the 'plane. It is believed that the petrol tank in the machine exploded.

Among the injured were children who were in the street. The petrol tank exploded some time after the crash, owing, it is believed, to contact with a fire in the kitchen. A man named Croft, living in an adjoining bungalow, was blown through a window into the street and badly hurt but a child in the front room of the bungalow was rescued almost uninjured. "

buried at Broughton Church, Hants

Aston Martin offered £50 for his car - "we are afraid that the recent petrol restrictions have severely hampered car sales." 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Eleanor Lind
	b. 20 Apr 1922, Brentford, Middlesex	18 Oct 1943 to 31 Dec 1943

Father: Herman Peter Thygesen Lind (b. Denmark 1890, d. 1956, MD and founder of Peter Lind and Co., a company specialising in reinforced concrete work including the Waterloo Bridge over the Thames in 1945, and Mulberry harbour units in WWII], mother: Alba Christine [Katel, d.1981]

Eleanor had three sisters (Inger Kirstine [Laub], Betty [Jaegar] Helen Alexandra [Hartmann]) and a brother, Peter Michael Lind

Ed.  St Hilda's College Oxford

prev. Progress Chaser, Vickers-Armstrong

Address in 1943: Hamstone House, St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey

Ab initio trainee

Contract Terminated by ATA, after her 'at fault' accident on 4 Dec 1943 in Magister N5406, when she held off the approach too long, stalled and landed heavily, breaking the port undercarriage leg.

 Joined WRNS (Acting 3rd Officer from 25 Feb 1945)

 m. 1950 in Surrey, Harald Meltzer

d. 21 Jun 2014 - Oslo

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.68 *	First Officer	Sir Anthony Henry Lindsay-Hogg
	b. 1 May 1908, Hyde Park, London	22 Jun 1940 to 13 Mar 1941

1930

1949

Father: William Lindsay Lindsay-Hogg, 1st Baronet, Mother: Nora Cicely [Barrow], of Hayward's Grange, Jarvis Brook, Sussex

His father was made a Baronet in recognition of his work in small horse breeding.

Anthony became Second Baronet in 1923 when his father died.

He appeared in the movie "Dark Red Roses" (which is presumably where he met Frances Doble, who also appeared in the movie).

  Frances in The Tatler, 1924

 m. 16 Dec 1929 in St Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, Frances Mary Hyde [Doble] , "The young Canadian actress"

  The Sketch

"Since the groom, who is 21, is in mourning for his mother, Mrs Nora Lindsay-Hogg, who was killed recently on the hunting field [she was found drowned in a swollen stream after her return from a meeting of the Eridge Hunt], no reception was held after the ceremony" - Edmonton Journal

They were divorced in 1934 on the grounds of adultery by Sir Anthony "with a woman whose name was not mentioned." They had separated in 1932, and in 1933 she received a letter from him, in which a hotel bill was enclosed.

She was granted custody of their son William, who later became the 3rd Baronet.

In 1937, she was reported to have joined General Franco's army organisation in Spain, serving in an ambulance unit in Salamanca. "Apart from the humanitarian instinct which no doubt prompted Miss Doble, she is an ardent supporter of General Franco's cause".

Frances, Lady Lindsay-Hogg, died 12 Dec 1969 in Spain. "She was by no means a great actress, and her range was certainly limited. But what she acted, she acted perfectly" - The Stage

 Postings:

 Address in 1949: 1, Hanover Sq, London

  Visa for Brazil, 1949

d. 31 Oct 1968

  findagrave

 Buried St. Denys Churchyard, Rotherfield, Wealden District, East Sussex

* ATA Personnel file not yet available

  Father Robert W 'Bobby' Lindsay [d. 1943]; Mother Nora Etta [Fiscus] (m. 1944 W R Parrish)

Ed. Peacock Military Academy, San Antonio

His parents moved from Wichita Falls in 1936 and owned the Lindsay Gardens citrus packing plant, and the Lindsay-Niles canning plant in Mission.

prev. Crop Dusting

prev. exp. 400 hrs "most of them flying his family's Howard cabin plane"

Address in 1941: Lindsay Gardens, Mission Hidalgo, TX 

 Postings: 3FPP, 8FPP, 4aFPP, 1FPP

He travelled to the UK as co-pilot in a B-24; "My job is to keep the engines in line and I will only fly about four hours as solo pilot".

1 Accident, his fault:

- 26 Sep 1941, he tried to take off in a Proctor with the brakes on, and tipped it onto its nose.

He wrote to his parents in November 1941, "praising the English and their spirit, saying "They don't any more expect Hitler to take England than we do for him to take one of our cities."

After ATA, Bob joined the US Ferry Command.

Later a Lieutenant in the 10th Air Force in Burma, awarded the DFC and Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal.

d. 12 Apr 1977 (age 55) - Reno, TX

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1917

1937

ATAM

Learnt to fly in 1917 at Bournemouth Aviation School (on a Caudron) while a Lieutenant in the RFC, then renewed his RAeC Licence in 1937 in Belfast

RAF post-WWI

MBE in 1943

His father (also Asa) was head of Lingard's Drapers in Bradford

d. 1 Jan 1971, New Forest, Hants 

1929

ATA

ATAM March 1941

Next of Kin: (mother)  Sibyl/Sibbel H B Livermore, 667 South Palm Ave, Sarasota, FL

Father d. 1935

Ed. Riverside Military Academy, Gainesville GA, and Sarasota High

prev. Crop Dusting pilot

Co-pilot of the Curtiss Robin 'Sealdsweet', which attempted (several times) to establish a 100-hour refuelling endurance flight record in 1929.. They refuelled from another Curtiss Robin named the 'Mor-Juce', but a series of mechanical problems meant they eventually abandoned the attempt.

prev. exp. 2400 hrs, "practically all on medium and heavy aircraft. Has a commercial pilot's license."

m. 1934 Carline [Whitney], 1 daughter Barbara b. 1936

 Postings: 6FPP

1 accident, his fault:

- 26 Feb 1941, he landed his Whitley at the wrong aerodrome and struck an obstruction when taking off again.

 "Smooth and accurate in the air. Is very fine type."

Seconded to AtFero 15 Mar 1941

 d. 14 Oct 1942 (age 33) in a Liberator crash after taking off from Trinidad. The plane had mistakenly taken off on the emergency fuel tanks only, and all engines stopped after the plane had climbed a few hundred feet.

Accepted for commemoration on the Ottowa Memorial in 2018.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.--- *	First Officer	Leland Cooper Lloyd
	b. 20 Aug 1912, Houston, Texas	23 Mar to 28 Sep 1941

Father: Everett Cooper Lloyd, Mother: Nellie Fredericka

 prev. Petrolagar Laboratories, Chicago, Illinois; test pilot for North American Aviation; 'stunt pilot'

? m. 1934 in Texas, Katherine [Thiel]

Address in 1940: 647½ Main Ave, San Antonio, TX

  Draft Card, dated 16 Oct 1940

"Scar - 3in diameter - right arm"

Arrived in the UK on 28 April 1941, as did Raymond Sylvester Allen

 Postings: ---

Transferred to RAF Ferry Command

He was co-pilot of a B-25 that became uncontrollable over Platte County, Kansas, on the night of 18 Jul 1942. The crew of 3 parachuted to safety, Leland fracturing his heel.

m. 16 Apr 1943 in Clay, Missouri, Alice Genevieve [Heil]

d. 6 Aug 1943 in the crash of Hudson VI EW898 at Martintown, Ontario, Canada during a training flight. All 3 on board were killed; they were attempting a forced landing after fire broke out.

 Commemorated at Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

* - File not yet seen

prev exp 350hrs. Owned a Stinson

A Company Director. Son of the famous financier.

He wrote to Gerrd d'Erlanger: "I am told that I have an opportunity of joining the Fleet Air Arm, but as I have offered my services to you and I have two friends, Leo Partridge and Rupert Bellville, in the ATA, I would naturally prefer to join your organisation."

Address in 1940: Woolley Grange, Littlewick Green, Nr Maidenhead

Next of Kin: a) Mr Jack Misonne, Villa Begonia, Biarritz, France, b) Mrs Burnaby, Thorpe Satchville, Melton Mowbray, Leics.

Waived his ATA salary: "It is my opinion that everyone who is in a position to undertake war work without remuneration should do so. Therefore I suggest my salary be paid towards the start of a charity fund for the pilots [and dependents] of the ATA."

d. 29 Mar 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - Blenheim V6263 stalled and crashed on undershot approach to White Waltham.

"PILOT-OFFICER LOWENSTEIN

Millionaire Buried At Twyford 

Fellow-members of the Air Transport Auxiliary attended the funeral last Thursday of Pilot-officer "Bobby" Lowenstein, the millionaire owner of the Pinfold, Thorpe Satchville. who met his death as the result of accident at an air port. 

A requiem mass was held In the early morning at Melton Catholic church, and during the afternoon a service for Protestant friends was conducted by Father A. E. Bermingham. 

The coffin lay in state in front of the altar, draped with the Belgian flag and the Union Jack By it was a hoseshoe of flowers in the Belgian colours. After the service the coffin was taken to Twyford. for the interment.

It is believed that Pilot-officer Lowenstein had only two relatives alive, an aunt and an uncle, now in Biarritz, who escaped from Belgium at the time of King Leopold's capitulation."

Grantham Journal, 10 Apr 1941 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1932

ATAM

Father: Charles Paul Lofgren (originally Swedish), a travelling salesman (Music Tuition); Mother  Gertrude A [Payne or Moore], (English).

The family (including their 5 children) moved to New Jersey in January 1917.

Ed. Detroit, North Western High School

He was shipwrecked when on a boar-hunting trip in 1932 and the 7 crew and passengers spent 3 days marooned on Santa Cruz Island, about 30 miles off the California coast.

prev. Private in US Army Reserve 1931-35; Air Line Pilot for Transportes Aereos Centro Americanos (TACA) in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicuragua, San Salvador, Guatemala, USA, Canada and Honduras.

prev. exp. 1650 hrs

Address in 1941: 2716 S Willard Ave, San Gabriel, Los Angeles, CA; later 805 N 2nd St., Alhambra CA

Exempt from US Draft 'due to previous military experience'.

 Postings: 15FPP, 6FPP, 16FPP

Suspended for 2 days from 4 Jul 1941 for 'Refusal to obey orders'

2 accidents, 1 his fault:

- 13 Jul 1941, his Swordfish lost its tail wheel;

- 16 Dec 1941, his Anson hit an iron stake while taxying.

Oct-41: "A good pilot who carries out all his work well. Would be a greater asset to the pool if he was more cheerful and cooperative"

Dec-41: "As above, except that he is now a more cheerful and therefore pleasanter member of the pool."

Flew to New York on a TWA flight 16 May 1943.

After ATA, sailed back to the US on the "Queen Mary" on 29 Sep 1943.

Address in 1948: Majorca Ave, Miami, FL, when he was a pilot for Skyways International.

d. 22 Apr 1959 (age 46) - Orange Co, CA 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

 Postings: 8FPP, 3FPP

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

As a Captain in the RFC, 1917

1941

"Recognised as one of the greatest of US World War aces with 12 victories, Major Lord holds the DFC and Bar, the Croix de Guerre, the Order of St. Anne, the Order of St. Stanislaus and the White Army Medal."

Briefly, he:

- left home at 16 and joined the state militia on the Mexican border, then

- Joined the RFC, renouncing his US Citizenship to do so, and was credited with shooting down 12 German aircraft (although he later told people it was 22) and one balloon. In one engagement, he single-handedly attacked 20 German planes, shot down two and scattered the rest;

- he then went north into Russia to lead a squadron fighting near Archangel in the Russian Civil War, at one stage "blasting the enemy with empty whisky bottles";

- he then "killed time" by fighting for the Government in the Mexican Revolution of 1921 and from then until 1932 he barnstormed in the US with a flying circus.

- He then fought for the Chinese Government against the Japanese in Shanghai and Peiping;

- 3 years later he was fighting for the Government in Honduras,

- And in 1937, [of course], he fought in the Spanish Civil War against German and Italian air forces.

 He then operated a flying school for a few years, but found it "pretty dull" and tried to rejoin the RAF when WWII broke out, but they obviously felt that the ATA was a more sensible place for a 47-year-old pilot.

d. 21 Jul 1967 (age 70): he was murdered in Apple Valley, CA.

He was found in a desert cabin belonging to Norval Elma Austin, which "was a shambles, with broken bottles all over the floor, giving every indication of a struggle." 

The body was identified by his wife. She later said that Frederic was physically unable to do much work around the house, and had hired Norval to do yardwork and other heavy chores, but had fired him "several times".

Norval was arrested 2 days later, and found guilty of second-degree murder in 1968. He died in 1982.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Ives_Lord

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):

1938

Ed. Glasgow High School

prev. a flying instructor and Assistant Aerodrome Manager:

"MIDLAND AIRCRAFT CO. (REARSBY), LTD.—Private Company, registered April 29. Capital, £1,000 in 1,000 shares of £1 each. Objects: To carry on the business of manufacturers and repairers of aeroplanes, balloons, airships and flying machines of all kinds, etc. The permanent directors are : Stirrat Love, Assistant Aerodrome Manager; Frank B. Gardner, tobacconist; Henry M. Scottoni garage proprietor." Flight, May 1939

"Mr. Love has been associated with the County Flying Club almost since the outset. Before he became one of the keenest of flying men, Mr. Love had some interesting adventures afloat - an ordinary seaman, he sailed to Durban, South Africa, to Hongkong, and Dairen. He also made trips to Canada and India, and then joined a whaling vessel for a journey to the Antarctic. He is a native of Glasgow." Leicester Daily Mercury, 1939

In 1939, he injured his right hand when it was struck by a propeller: "he was swinging the propeller before taking off again when the engine suddenly fired and a blade of the propeller struck the back of his hand. The force of the blow lifted him from the ground. He was taken to the Leicester Royal Infirmary with a badly lacerated hand."

Address in 1940: 99 Millbrae Rd, Langside, Glasgow

Postings: 1FPP, 4FPP

5 other accidents, 2 of them judged to be his fault.

"Fair pilot" but "After considerable experience this pilot shows no ability to concentrate on fast aircraft"

 MBE in 1971; "recently retired trom his post as operations control superindendent for B.E.A. in Germany" 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1932

ATAM

prev. with Mac Fisheries Ltd

 "5ft 10ins, build: medium, eyes: hazel".

Father: William Thomas Lowe. Educated at Seaford College, Sussex.

A salesman in 1932, when 'Flight' said he was 'in the wholesale fish business' (in fact, he worked for Mac Fisheries Ltd).

For the 1938 King's Cup Race, (in which he came 9th out of 19), 'Flight' described him thus: "He has been a consistent competitor in air races, though last year - when he had the bad luck to retire at Glasgow in the eliminating contest - was his first King's Cup race. He won the 1937 Manx Air Derby. He lives at Twickenham, Middlesex, and plays golf and Rugby football."

   Flight

He also won the 1936 Portsmouth - Shoreham - Portsmouth race, averaging 126mph, in his Comper Swift (presumably the very lovely G-ABWE, although he later owned the Gipsy-engined [and therefore plug-ugly, imho] 'WW'):

    AJJ

He modified 'WW in 1938 to have a hinged racing windscreen and a fairing between the wing bracing struts, which are visible here. Them fairings must have made the visibility even worse...

He married Enid Eileen Thirlwell in 1939, and they had a daughter in 1943.

Stanley was very successful in the ATA, rising through the ranks to become a Commander by March 1945 and only leaving in November 1945, when the ATA ws disbanded. His recommendation for promotion in February 1945 reads like the appraisal I never got, praising his "excellent quality of leadership, occupational ability, punctuality, attendance, general conduct and discipline".

In over 5 years he flew 41 types of aeroplane, up to and including all 4-engine types, without any serious incident. His instructors reported him to be 'a competent pilot, obliging, efficient, considerate of his brother officers, and attentive of his duties'... 'recent operations to the Continent indicate his ability to command, organise and improvise. As a pilot he sets an excellent example"... (I could go on, but I think we can agree that he deserved his O.B.E., awarded in the New Years Honours List of 1946).

 d. 1993; wife Enid d. 2002. 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

findagrave.com

Father: Wilbur W Lowman, mother Blanche C [Liefer, later m. Walter Ross]

Ed. Warsaw High School, IN

Next of Kin: (Mother) Mrs W S Ross, Winona Lake, Kosciusko, IN

prev. Airline Pilot and Instructor, but also...

 Paul and Jerry II

In 1937, as "Winona Lake's Lion Tamer", he rode a surfboard behind a speedboat with a lion called Jerry. However, when Jerry I died, he tried taming a new younger one, which didn't go so well; Paul needed four stitches in a wound in his neck the lion gave him when they opened the cage. Jerry II then escaped, twice, terrorised the local residents and demolished a gift shop. "Owner Lowman is now looking for someone who would like a nice pet lion."

By 1940 he was a self-employed Painting Contractor.

He was fined $5 for reckless flying over Mentone, IN in Sep 1940.

Arrived in the UK 15 Jan 1941

Postings: 1FPP, 14FPP

Off sick from 2 to 18 Sep 1941 with "orthopaedic derangement" of knee

 1 accident, not his fault:

- 2 Oct 1941, he successfully made a precautionary landing in a Mohawk after a starter gasket blew.

"A keen and hard working pilot" "Carried out his duties satisfactorily"

m. 1943 Barbara June [Sherman] (2 daughters, 1 son) [d. 2004]

Later joined RAF Ferry Command then post-WWII he was a pilot with National Airlines Inc. of Florida from 1952, having given the ATA as a reference.

1963, landscaping his garden at 5950 SW 104th St, Miami.

d. 9 Dec 2002 (age 89) in Miami, FL, after a long ilness (Parkinson's).

"Paul's great love of flying kept him going until 72. His last was a glider plane."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.103 *	3rd Officer	Betty Ann Lussier
+	b. 20 Dec 1921, Medicine Hat, Alberta Canada	11 Nov 1942 to 28 Apr 1943

Father: Emile John Lussier DFC [b. Illinois, RAF in WWI, Squadron Leader in the RCAF in WWII] 

Mother Vera [Fleming, Canadian]

Her father's parents were born in France and England, her mother's parents were American and Canadian.

The family moved to Rock Hall, Maryland in 1924, where they ran a dairy farm.

Ed. Rock Hall High, Washington College, University of Maryland

She and her sister Nita competed in the 1940 and 1942 South Atlantic Association Outdoor Swimming championships for the 'Kings of Columbus' team; Betty won the 100m breaststroke race both times, and was third in the 220 yd freestyle in which Nita came second.

 Nita, 18, and Betty aged 20

She learnt to fly under the Civilian Pilots Training program.

prev. exp 240hrs

 1942

Betty and Nita both wrote to Jackie Cochran in Mar 1942 hoping to join the ATA but were rejected; Nita joined the RCAF Women's Division instead, but Betty built up her flying hours and then used her Canadian birth to volunteer directly as a British citizen.

 Address in 1942: 815 North Charles St, Baltimore MD

Postings: 5FPP

She wrote a series of articles for the Baltimore Sun during her time with the ATA. One, called 'Wartime England from the Sky'  describes a delivery flight. It ends:

"Slowly the coast began to take shape... There was the Channel with its foaming breakers rolling in upon a gray-white beach. Several rugged cliffs added that painted-there-on-purpose look to the scenery. In between two of those imposing cliffs my destination aerodrome sprawled like a lazy spider stretching out its legs. I glanced once more at the quiet green countryside, the calm, blue sky, the monotonous rolling waves and throttled back to land in the midst of the bustling activity of England at war."

ATA Total flying hours: 197, on Tiger Moth, Magister, Master, Hart, Fairchild, Auster.

[Resigned to join OSS]

Post-ATA, a member of US OSS (Office of Strategic Services) - X2 counter-espionage unit, analysing messages from German units. She also helped to establish a network of undercover agents to spread misinformation in Algeria, Italy, Sicily and France.

Her fiance, Lt. Charles Thomas Chittum USAAF, was killed in a car accident in July 1943.

m. 1945 in France, Ricardo Sicre aka Richard Sickler, USAAF, also ex-OSS (4 sons) (divorced 1975)

Post-WWII, Special Correspondent of the Baltimore Sun, living in France.

Wrote:

Amid my Alien Corn (1957);

'One Woman Farm (1959);

'Intrepid Woman: Betty Lussier's Secret War, 1942-1945' (2010)

['Intrepid Woman' is an interesting account of her time with the ATA and OSS.

Unfortunately, it has a few passages where Betty has clearly mis-remembered the events. For example, in April 1943 (just before she left the ATA) she says that her classmate and friend, "Tanya" met her death. "It was an ugly end for vivacious Tanya, with her long blond hair, her cornflower-blue eyes, and her sunny nature. The engine of the Oxford she was to deliver cut out on takeoff. She had no speed to do a dead-stick, straight-ahead emergency landing. The Oxford went engine first into the ground and exploded." 

Apart from the fact that an Oxford has two engines, Taniya Whittall (who was indeed a classmate of Betty's) was still alive until April 1944, and did not die in an Oxford, but as a passenger in a Lancaster. Betty may have mixed up Taniya with Irene Arckless, who died in an Oxford accident in January 1943.

Betty then describes a fellow pilot cadet: "Another American pilot, Betty McDougall, was accompanying me. She was one of the "older women" whom Jackie Cochran had brought over from the States". Not quite right; Elizabeth Anderson Macdougall (also a classmate of Betty's) was Scottish, and had joined the ATA independently.

Betty also says she left the ATA in April 1943 because she was told she would not be allowed to fly to Europe after D-Day, and describes the build-up of forces ready for the invasion; the problem here is that, a) when she left the ATA, the (June 1944) invasion was not even agreed, let alone planned in any detail or resourced, and b), the person who decided that women were not to be allowed to fly to Europe (which they eventually did, actually) was Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who didn't take up his post until August 1943.]

In 2008, at the time that Gordon Brown presented medals to the surviving members of the ATA, she said "They paid us the same as men and advanced and promoted us just as if we were real citizens. It was the first time I saw equality with men, and that really amazed me."

d. 30 Nov 2017 - Rock Hall, MD

Father: Col. William Henry MacCallum DSM

Ed. at Malvern High School, and Witwatersrand Technical College

m. 1940 Lily Dora [Stones], 1 child

A Foreman aero engine fitter for the Ford Motor Co., Manchester

prev. exp. 130hrs

Address in 1941: 4 Granville Rd, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Mother's address: 94 Highland Rd, Kensington, Johannesburg, SA

Postings: 6FPP, 1FPP, 8FPP, 3FPP

"An average pilot whose only fault is over-confidence"; he was demoted to 2nd Officer from Mar-44 to Jun-44 to for flying in conditions below ATA limits, and flying after ATA landing time.

He filed a patent for a machine to produce egg-cartons in 1956 - "James Arthur MacCallum, Johannesburg, Union of South Africa, assignor to Gummed Tapes (Proprietary) Limited, Johannesburg"

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.101	2nd Officer	Elizabeth Anderson MacDougall
-	b. 6 Mar 1915, Singapore	16 Sep 1942 to 31 Aug 1945

RAeC 1937

ATA

ATAM

prev. an Art Teacher

Address in 1937: 54 the Esplanade, Greenock, Renfrewshire

m. c.1946 William Evans

Lived in Vancouver, B.C.  and/or Seattle, 1949-50

 d. Feb 1988, Stroud, Glos

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.978 *	3rd Officer	David Douglas Mackenzie
	b. 28 Dec 1921, Crieff	20 Sep 1943 to 31 Jul 1945

David attended Morrison's Academy, Crieff and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh where latterly his sporting talents were first noticed. The second World War interrupted any athletic plans and after several refusals due to stomach ulcers David was commissioned into the RAF in 1941. A pilot of both fighters and bombers in the European theatre, his interest in flying continued for the rest of his long life. 

d. 4 Aug 2005.

See http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/vancouversun/obituary.aspx?n=david-douglas-mackenzie&pid=14855751

W.123 *	3rd Officer	Mrs Rosemary Theodora Hamilton 'Theo' MacLeod
	b. 15 Mar 1913, London	7 Jun 1943 to 16 Apr 1945

RAeC 1936

ATA Museum

 née Wills

Father: Frederick 'Noel' Hamilton Wills (a director of WD & HO Wills Ltd, d. 1927, leaving £5.05 million, "subject to large interests given to his wife, for his two sons on attaining the age of 25 and his three daughters on attaining that age or marrying"), mother: Margery Hamilton [Fraser]

The neice of (Noel's brother) Lord Dulverton, Chairman of the Imperial Tobacco Company.

Address in 1936: Miserden Park, Miserden, Gloucestershire

 m. 8 Dec 1938 in London, Captain (later Sir) John 'Jacko' MacLeod, "of Skeabost House. the Isle of Skye":

  The Bystander

He was later an MP. They had twins, "which run in the Skeabost family" in 1939.

prev: Personal Assistant to Director, Fighter Operations

 [ATA Personnel file missing]

 Her elder brother, Michael Desmond Hamilton Wills MC, (who gave her away at her wedding) was killed in action 16 Mar 1943. He is commemorated on the Medjez-el-Bab Memorial in Tunisia, and in Miserden Church, Stroud

Lived at Culloden House, Inverness and 36 Curzon St, London

Her uncle, Lt.-Col Graham Beaucham Coxeter Rees-Mogg OBE, left her £15,000 in his will in 1949.

d. 4 Sep 1994 - Northleach, Gloucestershire

RAeC 1934

Father: Hugh Miller Macmillan, a shipbuilder

Address in 1934: Ferniegar, Helensburgh

Postings: 15FPP, 5FPP, 1FPP

One of the ATA's 'two Audreys' [along with Audrey Sale-Barker]

Veronica Innes says that "Audrey had an adorable white pekinese puppy, named Wun Wing Lo, which she used to carry around in a parachute pack. He must have been the most air-minded dog of his generation."

Mary du Bunsen says "The two Audreys, who were very good pilots, had a special line of feminine vapours. "My dear," one or the other would exclaim in the mess, "I've got my first Hudson (or Mitchell, or whatever it might be) and I know I shall crash and I've got a pain (cold, temperature, etc)". And they would totter out, leaving a trail of handkerchiefs, lipsticks, handbags, etc., which would be picked up by willing (male) hands. They would then fly whatever it was superbly to its destination, where they would be assisted out of the aeroplane and the same pantomime would take place. " 

 At least 5 accidents, 1 her fault:

- 28-Nov-42, she collided with a petrol drum while taxying in Fairchild EV809

- 15-Jan-43, a forced landing in Mosquito IV DZ427 after a hydraulic failure meant the undercarriage would not retract

 - 5-Aug-43, the tail wheel of her Argus HM182 collapsed whilst taxying

- 11-Nov-43, she bent the undercarriage of Mosquito VI LR291 during a crosswind landing

 - 24-Dec-43, another Mosquito, another undercarriage problem: Mosquito XVI MM277's undercarriage collapsed on landing. The previous pilot (who happened to be Senior Commander Philip Wills, the Head of the Accidents Section of ATA), had made a heavy landing earlier but not reported it - he was blamed.

m. 1944 in Glasgow, Neil Campbell Mackenzie (divorced, 1 daughter b. 1946)

In October 1947, she was an early recruit for the newly-formed WAAFVR:

  The Scotsman

m. 1952 in Dunbartonshire, Sir Philip Lee Brocklehurst[b. 1887; he had been a member of the Nimrod Expedition in Antarctica of 1907–1909, led by Ernest Shackleton] and became Lady Brocklehurst

They lived at 15 Belgrave Mews South, London SW1, and Swythamley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire.

"By all accounts, she never really settled in Swythamley. At one point she tried in vain to rescue her father's ship-building business and finally ended up living in London." - Swythamley Historical Society, via Alan Weeks

 c. 1963, at the Women of the Year Luncheon (The Times)

Sir Philip d. 28 Jan 1975

d. 13 Aug 1975 - St Marylebone, London, leaving £350,323

M.998	Third Officer	Edward George 'Eddie' Maguire
	b. 3 Jan 1911, Johannesburg SA	9 Aug 1943 to Sep-45

prev. RAF Jul-41 to Mar-43

Sometime Middleweight Boxing Champion of South Africa - he "came over to England and gave boxing exhibitions in various parts of the country."

Postings: 5FPP, 6FPP, 8FPP

d. Mar 1990 - Devizes, Wiltshire

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

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

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."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.394	First Officer	Paul Bleecker Makepeace
	b. 9 Dec 1915, New York	20 Mar 1941 to 19 Mar 1942

Next of kin: (parents) Mrs & Mrs Frank B Makepeace, Cos Cob, CT

 Ed. Greenwich High School, CT

prev. 3 yrs as Sgt in US National Guard 211 Coast Artillery Div.; Company Pilot for Sinclair Oil Co. in Caracas, Venezuela

Address in 1941: 157 E 81 St, NYC

 Postings: 14FPP, 9FPP, 6FPP

2 accidents, 1 his fault:

- 7 Sep 1941, his Spitfire hit a control box due to him taxying without sufficient care;

- 30 Jan 1942, he skidded in Spitfire BL751 on landing, and nosed over. Kemble airfield had been signalled as unserviceable due to ice, but the signal did not arrive before he took off on the delivery flight.

"A very competent pilot and a good officer."

Joined RAF Ferry Command

d. 17 Jan 1943 (age 27), one of 26 lost in C-87 (Liberator Express) 41-1708 which disappeared between Accra and Brazil.

Commemorated on the Ottowa Memorial

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1926

ATA

ATA

Father: Col. George Alexander Malcolm DSO

Ed. at "Public School"

m. 1938 Margaret Peggy [Jones] 

prev. RAF Reserve 1928-33 (F/O); aircraft sales and manufacturing company.(M.L. Aviation)

Adddress in 1940: Orchard Corner, Littlewick Green, Maidenhead

Postings: 1FPP, White Waltham [as Station Commander]

Early days at White Waltham, Anson taxi pilots - Ronnie Malcolm, Douglas Fairweather (M104), Jim Kempster and Harry Ellis (M139)

Brief Glory

"As a pilot he has always been safe and reliable."

 Ronnie in an Anson [ELC]

"Thoroughly reliable, honest and diplomatic. Runs his station very well indeed."

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/49406236/person/12982442343/gallery

Post-WWII, continued at White Waltham Airfield with the West London Aero Club.

d. 20 Nov 1947

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.642	First Officer	Mervyn Caverhill Mander
	b. 14 Jan 1910, Wolverhampton, Staffs	23 Sep 1940 (as Air Gunner)  2 Sep 1941 to 19 Dec 1944

ATA	1930
Aged 3!  https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1288062 - Wightwick Manor © National Trust / Sophia Farley and Claire Reeves

Father:  

Sir Geoffrey Le Mesurier Mander KB (1882-1962), MP for East Wolverhampton 1929-1945 - see http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/genealogy/SirGeoffreyMander/Mander.htm

Mother: Rosalind Florence [Caverhill]

Ed. Harrow; Chilllon College, Switzerland; Trinity College, Cambridge;  University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

RAeC Certificate 9557 dated 8 Oct 1930, taken at Midland Aero Club

m. 29 Oct 1935, Fraulein Elizabeth Maria Dorothea [Mettlich] (one son Mervyn Nicholas Mettlich, b. 22 Jan 1943)

"He and his wife are keen swimmers"

prev. Paint manufacturer (Director of Mander Bros., Wolverhampton)

prev. exp. 50 hrs on DH Moth, Bristol Fighter and Avro 504

 Address in 1940: Boningale Farmhouse, Albrighton, Salop

Later moved to Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton, Staffs, (the house built by his grandfather, which is now owned by the National Trust):

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/wightwick-manor-and-gardens

 Postings: 12FPP, 3FPP

4 accidents, 2 his fault:

- 6 Feb 1942, he taxied his Magister N3884 'carelessly' into a barbed wire fence at Hawarden

- 26 Aug 1942, his Master I T8274 was baulked whilst landing at Thornhill and he lost height and touched a barbed wire fence, instead of going round

- 11 Jan 1943, after a heavy landing in Spitfire IX EN248 at Sealand, the undercarriage collapsed on soft unflagged ground

- 5 Feb 1943, the propeller tip of his Hurricane II KX718 broke off during taxying, due to it 'picking up' a stone

"A well-behaved officer, and a good worker. As a pilot he is about average"... "A reliable pilot who uses his common sense and shows good judgement"

His C.O. at 3FPP added "F/O Mander has left the ATA for health reasons... I am exceedingly sorry that he has left"

m. 27 Nov 1952 in Bristol, Janet Prangley [Philip]

 Address 1962-1978: Pond House, Wilmington, Sussex

d. 28 Mar 1978 - Eastbourne, Sussex

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

father: Aaron (dec'd), mother Leah (or Ada)

ed.  Lathrop Trades, Kansas City

moved to New Orleans c. 1928

m. Katharine [san Salvador]; 1 daughter [Kathleen Mary] b. 1940

prev. a charter pilot for Crescent City Airways, New Orleans

prev. exp. 1,800 hrs

Address in 1941: 1140 Toledano St, New Orleans, Louisiana

Postings: Training Pool Only

d. 29 Aug 1941 (Died in ATA Service), in Lysander T1675. He flew too far into bad weather and hit a hillside at New Luce, nr. Castle Kennedy, Scotland. He was also carrying a passenger (against regulations, as he was still a trainee), LAC Costine from the RAF.

He was assessed as being to blame for the accident.

Buried Glebe Cemetery, Stranraer:

"2nd Officer Marcus was of a cheerful and engaging disposition and had many friends during his comparatively short period of service with ATA."

His daughter Kathleen was born 11 months before Jack's death. His wife Katharine "made no spontaneous appeal for financial assistance", so the ATA asked the Red Cross to see if she needed any.

As it turned out, she did; Jack's death had left her living with her mother-in-law (who was in poor health) and unable to work because of the baby, on the $50 a month Social Security (Survivor's Insurance), of which she gave her mother-in-law $25.

The ATA decided to award her the full £2,000 ($8,000) insurance money, with half of it being invested in long-term US War Bonds for the benefit of the baby.

Katharine wrote to the ATA on 4 Jul 1942, "I am happy to inform you that I am in complete accord with your plan and most grateful for your generosity."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.402	First Officer	John Howard 'Jack' Marine
	b. 26 Nov 1904, Yuma, AZ	25 Feb 1941 to 19 Aug 1941

Father: Rufus Howard Marine; Mother: Aletha Myrtle [Coffin] of Yarnell AZ

Ed. Arizona Staff Teachers College, Flagstaff AZ

prev. US Air Corps 1926-27. Flight Instructor for US Army Dec 1940 - Feb 1941; also a Sound Engineer for Theatres.

Employer in 1940: Major Mosley, Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, CA

m.1930 Bertie Mae [Gist]

m. 18 Feb 1932 Naomi [Potter]

Address in 1941: Phoenix, AZ

Postings: 2FPP

Off sick from 27 Jun(?) to 19 Aug 1941 with an eye injury after an accident. "One of his eyes was injured by shrapnel during a flight off the English Coast, when he was attacked by two Messerschmitts", according to the Arizona Republic. The circumstances of the accident were not recorded by the ATA.

Joined RAF Ferry Command but d. 21 Feb 1942 when his A-20 Boston crashed into the Potomac River, Washington DC.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

 prev a Fruit Broker

Postings: 8FPP

"A keen and intelligent man"

d. 26 Dec 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - as passenger in Hudson AE489 which flew into ground at Stewarton, 15mi NE of Prestwick, in thick fog.

Pilot Lee Garlow also killed.

Buried Jewish Cemetery, Willesden NW10

"He was very popular with every one he came in contact."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1935

ATAM

Ed. St Georges College, Harpenden

prev. wine and spirit merchant; driving instructor; Sgt. in RAFVR 1938- May 1940

m. 1939 in St Albans, Ethel [Dixon]

Address in 1940: 243 Camp Rd, St Albans, Herts

Postings: 6FPP, 1FPP

Off sick from 4 Apr to 20 Apr 1941 after an operation on his right foot.

1 accident, not his fault:

- 5 Sep 1943, he force landed his Magister after the carburettor float stuck.

"A willing, hard working instructor doing a good job on Class 2 Training. His keenness to fly at all times was a great factor in maintaining the high standard of IFTS Training."

 d. 1987 - St Albans

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.801	Sgt / First Officer  [Seconded from RAF]	Francis Robert Marsh
	b. 17 Sep 1921, Bromley, Kent	1 Dec 1942 to  29 May 1944

 Father:  Francis Alexander Marsh, "Trading Business"; mother: Eliza Ann Grace [Lawrence]

m. 1942 in Bromley, Florence Elaine [Berryman]

prev. An Accountant; RAF from 21 Dec 1940 to 30 Nov 1942

prev. exp. 112 hrs on Tiger Moth, Harvard, Master, Spitfire in the UK and Canada

Address in 1944: 35 (later, 48) Roslin Way, Bromley, Kent

 Postings: 3FPP, 7FPP

"Has not proved satisfactory at this Pool [3FPP]. He is slow in obeying orders and gives the impression that he feels that obedience to an order should not clash with his own convenience. As a pilot he is over confident and does not use his head."

"[7FPP] Discipline: Improved... should show more keeness in his job but otherwise handles his aircraft in what appears to be a safe manner... will not be ready for Class 4 until he loses his over-confidence"

2 Accidents:

- 18 Feb 1943, forced landing in Hart K6522 at Luton after he saw smoke coming from the engine (coolant leak)

d. 29 May 1944 - his Beaufighter NV195 disappeared on a ferry flight from Sherborne to Lossiemouth. A similar aircraft was seen (by two fishermen) to crash in the Firth of Forth at about that time, and then a fuel tank belonging to this aircraft was discovered on 30 May by a Mr. Martin Thorburn, a painter from North Berwick.

 1 Jun 1944 - "Thank you for your letter received this afternoon. It was, as you say, very much of a shock for me. Somehow one expects these kinds of things with Bomber or Fighter Command but not so much with ferrying.

I suppose you have no idea how the accident occurred. Was it due to a fault in the aircraft or in the engine? Or was it the weather? He was usually very careful - more than ever lately as I am expecting a baby in September,   Please give me any further information as soon as possible.  Yours Sincerely, Florence E Marsh"

Their daughter Janet was duly born in September 1944.

 Francis' body never being found, he was finally presumed deceased on 2 Feb 1945.

Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial:

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.55	3rd Officer	Joan Esther Marshall
	b. 20 Aug 1913, Port Elizabeth, SA	1 Oct-41 to Jun-42

Prev. Exp: 30 hrs solo

Joan was educated 'privately' in South Africa, and moved from there to Northumberland in 1926, aged 13, with her family - father Walter (a farmer), mother Eda, 2 elder sisters Brenda and Eda, and brother John.

She then went to the College of Domestic Science, Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh, and from there she became Catering Manager for Airwork at Heston, working for Susan Slade (q.v.); she earned her RAeC Certificate in 1937, in Gloucester.

She originally applied to the ATA in December 1940 (Susan had started with the ATA the month before), citing as her next of kin her sister Brenda Anderson, of Dyce, Aberdeenshire. By then she had 60 hours flying experience, of which half were solo, on "Moth I, II, Avro Cadet, Cirrus Moth, Leopard Moth, and Whitney Straight".

Things then moved quite quickly (Susan must have put in a good word), and the following February (1941) she went for a test; Margaret Cunnison reported that she was "worth training and has the makings of a good pilot. Needs about 5 to 8 hours dual".

As was often the case, she was then told to stand by, as there was no vacancy.

And then a vacancy came up in July; they wrote to her and said "Can you report September 1st"; she wrote back and said "Sorry, no - Airwork need me until October. I am very disappointed indeed."

"Never mind", they said, "we can wait", and she duly started on the 15th October 1941. She was billeted in North Mimms (you may know it, lovely place) at 2 guineas a week.

She trained on the Miles Magister: "Her general flying is fair and shows average ability, but as her navigation was not yet up to OC standard, I have recommended further training. She misjudged a forced landing, but appears to understand the necessary procedure... average ability, keen, sensible; enthusaism apt to outweigh caution in selecting weather".

She was appointed Cadet on the 15th Feb 1942, then Third Officer 6 days later. She was off sick for a few weeks in March, with a chest infection then tonsillitis.

 ATA

Sadly, she was then killed on the 20 Jun 1942, in Master I N7806 which spun into the ground when approaching to land at White Waltham. The official report said it was due to "a spin caused by stalling on a turn during a landing approach, for which it has been impossible to find a reason."

She was buried in Maidenhead Cemetery (Sec. D. Row K.K. Grave 24.); her pall bearers were Pauline Gower, and her fellow Third Officers Winnie Pierce,  Louise Schuurmann, Katie Williams, Mary Wilkins, Irene Arckless, and Benedetta Willis.

Pauline wrote that "her general character and behaviour were excellent in every respect", and her sister Brenda added that "we know that she was very happy in her work at White Waltham and that, if it had to happen, she would most certainly have wished to die as she did, flying."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

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.284	Flight Captain	(Hans) John Erwin 'Dick' or 'Dickie' Martens
	b. 5 May 1909, Weybridge, Surrey	11 Mar 1941 to  31 Dec 1945

1939

ATA

Father: Erwin Gustav Martens (originally Dutch, nationalised British in 1904, d. 1937); Managing Director of the Anglo-Continental Guano Works Ltd, London

Mother: Amalia Ottile Luise Henriette 'Molly' [Joachimi], (originally from Germany),

of The Old Rectory, Rotherby, Leicestershire

[Their house in Hampstead, London, was burgled in 1916 by a William Farrer, a ship's fireman, who stole a quantity of silver goods to the value of £l40:

"He was arrested solely as a result of finger impressions on some articles of silver.

Mr. Martens said that when he went downstairs on the morning of June 13th, he found the dining-room in great disorder, the window open, and a considerable amount of silver missing. No trace of the thief could be found. Det.-Sergt. Pike stated that he found footmarks on the flower border and window-sill, and a teapot wrapped in a serviette ready for removal. A closer examination of the three articles revealed several finger impressions; he at once conveyed them to Scotland Yard and submitted them to Mr. Superintendent Col of the finger print department.

As a result of his report the prisoner was arrested on Sunday night. He declared that he knew nothing about it, but on the way to the police station he said, "I suppose this is a nark done this for me. I have been on the drink or you wouldn't have found me. It is just my luck." In his pocket the officer found a jemmy." - Marylebone Mercury]

 Ed. Stowe,; Zuoz, Engadine, Switzerland; Paris

prev. Company Director (Sales) for Anglo Continental Guano Works Ltd, London and Fogan Perrard & Prentice Ltd, Ipswich; "Works carried out all over Europe"

RAeC Certificate No 16824 dated 3 Mar 1939, taken at Ipswich Aero Club

Address in 1941: 17 Wellesley House, Sloane Sq., London SW1

m. Jul 1941 in Surrey, Diana Evelyn Mary [Willoughby]:

The 'Bystander'

1939

 Postings:  2FPP, 15FPP, 7FPP, 1FPP, 6FPP

 Class 5 (4-engine) pilot

Reprimanded on 1 Feb 1943 for 'Late Arrival for Duty'

12 accidents, (which I think is a record, btw), 4 his fault:

- 20 Oct 1941, he over-corrected the landing swing of Tomahawk AK107 on landing at Odiham, and damaged the port wing

- 19 Dec 1941, his Hampden L4076 swung violently on take-off at Kirkbride and the undercarriage leg collapsed, due to a technical defect

- 23 Nov 1942, he made a heavy landing in Spitfire Vc ES197 at Ratcliffe, and the undercarriage collapsed

- 17 Jan 1943, he collided with a tractor at the end of the runway after landing at Brize Norton in Spitfire Vc JK123, having previously checked that it was clear

- 18 May 1943, the undercarriage of his Hampden I AD857 collapsed during landing at Sherburn. He failed to allow enough time for the wheels to lock down after an engine failure

- 16 Jul 1943, a forced landing at Scampton in Mitchell II FV925 after partial engine failure

- 16 Oct 1943, "failure of junk head in No 8 cylinder" in Lancaster II DS844, leading to a forced landing at Linton-on-Ouse

- 20 Oct 1943, Commended for "exceptional airmanship and courage" after a forced landing, after both engines failed, in Hampden I P2113. "He twice re-entered the burning aircraft, and extinguished the fire"

"On 20th October 1943 the aircraft was scheduled for delivery to 12 MU at Kirkbride for long term storage as the T.B.I's had all been withdrawn from service by this time. Flight Captain John Erwin Martens ATA, of 16 FPP, was given the job of ferrying the aircraft from Tatenhill to Kirkbride and when ten miles north of Morecambe Bay at 3,000 feet the port engine failed, the aircraft lost height at a rate of 200 feet per minute and with the air speed down to 120 mph the starboard engine failed leaving the pilot no option but to make a forced landing in a field at Tod Brow, 1 mile West of Newton, Cumbria at 13.40 hrs. The aircraft was badly damaged and part of the wrecked aircraft caught fire. Flight Captain Martens sustained minor injuries. The aircraft was not repaired from this serious damage and Cat.E2/FA was recorded on the paperwork." - https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york41/p2113.html

- 5 Dec 1943, (another day, another undercarriage), he landed too fast in poor visibility at Tollerton in Warwick I BV448, and, as he turned off the runway, the undercarriage collapsed 

- 13 Mar 1944, a forced landing in a Stirling III after an engine failure

- 2 Dec 1944, the port wing and tail of his Argus I FK348 lifted in a strong and gusty wind after landing at Bottesford, damaging the propeller and wingtip

- 10 Aug 1945, a forced landing at Church Broughton after an oil leak obscured the windscreen of his Barracuda II MX550

"An exceptionally keen and hard working pilot. His cheerfulness and willingness is a great asset to the pool"

"He still shows errors in judgement of men and is often tactless"

 d. 14 Oct 1984 - Chessington, Surrey

Diana d. 1999

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.922	2nd Officer	William Simpson Marthai
	b. 29 Sep 1914, Brooklyn, New York	1 Apr 1943 to 31 Aug 1944

Ed. New York City School

m. Natahalee W [Harkness] (divorced 1973, although they are still listed as Associates in the 'Breakwater Yacht Brokerage' in Santa Barbara, CA in 1978))

prev. Bermuda Volunteer Rifles; RAF Jan to July 1942; Commercial & Aerial Photography

In 1940, employed by the Brewster Aeronautical Corp, Newark, NJ

prev. exp. 191 hrs in Tiger Moth, Stinson, Fleet, Luscombe

Address in 1943: 12102½ Hoffman St, N Hollywood, CA

Ab Initio Cadet

Postings: 5FPP, 4FPP, 10FPP

1 accident, not his fault:

- 22 Feb 1944, Commended for a forced landing (although he did damage a wingtip) in a Proctor II after there was an explosion in the engine.

Later worked in real estate in Los Angeles, then settled in Santa Barbara, CA

d. 5 Jul 2001 (age 86), in a Santa Barbara nursing home, 'Beverly La Cumbre' after an infection caused by a feeding tube being improperly inserted. The nursing home later paid out $2 million in damages.

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.811	Flt-Sgt (RAF) [Seconded from RAF, Serial No 1292918]	Deryck John Michael 'Mickey' Martin
	b. 21 Aug 1919, Bridport, Devon	15 Dec 1942 to 11 Oct 1943

B.Sc. (Lon) at King's College, 1940

Address in 1942: 34 Marlow Rd, Maidenhead

prev. RAF 21 Oct 1940 - 15 Dec 1942

prev. exp. 127hrs in Tiger Moth, Harvard, Oxford, Wellington, in UK and S. Rhodesia

"Although the above-named member of the RAF is a clever and intelligent fellow, it is unfortunate that he suffers considerably from air-sickness. If he could overcome this difficulty, he should prove to be a very good ferry pilot."

Postings: 16FPP

17 Aug 1943, he was held to blame for a take-off accident in a Wellington.

"All through his training he has been exceptionally keen, well behaved and willing but his flying has been rather erratic and not as sensible as would be expected from his experience and intelligence."

 d. 11 Oct 1943 (Died in ATA Service) in Hurricane I L2026 which crashed at Cranage Farm, Kilmany, Fifeshire, after engine failure.

 buried Baptitst Chapel, Marlow Rd, Maidenhead (where his father Arthur was the minister)

"He was a popular young man; he was a member of the Maidenhead Tennis Club and his wide circle of friends deeply mourn his loss."

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

BG

1946

Royal Navy and RFC in WWI

 Address in 1946: Waypost House, Whitstable, Kent

Postings: Air Movements Flight

Certificate of Commendation, 1941: "When calling in at Squire's Gate on a delivery trip in March 1941, Flt-Capt Mason discovered at least 20 machines in various stages of unserviceability. On reporting this to HQ ATA he was instructed to go to Squire's Gate, make a thorough inspection and fly and dispose of aircraft as and when they became serviceable. Flt-Capt Mason found a total of 41 aircraft unserviceable at Squire's Gate and between 6th March and 16th April he succeeded in moving all these, with the exception of two. Being unable to obtain any co-operation from the RAF there in getting these machines repaired and ready for flight, Flt-Capt Mason had first to underake any work on them himself before he could fly the aircraft away. His energy and knowledge of airframes and engines were undoubtedly responsible for saving many valuable aircraft."

d. Sep 1974, Canterbury, Kent

M.29	Flight Captain	Walter Mason
	b.18 May 1892, Bury St Edmunds	11 Sep 1939 to Nov-42

1918-25 Military Accounts Dept, Puna, India

Director of Mason & Co, Military Bootmakers, Catterick Army Camp Yorks

(click to enlarge)

A "careful and conscientious, but rather nervous pilot"

d. 21 Nov 1942 (Died in ATA Service) - Typhoon Ib DN251 crashed at Banbury Farm,  1.5 miles SW of Burwarton, Shropshire in bad visibility

This was his first accident, having safely delivered 482 aircraft. 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.256	First Officer	Herbert Stanley Mather
	b. 15 Dec 1915, Manchester	20 Feb 1941 to 30 Nov 1945

Father: Frank Mather, Mother: Alice

Ed. Huntingdon; University College, Notts

 prev. Heating and Sanitary Engineer; Sgt Pilot, RAFVR Dec 1938 - Apr 1940, based at Little Rissington

prev. exp. 54 hrs on Miles Magister, Harvard

Address in 1941: 110 Cator Lane (later 27 Gwenbrook Ave), Chilwell, Nottingham

 Postings: 3FPP, 6FPP, RNAS Lee

m. 1941 in Nottingham, Olive [Tyler]

 Off sick from 13 Sep to 1 Oct 1943 with 'injury to forearm', and 15 to 31 Jan 1944 with lumbar fibrositis

5 accidents, only 1 his fault:

- 29 Oct 1941, he crashed Lysander T1466 on landing at Scampton. He knew the ASI was faulty, so should not have flown the aircraft on a windy day

- 16 Aug 1942, forced landing in Mosquito IV DK288 after the tailwheel failed to lock down

- 31 Aug 1942, the escape hatch of his Wellington III X3812 blew off in flight, due to insecure fastening

- 11 Dec 1942, he crash-landed Oxford II R6034 in a field near Leicester, after complete failure of port engine in bad weather

- 20 Jun 1943, due to a hydraulic leak, he over-ran the runway at Tollerton in Boston III W8266 attempting a forced landing due to a faulty fuel warning light, damaging the nose wheel and main undercarriage

"A good type of officer & a good pilot" "Must appreciate the importance of his appearance when entering RAF Messes"

 Royal Aero Club Certificate 21729, dated 4 Sep 1946, taken at Tollerton Flying Club

 Address in 1970: 37 Westfield Rd, Brockworth, Gloucester

 Olive d. 1988

d. 1991 - Gloucester

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.32	Flight Captain	The Hon. Elisabeth Frances May
	b. 29 Jun 1907, Rickmansworth, Herts	1 Mar 1941 to 30 Aug 1945

Father: Lord George Ernest May, a financial expert and civil servant (d. 1946); mother: Lily Julia [Strauss] OBE

Ed. London School of Arts and Crafts

Address in 1941: Eyot House, Weybridge, Surrey. Later 42 Orchard Court, Portman Sq, London

Prev. a bookbinder; WVS; WRNS chief Petty Officer W/T Operator at Worthy Down, from Apr 1940

prev. exp 150 hrs

Postings: 5FPP, 12FPP

4-engine (Class 5) pilot

 1942 caricature by 'Sammy' Clayton

 At least 4 accidents, none her fault:

- 26-Aug-42, a forced wheels-up landing in Botha I L6243 after engine failure on a go-round

- 11-Dec-42, her Mosquito IV DZ405 flew into a flock of seagulls, sustaining minor damage

- 28-Jan-43, another forced landing, this time in Argus HM188 after the cowling came loose and fouled the propeller

- 16-Mar-43, a crash landing in Wellington II Z8051 after engine failure before single-engine speed had been reached. Two of her passengers (Fay Bragg and Evelyn Hudson) were injured, Evelyn seriously.

King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air

m. 1955 in Chelsea, George Leonard Brunton Henderson

d. 10 Apr 1995

1987 IWM Interview here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009815

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Read engineering at Jesus College, Cambridge, but left when his father died, and formed Air Log Ltd in May 1932, making instruments for aircraft and ships. Commissioned into the RAF in WWII, initially as a test pilot and then with 601 (County of London) Squadron AAF at Tangmere during the Battle of Britain. Later posted to Egypt. At least 10 victories.

His 1942 DSO citation reads "Wing Cdr Mayers is an expert on bombing and machine-gun attacks and his tactical knowledge has contributed much to the success of long-range fighter operations. On two occasions in May this officer led a formation in attacks on aircraft bringing supplies to the enemy and destroyed many of them."

Killed in WWII: 20th July, 1942 when a Wing Commander 250 Sqn RAFVR; commemorated on the Alamein Memorial.

Mayers radioed that he was having engine trouble and was making a forced landing in the Qattara Depression. His aircraft was found and, there being no trace of him, it was presumed that he had been captured. Mayers was not heard of again and may have been lost in a Ju52, which was shot down whilst ferrying PoW’s to Germany.

King's Cup in 1932, London-Newcastle race in 1932

see http://www.bbm.org.uk/Mayers.htm

  Ed. 3 years of college

m. [divorced 1939]

prev. Pilot for Southern Air Transport "on the Dallas-Brownsville run"

Address in 1940: 830 Schley Ave, San Antonio, TX

"McAlister was in London during several German air raids. He was cut on the head by a piece of flying shrapnel from an anti-aircraft gun. The railroad station by which he was leaving the city had its roof blown away. 'We looked up and could actually see the bombs coming. I just knew one had my name on it, but the nearest one landed a block away." 26 Nov 1940.

Joined AtFero?

Drafted into US Military 26 Aug 1942

d. 18 Apr 1950 - Fort Worth, TX 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Mother: Emma

 Address in 1941: 1452 Elizabeth, Denver 

 Transferred to RAF Ferry Command

Sailed from Scotland to USA on 16 Jun 1942

In January 1947, he was arrested for 'terrorizing wealthy women' and being a gem and fur robber to the tune of $75,000:

Described as a "former ferry pilot turned limousine highwayman", he had kidnapped three women in Park Ave, New York on New Year's Eve, drove them around and then robbed them of their furs and jewelry.

:

"Down to less than 100 pounds and wrapped in a blanket, Justin William McCarthy, 26, Park Ave. gem and fur robber, sat in a detention cell on the 12th Floor of the Criminal Courts Building yesterday."

By the following June, suffering from dysentry contracted in North Africa during WWII, he was too sick to appear in court. "I just want to get this thing all over with", he said.

The judge ordered the prisoner transferred to Riker's Island where he could have special medical treatment. 

He was sentenced to '10 to 20 years' in 1948.

d 10 Oct 1998 - Denver CO

 Next of kin: (mother) Mrs Esther Spath of Nunn, Colorado

m. 1933 Mabel Irene [Boyd]

Address in 1940: 1446 Western Ave, Glendale CA

ATA Contract Terminated 12 Sep 1940 - Unsuitable

d. 4 Nov 1978 - Los Angeles CA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

https://www.geni.com/people/Major-John-McDonald/35533

Ed. High School

prev. Radio Engineer, "President of Associated Enterprises Ltd."

Address in 1940: 7845 Forest Ave E, Detroit, MI

Postings: 1FPP, 2FPP, 6FPP (as Second-in-Command)

"A good and efficient pilot and officer"

"Is thoughtful about other pilots and takes a personal interest in them."

d. 24 Oct 1957 [age 46] - Dillon, Montana

Buried at Crown View Cemetery, Sheridan, Hamilton County, Indiana

"Born near Sheridan, Indiana, Mr. McDonald served with the Canadian Royal Air Force [sic] in WWII until after Pearl Harbor when he joined the United States Air Force serving overseas as a major. He was employed in an appliance shop in Dillon."

"He is survived by the widow, Bettina McDonald, three sons and one daughter, all at home, and one son by a former marriage." 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.--- *	Pilot	Edward McDonnell
	b. 18 Feb 1919 - Hanley, Staffordshire	23 Feb to 6 May 1941

 Address in 1939: 22 Quarry Rd, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs

RAeC Certificate 16862 dated 7 Jan 1939, taken at North Staffordshire Aero Club

 Postings:

 poss. m. 1957 Mavis E [Higgins]

poss. d. 4 Mar 2012

* File not seen

 prev. a Flight Instructor and commercial pilot

 d. 3 Sep 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - Master AZ324 crashed into the sea at Terally Point, 2 miles N of Dronmore, Scotland.

And then A Small Surprise Emerged

young Stephen Raymond Lambert McFarland

The American Red Cross in Mount Vernon, Ohio, reported that they had seen Stephen's mother Anna; "we had previously been informed by a member of our committee that we could rely on any statements she would make, she was that kind of a person".

Anna

from http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hhickman/p271.htm

Anna told the Red Cross that she and Fred (Stephen's father) had been contacted by an English girl - Frona 'Daisy' Lambert, who told them she had met Stephen when she was a 'canteen hostess' in London. They became fond of each other "and - well - a baby was soon on the way."

Stephen had not known she was pregnant: "About that time Stephen became acquainted with another girl and saw a great deal of her. Miss Lambert was proud and did not hunt Stephen up to tell of her condition". After the baby was born (on the 14th March 1942) she wrote to him, not knowing that he had been killed.

"Miss Lambert is most anxious to keep the baby with her and find some way to solve her problems... Her mother is dead and her father has more or less disowned her since she became an unwed mother."

Stephen's parents wanted Daisy to bring the baby (who, they said, bore a strong resemblance to Stephen) to live in Mount Vernon. They would, they said, "plan to have her known as their son's widow" and look after her and the baby, to the best of their limited resources. Anna wrote to Daisy: "We are surely glad about the baby but sorry you did not tell Steve as we are sure he would of made everything alright with you and been proud of his son."

All was then arranged; the only serious qualms felt by the McFarlands were "in regard to Miss Lambert's name. Their wish is to introduce the girl as their late son's widow, which will be difficult if she does not bear his name." They wondered if it would be possible for Daisy to change her surname to McFarland? This was "owing to their fear that complications and unpleasantness might arise in a small farming community, having a somewhat rigid moral outlook."

Indeed it was possible, and Daisy and Stephen Raymond changed their name to McFarland in May 1943. The ATA Benevolent Fund agreed an ex-gratia payment of $3,000 to Mr and Mrs McFarland, and $3,000 in trust for Stephen Jnr. on the condition that Fred and Anna could sponsor their move to the US.

The ATA also arranged for Daisy and Stephen Jr to stay with Sqn Ldr Morgan in Twyford until arrangements could be made for their transfer to the US, and gave him £3 10s a week for her board and lodging.

In April, Daisy wrote to the ATA: "You are kind to go to all this trouble for us, and I will not disappoint you. It will be a fresh start, in different surroundings, and I shall do my utmost to settle down, and help Mrs Morgan as much as possible."

By June 1943, however, Daisy seems to have disappointed some people at least, according to a letter from Cmdr Stocks, the ATA Personnel Officer. Having moved to Amerden Priory (thanks in part to Audrey Sale-Barker), she spent "the majority of her time lazing about the gardens and in the evening playing cards until the early hours of the morning." One evening she reportedly won 6s at cards and the next morning bought cigarettes with this money, instead of buying new shoes for her baby - his only shoes being worn out.

She also was reported to have consorted with other married men, to have wasted money on taxis, stayed out late, etc, etc. Daisy thought, apparently, that Mount Vernon was going to be "a place of bright lights, lots of music and tall buildings", and thought that everyone owned a car.

Whether or not the reports were true or not is impossible to say - in Daisy's letters she comes across as a sweet, perfectly respectable, 22-year-old. She was making a living as a dressmaker and did 'very fine needlework'.

They finally arrived in Mount Vernon in September 1943. "Just a few lines to let you know I arrived safely. After we parted at N.Y. I was feeling pretty low... I got to Columbus at around 11:30 the next morning and Mrs McFarland sent her son Frank to pick me up by car."

"It's very nice here, everybody's so sweet and kind, I shan't find it difficult to settle down. Things are so different to England, but in the right way."

"p.s. Dumbo's doing fine - and if possible - getting fatter."

Anna's great-nephew tells me that "I recall visiting Anna on her farm in Ohio, and my parents kept in contact with their other son Frank McFarland, until the 1990’s when he died."

Anna McFarland, on the right

Daisy - reverting to her original name, Frona - later moved out of Ohio, married Benjamin H Corbin in 1946 (he was a bricklayer; they divorced in 1971), had two daughters (Kim and Carla) and carried on with her 'fine needlework', for example winning 'Best of Show' in the 1980 Yarncrafters Guild Show.

 Frona in 1980: photo courtesy of Howard Hickman

"Lest the impression be given that Ms Corbin has spent her life with a needle in her hand, it should be noted that, amongst other things, she has travelled with a carnival for six-seven years, worked as a carpenter's helper for four years, done interior and exterior house painting for four years and managed a pet shop for several years."

"I look at every day as something exciting... One of the nicest things my children ever said to me was, 'Mother, don't ever grow up'."

Frona died in 2002 aged 80.

As for Stephen's parents, Fred died in 1959 and the indomitable Anna in 1972.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Ed. Enid High School, OK

prev. Oklahoma National Guard; Assistant Airport Manager - Woodring Field, Enid

m. 8 May 1941 Juanita M [Liken, also from Enid]

Address in 1941: 908 E Main, Enid, OK

ATA pilots Earl Renicker (d. 7 Feb 1942) and John Erickson (d. 9 May 1942) also came from nearby in Oklahoma.

Postings: 1FPP

Suspended for 7 days in Sep 1941 for 'landing after official landing time'

2 accidents, both his fault:

- 4 Nov 1941, a bad landing in a Hurricane led to the undercarriage collapsing and the aircraft tipped onto its nose,

- 29 Jan 1942, another heavy landing, this time in a Spitfire, tore off the port undercarriage leg.

Joined 8th AF USAAF as 1st Lieut, but d. 19 Oct 1942 when he hit barrage balloons over Liverpool flying a Hurricane on a weather check.

Originally buried Brookwood Cemetery, Guildford, then (from 1948) Enid Cemetery, OK

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

RFC from 4 Feb 1916, RAF from 1 Apr 1918 to 1926

prev. a fabric worker

 "MAN IN CHARGE

Commander James McGuinness, a Motherwell man, showed me to-day round the station he commanded here at Prestwick. Commander McGuinness has, since he arrived early in the war, put several hundred pilots through his hands, averaging 50 at a time - the normal station strength." Daily Record, November 1945

d. 1 Jul 1974 - Blantyre

W.148	3rd Officer	Jean Alston Mcpherson
	b. 22 May 1921, San Francisco, CA	15 Nov 1943 to 14 Aug 1945

ATA

1946

Father: Clement Gordon Hope McPherson, Mother: Lila May [McDonald]

Ed. Poles Convent, Ware, Herts

prev: Driver for US Army

Address in 1945-6: 26 St Mary Abbotts Court, London W14

ab initio pilot

m. 18 May 1945 in London, Sub-Lieut Christopher Edwin 'Kit' Lovell-PankRNVR

   Entry Visa for Brazil, 8 Apr 1946. At the time her son, Dorian Christopher, was 10 weeks old.

m. Oct 1957 in Chelsea, London, Argentine Ambassador, Alfredo de  Oliva-Day

3 more children: Martin, Laila and Dianna

d. 7 Aug 1979 - Cape Town, SA

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.799 *	3rd Officer	John Denys Mead MBE
	b. 24 Sep 1901, Woodford Green, Essex	25 Nov 1942 to 10 May 1943

prev. a Mining Engineer

Address in 1932: c/o Messrs. Osborne & Chappel, Ipoh, Perak, F.M.S. (Malaysia)

d. 27 Sep 1980, Eastbourne, E Sussex

M.769 *	2nd Officer	Percival Henry Meadway
	b. 8 or 11 Nov 1904 or 1905, Sevenoaks, Kent	1 Jul 1942 to 31 Dec 1942

 prev a Flying School Promoter.

Address in 1930: The Billet House, Ash, Sevenoaks, Kent

m. 1931 Doris E M [Burgess]

Formed the West Kent Aero Club at West Malling in 1931; "at present he has a Moth (Gipsy) and an Avro 504K, and Mr. C. G. Hancock will be his chief pilot and instructor." Flight

Pilot Officer, RAF 1932, F/O 1934-37

Chief Pilot of Transair in 1954

Cleared of taking off in an overloaded [by 400kg, allegedly] DC-3 belonging to Starways Ltd in 1960; Flight reported that he said "As a pilot trained in the old school, my first consideration is for the safety of my passengers. If this extra weight had been present, I could not have helped noticing it."

d. Sep 1975, Chichester, W Sussex

ATAM

 Operated a seaplane base at Belmar NJ during the summer months of 1938

m. 1941 Mary Bernadine [Crayfield] in Nottingham (b. 1919 in Hampstead, she subsequently married Robert A Bradley in Los Angeles, CA in 1946; he was 41, and it was his 4th marriage)

 Lived in Thornton, CA in 1948

Crop-dusting in Napa Valley in April 1951, he (and Westaire Service, who owned the plane) were fined $27,000 for damages to a neighbouring vineyard caused by drifting 2-4-D spray.

d. 23 Jul 1975 when his crop-dusting plane hit power lines and crashed into the Ulatis Creek Canal near Elmira,  CA

M.661 *	Flight Captain	Gerald Merton M.C. Ph.D., F.R.AS.
	b. 21 Jan 1893, London	25 Nov 1941 to 3 Aug 1945

Address in 1915: Folly Farm, Sulhampstead, nr Reading

RAeC certificate taken on a Wright Biplane at Beatty School, Hendon

Lieut., RFC in WWI;

Military Cross 1917: "Whilst on reconnaissance he attacked and drove down a hostile machine. Later, although his machine was badly damaged, he succeeded in regaining our lines."

Chairman of the Air League Executive in 1930

d. 4 May 1983, Oxford

M.--- *	2nd Officer	Patrick John Henry Mertz
	b. 16 Mar 1917, Hastings, Sussex	19 Feb to 5 Mar 1941

 Mother: [Reeve]

RAFVR

Fought in the Spanish Civil War, 1936: "Charles Kennett, middle-aged, black-haired ex-war pilot, and Patrick Mertz, blond, 23-year old ex-RAF Reserve flier, are the survivors of the four British pilots I watched leave Victoria [station] five weeks ago. Mertz has a scar gashing his left cheek. 'We are lucky to get back alive' they said, 'it has been plain murder... we were flying 1916 Martinsyde fighters against German and Italian regular air force trained men in 1936 Heinkels and Fiats. We hadn't a chance.'" - Newmarket Journal - Saturday 10 October 1936

 m. 1938 in Southampton, Hazel M [Semadeni]

 Postings:

m. Jul 1948 in Gloucestershire, Barbara B [Blakeway]

Resident in USA from 30 May 1954 (naturalized 1959)

m. 30 Oct 1955 in Las Vegas, NV, Blanche Janie [Wilson] (b. 1922 in Kentucky) (one son John, b. 6 Oct 1956)

d. 12 Apr 1976 - Pismo Beach, CA

* File not seen

M.---	1st Officer	Vernon Arno Meyer
	b. 27 May 1905, Chicago IL	26 Feb 1941 to 6 Aug 1941

m. Virginia Waller [Goodridge]

Address in 1941: 809-N 27th St., Milwaukee, WI

prev. a pilot for the Curtiss-Wright airport's Milwaukee Airways Inc

 He and three other American pilots (William Harry Englander, John Edward Sleeper, and Marvin Blaine Tuxhorn, qqv) threatened legal action to secure their full ATA salary of $150 per week for the period after they were told they had not been accepted as ferry pilots; they had, it seems, only been paid $24 plus a $50 subsistence allowance per week.

In 1943, a 1st-Lieut based at Pensacola Naval Aviation base, FL

d. 13 Jan 1969 (age 63) - Chicago IL

M.--- *	2nd Officer	August 'Gus' Michelson  [or Michaelson]
	b. 3 May 1910, Valley Stream, Long Island, NY	27 Dec 1940 to 24 Mar 1941

 Father: Nicholas Michelson, Mother: Alida [Wits, d. 1958] (both b. in Estonia)

 prev. semiskilled mechanic and repairman. Spent time in Honduras, returning 19 Feb 1937

US Draft Card, dated 16 Oct 1940

Address in 1940: 354 W York St, Norfolk, Virginia

"Started his aerial areer in Norfolk. He lived in Larchmont and attended public schools, and later did a lot of stunt flying here and barn-storming."

He has served with the RAF Ferrying Command [sic], helped organise Central American Air Forces, dusted crops and done every other kind of flying in his 15-year-old flying career. He is now a test pilot at the Army Air Forces Technical School at Keesley Field.

When he was first officer [sic] in the Air Transport Auxiliary of the RAF he earned $650 a month, somewhat more than the $54 he now receives, minus his flying pay."

[The ATA actually paid their American pilots $150 a week (tax free), plus $10 a day whilst in transit, plus a $500 bonus at the end of a year.]

Arrived in the UK 7 Feb 1941 with fellow American ATA pilots Harry Smith, Joseph Holloway, Frank Skillen, Conley Shreve, William Edgar and George Holcomb

 Postings:

 Sailed back to the USA from Liverpool on 1 Apr 1941, on the SS Nerissa. he arrived on the 14th April. 

SS Nerissa, carrying 14 American pilots destined for the ATA, was sunk 30 Apr 1941. See https://www.ata-ferry-pilots.org/index.php/category-blog-1941/13-april-1941-the-loss-of-11-ferry-pilots-on-board-the-ss-nerissa

Address in 1941: Municipal Airport, Miami, Florida

Enlisted in US Army, 25 Feb 1942, PFC

 d. Jul 1968 - Dade, Florida

* File not seen

1931

Father: Bertram William Chetwynd Talbot (a member of the familty that included the Earls of Shrewsbury and the founder of Talbot motorcars)

Address in 1931: 361 Spen Lane, Headingley, Yorks

m. 1929 in Wiltshire, John Raymond Micklethwait 

 also a pilot ("a popular local owner") who won the Grimthorpe Trophy in 1934, and the Yorkshire Trophy the same year at an average speed of 104.5 mph. He owned G-AAFK, a 1929 DH60G Gypsy Moth, and then G-ABHM, a 1930 DH60G Gypsy Moth, which they used to tour Spain in 1934.

Lived at 'The Old Mansion', Bisley, Stroud, Glos 1951-53

Husband John d. 1966 in Rhodesia

d. 1 Jun 1992, Mutare, Zimbabwe 

M.344	First Officer	Burton Craig Miller
	b. 8 Jul 1917, Louisville, KY	20 Feb 1941 to 19 Feb 1942

Mother: Zula [Troutman]

Ed. Purdue University

Next of Kin: (Father) Rodney Deane Miller, 7314 Phillips Ave, Chicago, IL. He was an accountant.

 prev. Flight Instructor for Athens Airways, Inc, Ohio

prev.exp. 800 hrs

 Postings: 1FPP

Suspended for 3 days in Dec-41 for 'contravention of daily standing orders';

Suspended for 7 days and fined $25 in Feb-42 for breaches of flying discipline (dangerous flying).

"Absolutely top class in every way; ability, keenness, influence and work unsurpassed" (Blimey)

However, his camera was confiscated by the ATA in July 1941 after a letter home was intercepted, containing photographs of aircraft and expressing his dissatisfaction with the ATA.

The ATA Security Officer suggested that he be searched at the port of departure for photographs and undeveloped film.

 Joined RAF Ferry Command but d. 22 Jun 1943 (age 25): Marauder FK129 crashed 35 m W of Borinquen, Puerto Rico

Commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.117	3rd Officer	Mrs Daphne Alfreda Miller
	b. 18 Jun 1919, Ramsgate	25 May 1943 to 31 Apr 1945

 Father: Alfred Edward Miller, mother: Elizabeth Florence [Nott]

Ed. Clarendon House, Ramsgate

prev. Secretary

Address in 1943: 6 Bellevue Rd, Ramsgate, Kent

[ab initio pilot]

m. 17 Mar 1945 in Eaton Sq, London, Lt. John Keith Rumball(b. 1922 in Ontario, Canada, wounded in Italy Sep 1944)

 "She is expected to follow Lieut. Rumball to Canada some time in the future"

 d. 10 May 2014 - Victoria, BC, Canada

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.89 *	First Officer	Nancy Jane Miller
	b. 12 Jun 1919	9 Jul-42 to Jul-45

Father: Dr. Ray Oakley Miller, mother Laura C [Crump]

Parents' address: 715 South Serrado, Los Angeles

  Nancy's 1937 school photo

 Studied psychology at Occidental College and UC Berkeley

She sailed from Montreal to join the ATA on the 30 Jul 1942 with Opal Anderson. [They sailed on the 'Winnipeg II', which was torpedoed and sunk on its return trip.]

Sailed to the US in September 1944 on the 'Queen Elizabeth' with fellow American ATA pilots Ernest Ewing, Keith Williams, and Harry Smith. She then flew back as a supernumary pilot in Liberator KH303, 26-29 Oct 1944. She says she "wedged up against the door between the cabin and the bomb-bay, as the dinghies took up the rest of the room."  Even though they flew back via Bermuda and the Azores, her experience of the flight itself was being very cold, cramped and uncomfortable,

She later recalled that, in Britain "You could fly the same route for a year before you could put the map away. At Luton, you could get lost just circling the airfield"

After ATA, sailed back to the US via Nova Scotia on the 18 Aug 1945 with Edith Foltz Stearns, and Louise Shuurman. 

In 1947 she become the world’s fourth licensed woman helicopter pilot.

m.1956 J Arlo Livingston; they moved to Juneau, Alaska in 1960 and ran a helicopter service, Livingston Copters Ltd. until 1976. 

 Nancy in the early 60s in Alaska

Arlo died in 1986.

m.1991 Milton Stratford (d. 2008)

 Wrote 'Contact! Britain!' in 2010

  in 2014 - San Diego Union-Tribune

 12 June 2019 (Dot Wilson)

"I loved all the flying, the freedom, doing what I liked to do. It was wild and woolly at times. I was a lucky person in my career. I smile. I have absolutely no regrets.”

1940

divorced 1928

m. Sep 1937 Irene Katherine [Matthews] in Delaware, Indiana

Address in 1940: Anderson, Indiana

Transferred to AtFero Jan 41

Back for a brief vacation on 26 Jan 1941, Paul said that "flying American-built bombers across the Atlantic to England is safer than ferrying planes to the fighting squadrons."

"Although he has flown a British Spitfire fighter as fast as 400 miles an hour, Miller said the British fighter currently considered the best is a type lnown as the bullfighter [sic], powered by two 1,200 hp liquid cooled engines." :-)

"Paul T Miller, formerly connected with the Muncie Airport, is now engaged flying Lockeed-Hudson planes from Canada to England for the British. Miller was paid $1,000 for delivering two of the planes to England and was given a $500 bonus for safe arrival." 

M.831	Flt-Sgt  [Seconded from RAF]	John Christopher Milliken
	b.  19 Sep 1922, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire	6 Jan 1943 to 20 Aug 1943

Father: Mr Herbert Ernest Milliken (a farmer turned "broadcasting official"), mother Charlotte Jane [Goodbody]

prev. a farmer

prev. exp. 125 hrs in Stearman, Vultee, Harvard, Oxford, Wellington (some of this in Georgia and Alabama, USA - he trained at the Chicago School of Aviation in Albany, GA from August 1941)

RAF Sgt from 4 May 1941, based at RAF Shawbury and Lossiemouth; suspended due to 'inability to see & fly well at night"

Address in 1943: Bicknell Farm, Blagdon, nr Bristol

Postings: 5TFPP

"Has worked hard throughout [his Class 3 & 4 training] and although he started rather poorly has proved quite steady and should make a good type of ferry pilot. Average ability."

 d. 20 August 1943 in Barracuda II BV759, which crashed in a field nr. Rufford Bombing Range, Mansfield, Notts after engine failure following a carburettor fault. Delivery from Blackburn Aircraft, Brough, to 15 MU (RAF Wroughton, Wilts)

  "1316791 Flight Sergeant J C Milliken. Pilot, Royal Air Force. Sometime of Bicknell Farm"

Buried St Michael and Angels Churchyard, Butcombe, Somerset

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.----	Cadet	Eric David Mills
	b. 19 Jun 1907, Manchester	10 Jun 1941 to 28 Jun 1941

F/O in RAF 1928-32

prev. in Advertising with Chestor Studios, London

d. 28 Jun 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - in Miles Magister P2402 (William Hampton, the pilot, fractured his skull) which collided with Fairey Battle R7372 while both were landing. George Kemp (see above) and Philip de Walden Avery (see above) in the Battle were uninjured.

buried Marylebone Borough Cemetery

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.628	First Officer	Lyle Otto Mills
	b. 3 Apr 1896, Raymond City, WV	24 Jun 1941 to 25 Jun 1942

Ed. Pace Insitute, NYC (Law and Accountancy)

prev. Sgt. in  AAF 1917-20; Commercial Pilot and Instructor

prev. exp. 8500 hrs (including Beechcraft and "Savoia-Marchetti Boat"

m. Ruth Carpenter [Fitchett] (3 daughters Audrey, Carol, and Dolores)

Address in 1941: Urbana, VA

Postings: 4aFPP, 8FPP

3 accidents, 1 his fault:

- 17 Dec 1941, forced landing in a Mohawk after engine failure;

- 8 Apr 1942, landing with undercarriage not fully extended in a Hereford, due to partial engine failure;

- 15 Jun 1942, he over-ran the runway in an Oxford; "pilot should have made another circuit."

"A good officer who can be relied upon to give his best"

 Joined USAAF 9 Sep 1942. Major in 310th AAF Base Unit, Pope Field

He rescued 26 wounded men during fighting at Iwo Jima in 1945 while an operations officer piloting a C-47 transport plane.

Rejoined the Electrolux Corp,, retiring in 1955.

d. 29 Aug 1959 (age 63) - Washington

Buried Arlington National Cemetery, VA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.1043	3rd Officer	James Milson
	b. 2 Dec 1911, Chilton, Co. Durham	27 Dec 1943 to  15 Nov 1944

Father: William Sowerby Milson, mother Frances [Evans]

Ed. "Public School"

He emigrated to Canada in May 1928, describing himself as a "Pony Driver" looking for "Farm Work"

m. 1935 in Swansea, Canada, Myrtle Davina [Geldart]. She was 18, also from Durham, England but had moved to Canada as a one-year-old. They had one son, James William, b. 1935

prev. cleaner; cutter grinder for John Inglis Co.

Address in 1943: 5 Emmett Ave., Mt. Dennis, Ontario, Canada

"He came to Canada some fifteen years ago and, under local regulations, is now considered to be a Canadian citizen. In view of this and the fact that he has a home and family over here, it was felt that he should be offered a Dominion Contract."

He was the last American or Canadian pilot taken on by the ATA : "We felt morally obligated [to him] at the time overseas recruitment ceased."

 Postings: 5TFPP, 16FPP

d. 15 Nov 1944 when ferrying Seafire III NN494 from Kirkbride to RNAS Donibristle, which crashed at Pettinain near Carstairs in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The crash happened as he broke out of cloud in a snowstorm and hit the ground near Grange Hall Farm.

He was judged to be 'at fault', having persisted too far in bad weather.

Buried Tudhoe, Co. Durham:

  findagrave.com

"Beloved husband of Myrtle

A Silent Thought

A Secret Tear

Will Hold his Memory Dear"

 "Those connected with [the ATA] who had cause to know T/O Milson thought very highly of him and deeply regret his untimely end."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.111	First Officer	Violet Beatrice 'Vi' Milstead
	b . 17 Oct 1919, Toronto, Canada	5 Apr 1943 to 31 Jul 1945

ATA

https://legionmagazine.com/en/2021/07/airwomen/

ATAM

 Father: Harold Milstead, mother: Edith (both b. England)

Commercial Licence 1940; Instructor's Licence 1941

prev. Worked in her mother's wool shop, and Flight Instructor at Barker's Field, Toronto

prev. exp. 1,000hrs

Sailed back to Nova Scotia on 18 Aug 1945

m. 1947 Arnold Warren (d. 2000), and they spent 1952-3 in Indonesia, where he was an instructor

Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame, 2014

d. 27 Jun 2014

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.616	First Officer	Rev. Marshall McCormick Milton Jnr.
	b. 4 Oct 1912, Hagerstown, Maryland [but grew up in Richmond, VA]	11 Jun 1941 to 8 Mar 1944

Brother of Rev. William Byrd Lee Milton, also an ATA pilot - 'The Flying Parsons'.(see below)

Ed. Christ Church School, Saluda, VA, Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Theological Seminary [1934 B.S. Civil Enginering, 1938 B.D. Theology]

m. 1938 Isobel Heyward [Wilson] from Birmingham, ALA

prev. Priest - Rector of Brandon Episcopal Church, Burrowsville, VA

prev. exp. 450 hrs

Address in 1941: 756 Cumberland Ave, Atlanta, GA

Postings: 2FPP, 8FPP, 16FPP, 1FPP (Seconded), 14FPP

He and his brother resigned their church appointments in neigbouring parishes in the US to join the ATA. In May 1942, Marshall said "The only thing I object to is helping men to kill each other and from the pulpit I couldn't do it, but as an individual and as a member of society I felt that whether I believed in war or not I was just part of it. We thought we would be of more service perhaps in the ATA than by staying at home."

5 accidents:

- 24 Dec 1941, Brewster Buffalo overshot landing due to flap and engine failure and ran into a heap of earth;

- 8 Feb 1942, Defiant overshot landing and then swung to avoid another aircraft; pilot to blame as he should have made a second circuit;

- 29 Mar 1942, Beaufort failed top control a swing after applying brakes. Not to blame as the brakes were found to be defective;

- 29 Oct 1942, successfully force landed a Hampden after port engine failure. Pilot not responsible.

- 21 Feb 1943, Proctor III tipped onto its nose when taxying in high wind; he was held to blame as he ignored the ground crew, who were standing by to help.

"A methodical pilot of average ability, but inclined to be heavy-handed on single-engine aircraft."

"A good officer and a capable and obliging pilot."

Later a maths teacher

d. 5 Nov 1993 - Newport, VA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.656	First Officer	Rev. William Byrd Lee Milton
	b. 17 Aug 1907, Baltimore, Maryland	22 Jun 1941 to Feb-43

Brother of Rev. Marshall McCormick Milton, also an ATA pilot - 'The Flying Parsons'. (see above)

m. to Frances Gordon Thornton, from Fredericksburg, 1 daughter.

prev. Priest (Rector of St John's Episcopal Church and Merchant's Hope Church, Prince George County, VA);

Civil Engineer. Chemist.

2nd Lieut., US Army 307th Cavalry Reserve Jun-29 to Jun-34.

Said he had owned a Taylorcraft, Piper Cruiser, and "Stinsons"

Address in 1941: Fredericksburg, VA

Postings: 8FPP 

"Extremely keen and steady type. This pilot tries very hard but lacks natural aptitude and is inclined to be heavy-handed."

 "He would make a good officer if he talked less and paid more attention to his appearance."

Head of ATA Gerard d'Erlanger replied to him in October 1941; "In reply to your memorandum of October 9th, I sincerely appreciate your offer to act as honorary chaplain to the ATA, but regret that I cannot see my way to acquiesce thereto. [which I think means "No"].

Thank you nevertheless for the suggestion."

While on leave in Virginia Beach in July 1942, William sent a nice postcard to Flt Captain Stock, the Establishment Officer for the ATA:

1 incident and 1 accident:

- 4 Nov 1942, Hampden force landed after engine problem.

- 14 Nov 1942, Martlett IV swung after take-off and starboard undercarriage collapsed. Pilot to blame.

d. 23 Feb 1943 (Died in ATA Service), ferrying Beaufort DX118 from 44 MU Edzell to 5 OTU Long Kesh, N. Ireland which suffered starboard engine failure "on a type on which single-engined flight is critical" and crashed on Brownhart Law, near Makendon, Northumberland.

 Map Coords 55.383333, -2.333333

In 2014, Jim Corbett found "a lot of wood and plexiglass from the nose section" on Brownhart Law:

See https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/bristol-beaufort-dx118-brownhart-law/

His CO, Bert Yardley, wrote: "Milton was a strange personality, and had a strange mentality towards his job. My pilots usually go straight to destination. The Royal Observer Corps have plotted Milton for me and I find he rarely takes a straight line, but wanders all over the place. He left Edzell about 2 hours before the other four pilots and it is my carefully considered opinion that he employed his usual method - getting above the cloud (against which he has been warned) and in this case got lost. Instead of going back to where he knew it was clear, he thought he was further East than he actually was and thought to break cloud over or near the coast, with disastrous results. From experience I know this to be a most treacherous strip of country and cannot be trifled with."

A silver chalice was presented in 1948 to St John's Episcopal Church, Hopewell, in his memory.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.--- *	First Officer	Andrzej Miszewski DFC
	b. 1912	9 Jan to 17 May 1941

Ed. Warsaw University of Technology, Mechanical Engineer.

"In the defensive war of 1939 he served in the air force. After the defeat, he gets through Romania, gets to France, and then to Great Britain, where (like his brother Jan, also a Sarmatian) he serves in the RAF, among others."

Awarded the Virtuti Militari Cross and the Cross of Valor four times.