ATA: The Backstory of a Unique Institution

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Britain gave disabled and women pilots the opportunity to join the war effort not out of principle but from necessity. This post outlines the situation that gave birth to the Air Transport Auxiliary and Women's Branch within it.

The Second World War did not explode unexpectedly upon an unsuspecting world. Rather, it arrived with the slow, clanking certainty of an advancing panzer. Practically from the time Hitler came to power until the German invasion of Poland, the world moved inexorably toward conflict. Yet in the West, it did so with reluctance. In Britain, the policy of Appeasement was not only popular, it was arguably the only policy that a democratically elected government could pursue given the extent to which pacifism had taken hold in the electorate. 

As a result, despite massive German rearmament and aggression, Britain was slow to respond.  In 1934, just one year after Hitler came to power, Germany produced nearly 2,000 aircraft; by 1939 German annual aircraft production topped 8,000. In Britain, the figures were less than 1,000 aircraft in 1934 and less than 5,000 in 1939. 

Fortunately, the situation with respect to pilots was not quite so dire. Recognition that Britain was in range of German bombers and the expectation that "the bomber would always get through" fostered an energetic effort to build up a reserve of qualified pilots that could supplement the RAF in the event of war. Famous were the Auxiliary Air Force Squadrons and the Volunteer Reserve, both of which trained candidates deemed suitable for the RAF at government expense. 

In October 1938 the "Civil Air Guard" was also launched. This sought to increase the overall pool of trained pilots by subsidising (but not fully covering) pilot training in a civilian context. Significantly, the pilots trained in this programme did not have to be suitable for service in the RAF. They could be as old as fifty -- and they did not have to be male. In just nine months nearly 4,000 pilots had earned their licences via this program and 10,000 more were in training at one of the sixty private or commercial flying schools involved when war broke out. Of these, almost 900 were women. 

 

In response to the Munich Crisis in late 1938, the Director of British Airways, Gerard d'Erlanger, devised a scheme by which pilots ineligible for active service with the RAF could assist the nation in wartime. D'Erlanger foresaw that pilots -- like himself -- who were too old or otherwise unfit for operational flying, might nevertheless render valuable service in a support capacity. He envisaged such tasks as carrying VIP passengers, mail, news and dispatches, the transport of medical and other vital but light-weight cargoes, and ambulance service. His proposal won almost immediate approval from the Director of Civil Aviation, and the Air Transport Auxiliary was formed. It was placed under the authority of British Airways/BOAC, and d'Erlanger himself was appointed its Managing Director. 


At the outbreak of the war, d'Erlanger wrote to 1,000 qualified civilian pilots inquiring about interest in joining his embryo organisation, 100 responded positively and by 11 September 19439, 26 pilots were under contract -- but the anticipated work had not materialised. The Germans had not yet bombed London. There were neither tens of thousands of casualties nor any disruption of ground transportation and communication. On the other hand, the RAF found itself short of pilots for ferrying aircraft around the country, and it was suggested that the ATA might help out. The need was so great that already on 14 November 1939 the decision was made to experiment with women pilots. One of the Commissioners of the Civil Air Guard, Pauline Gower, was charged with the creation of an all-women ferry pool and told to recruit eight women pilots.


Meanwhile, the ATA had proven so adept at ferrying aircraft, that all RAF pilots were withdrawn from ferrying service on 1 May 1940. It was just in time. Ten days later, the German offensive in the West opened, and the RAF was stretched to the very limit of its capacity -- without ferrying aircraft.

With the collapse of France in June 1940, Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. It faced the immanent threat of invasion throughout the summer of 1940 and was subjected to intensive strategic and terror bombing for nearly a year. The RAF bore the brunt of the defence of Great Britain, sustaining nearly crippling loses of pilots in the process. While the RAF shortened training and increased recruitment to fill the gap, the ATA expanded as rapidly as possible to ensure that the exponentially expanded need for replacement aircraft continued to flow to RAF stations. 


 The ATA soon ran out of readily available material and turned to recruiting from abroad, particularly the Commonwealth and the United States. (Because the ATA was a civilian organisation, Americans could fly with the ATA without risking their citizenship by fighting in the armed forces of a foreign power.) The recruitment of more women pilots was part of this expansion. At it's peak, the ATA employed more than 3,000 people, of whom roughly 800 were aircrew and 16% were women.

A former ATA woman pilot is one of the leading female protagonists in the Bridge to Tomorrow Trilogy about the Berlin Airlift.  Find out more about the series at: https://helenapschrader.net/bridge-to-tomorrow/

Watch a video teaser here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rS_Mwy3TU 

                                      

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