ATA CHALLENGES: FRIENDLY FIRE

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 In additional to the usual hazards associated with flying from mechanical failures to bad weather, the ATA faced additional challenges because it operated in a 'war zone' throughout its existence. Yes, it flew mostly in the UK, but because the UK was itself the target of enemy action until the closing days of the war, the airspace over England was on the 'front line.' I described in an earlier entry the ATA's infrequent but dangers encounters with the enemy; today I focus on incidents involving 'friendly fire.'

Particularly during the first years of the war, the RAF was understandably nervous about any unidentified aircraft flying in British air space. Since the ATA aircraft were not equipped with radios or the automatic device to identify friendly aircraft known as IFF (Identification Friend of Foe), there was a serious risk of them being mistaken for the enemy -- at least by radar before visual contact was made. To reduce the risk, the RAF required all aircraft over Britain to file their flight plans in advance. In certain heavily 'Defended Areas,' such as around Portsmouth and Southampton, for example, Fighter Command claimed the right to shoot at any unidentified aircraft first and ask questions afterwards. It is to the credit of both the ATA and the RAF that there was not one incident of an RAF fighter shooting at an ATA aircraft.

The record of the Anti-Aircraft batteries was far less perfect. Although no aircraft was actually lost to friendly fire there were a number of incidents in which aircraft flown by the ATA despite wearing RAF livery were shot at and damaged by British 'Ack-Ack.'

One of the women pilots, Lettice Curtis remembers the following incident:

Suddenly over the sound of the engines I heard a dull WHOOMP -- then another. For a moment I was puzzled, then I saw puffs of smoke appearing above me and realisation dawned that the airfield anti-aircraft guns were firing.... [Lettice Curtis, Forgotten Pilots: A Story of the Air Transport Auxiliary, G.T.Foulis & Co. Ltd, 1971, p.63-64] 

Diana Barnato Walker describes repeated incidents involving Hurricane deliveries in her memoirs, namely:

We used to take Hurricanes regularly from Langley to Cardiff and I don't know what the ack-ack boys were up to with their aircraft recognition, but frequently when I was flying across the Bristol Channel at between 1,500 and 2,000 feet, there would be a shudder by the aircraft as little blackberry shaped puffs of dark smoke suddenly appeared, very close and all around it. ... One day a notice appeared on the No. 1 Pool's board requesting any pilots who thought they had been shot at over the Bristol Channel to report to the CO -- there was quite a long queue! [Diana Barnato Walker, Spreading My Wings, Grub Street, 2003, p. 82]

The ATA faced another kind of 'friendly fire' as well. ATA pilot Barbara Lankshear reported the following incident when delivering an aircraft to an RAF fighter station:

...impossibly strong wind 90 degrees to the runway and fighters coming in right, left and centre made me decide to land on the grass. My aircraft was swarmed over when reaching the tarmac. 'Was I alright and was the aircraft alright?' It seems that the guns of a Spitfire were being tested and I had taxied right across the line of fire! ... an extreme example of the frustrations of our radio-less flying. The Tower felt the same I am sure. [Y.M. Lucas, WAAF with Wings,  GMS Enterprises, 1992, p. 66]

Last but not least, the ATA had to cope with the barrage balloons. While these were passive defensive measures, they nevertheless posed a severe hazard to flying, particularly in low cloud and low visibility. Walker point out:

[These] enormous hydrogen gas-filled silver balloons on very heavy cables which went up to the cloud base or to 5,000 ft, [were] placed around sensitive areas such as factories, certain aerodromes, towns and cities to keep the German aeroplanes high up, accurate bombing being difficult through cloud... We marked the barrages on our maps in heavy red pencil so we could decide routes that gave them a wide berth. The cables were dangerous to fly into; I think they got more of us than the Germans did. [Walker, p. 51]

At the end of the day, however, it was all just part of the job. The ATA coped with these challenges as they did with all the others. 

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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