New exhibition commemorates WWII women fighter pilots

Summary of story from BBC News, July 18, 2011

An exhibition is due to open in Maidenhead, Berkshire (England), to commemorate the previously unsung achievements of the 168 women pilots who flew aircraft from factories to front-line airfields during the second World War.

The exhibition coincides with the 70th anniversary of the first flights piloted by women in the RAF on 19th July, 1941: Winnie Crossley, the Hon Margaret Fairweather, Rosemary Rees and Joan Hughes, who all piloted Hawker Hurricanes on 15 minute flights from the Hatfield Aerodrome in Herfordshire.

The women all joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and helped to keep front-line airfields equipped throughout the war.

Joan Hughes, one of the first four women pilots, was 23 in 1941 and had been flying since she was 15 and held the record for the youngest person to fly solo.

Molly Rose, now 90, flew fighter planes from a base in Hamble, near Southampton from 1942 to 1945. She said she was ‘privileged’ to have flown as part of the war effort.

Joy Lofthouse, one of the first women pilots to fly a Spitfire, learned how to fly before she learned how to drive.

Amy Johnson, the pioneering British aviator, died with 14 other pilots while undertaking the vital ATA work.

The exhibition will open on Tuesday 2 August, 2011 at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre, and the week after a 1943 Catalina flying boat will land at White Waltham Airport as part of the opening events.