The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs, was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.
The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factories, assembly plants, transatlantic delivery points, maintenance units (MUs), scrapyards, and active service squadrons and airfields, but not to naval aircraft carriers. It also flew service personnel on urgent duty from one place to another and performed some air ambulance work. Notably, around 10% of its pilots were women, and from 1943 they received equal pay to their male colleagues, a first for the British government.
Joan Lily Amelia Hughes, MBE was a World War II ferry pilot and one of Britain's first female test pilots. She was considered a capable instructor and flew everything except flying boats.
Air Commandant Dame Felicity Hyde, Lady Peake was the founding director of the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) She started flying when her first husband took up the hobby in 1935, but in 1946 became the first director of the WRAF. She was Honorary Aide-de-camp to King George VI from 1949 to 1950.
Diana Barnato Walker MBE FRAeS was a pioneering British aviator. In World War II, she became one of the first women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary, flying 80 types of aircraft and delivering 260 Spitfires. In 1963, she became the first British woman to break the sound barrier, flying at Mach 1.6, which also represented a world air speed record for women.
Pauline Mary de Peauly Gower Fahie was a British pilot and writer who established the women's branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War.
Maureen Adele Chase Dunlop de Popp, née Dunlop, was an Anglo-Argentine pilot who flew for the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War II, and became notable as a pin-up on the cover of the Picture Post magazine.
Marion Wilberforce was a Scottish aviator and one of the first eight members of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). She flew many planes including Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancaster Bombers, Wellington Bombers and Mosquitos. She rose to become deputy commander of the No. 5 Ferry Pool at Hatfield, and later became commander of the No. 12 Ferry Pool at Cosford, one of only two women pool commanders in the whole ATA.
Margaret Fairweather was a British aviator and one of the first eight women members of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). She was the first woman to fly a Supermarine Spitfire.
Margot Duhalde Sotomayor was a Chilean pilot who served with the Air Transport Auxiliary in World War II. She was Chile's first female military pilot and first female air traffic controller, and the last living Chilean veteran of the war.
Mary Ellis was a British ferry pilot, and one of the last surviving British women pilots from the Second World War.
Freydis Sharland was a pioneering woman pilot and one of the first women to get RAF wings.
Jean Lennox Bird was a pioneering pilot and the first woman to be awarded RAF wings.
Gabrielle Ruth Millicent Patterson was a British aviator who worked for the Air Transport Auxiliary. She was Britain's first woman flying instructor.
Rosemary Rees MBE was a British aviator who worked for the Air Transport Auxiliary. She was second in command to Margot Gore at Hamble from the 29th September 1941 when the site became an all-women ATA ferry pool.
Margaret Cunnison was a Scottish aviator and the first Scottish woman flying instructor. She was one of the first women to join the Air Transport Auxiliary.
Mary de Bunsen was a British Air Transport Auxiliary pilot and author.
Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten was a Dutch pilot and social worker who was a member of the Dutch resistance during the Second World War and a pilot in the British Air Transport Auxiliary. She was the only woman to receive the Vliegerkruis, the Airman's Cross.
Veronica May Volkersz was a British aviator and beauty queen. She flew for the RAF's Air Transport Auxiliary in the Second World War and was the first British woman to fly an operational jet fighter when she ferried a Meteor from the Gloster factory to RAF Moreton Valence on 15 September 1945.
Anna Leska was a Polish pilot certified to fly gliders, balloons and aeroplanes. She was one of the two first Polish woman pilots to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary, the other being Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska.
