Women of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA)

Women aviators employed by Britain's Second World War Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA)

(ATA Photo)

ATA pilot Mary Guthrie with a Spitfire.

(ATA Photo)

ATA woman piloting a Supermarine Spitfire.

(ATA Photo)

ATA pilot with a Supermarine Spitfire.

(IWM Photo, C382)

The first pilots of the ATA Womens' Section pilots walking past newly-completed de Havilland Tiger Moths awaiting delivery to their units at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. They are, (right to left): Miss Pauline Gower, Commandant of the Women's Section, Miss M Cunnison (partly obscured), Mrs Winifred Crossley, The Hon. Mrs Fairweather, Miss Mona Friedlander, Miss Joan Hughes, Mrs G Paterson and Miss Rosemary Rees.

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.

The initial plan was that the ATA would carry personnel, mail and medical supplies, but the pilots were immediately needed to work with the Royal Air Force (RAF) ferry pools transporting aircraft. By 1 May 1940 the ATA had taken over transporting all military aircraft from factories to maintenance units to have guns and accessories installed. On 1 August 1941, the ATA took over all ferrying jobs. This freed the much-needed combat pilots for combat duty. At one time there were fourteen ATA ferry pools as far apart as Hamble, near Southampton, and Lossiemouth, near Inverness in Scotland.

During the war the ATA flew 415,000 hours and delivered more than 309,000[4] aircraft of 147 types, including Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes, de Havilland Mosquitoes, North American Mustangs, Avro Lancasters, Handley Page Halifaxes, Fairey Swordfish, Fairey Barracudas and Boeing Fortresses. The average aircraft strength of the ATA training schools was 78. A total of 133,247 hours were flown by school aircraft and 6,013 conversion courses were put through. The total flying hours of the Air Movement Flight were 17,059, of which 8,570 were on domestic flights and 8,489 were on overseas flights. About 883 tons of freight were carried and 3,430 passengers were transported without any casualties; but a total of 174 pilots, women as well as men, were killed flying for the ATA in the wartime years. Total taxi hours amounted to 179,325, excluding Air Movements.

(IWM Photo, TR34)

A woman pilot of the Air Transport Auxiliary in the cockpit of an Avro Anson (N5060), which was used to collect and deliver pilots.

As non-operational delivery flights, the aircraft guns were not loaded. After an encounter with German fighters in UK airspace, the mid-upper gun turrets of Avro Anson transports were armed. However, it was realised that this was against international law as the ATA staff were technically civilian status. A number of solutions were considered but eventually the gunners were withdrawn.

(ATA Photo)

Anson Taxi Girls – Irene Joy Ferguson, Margot Gore & Pauline Gower Centre,Margaret Cunnison, Margaret Fairweather, Joan Hughes just exiting an Avro Anson, Winifred Crossley 3rd Officer Holding the door.

(ATA Photo)

Joan Hughes flew the Short Stirling four-engine bomber shown here. She was the only women to instruct pilots on all types of aircraft in the UK.

Women were to have had the same Experience Flying as their Established Male ATA counterparts, at least 250-hrs, although the 1st Women chosen had over double the minimum hrs that the early Male ATA Pilots had achieved in their past-service Logbooks. The 1st-8 Women had on average 600-hrs each while Commander Pauline Gower had over 2,000-hrs Logged. The 1st-8 were Winifred Crossley, Margaret Fairweather, Rosemary Rees, Marion Wilberforce, Margaret Cunnison, Gabrielle Patterson, Mona Friedlander & Joan Hughes. All were Flight Instructors, and the Group included both the youngest Woman to obtain a Pilot’s License (Joan Hughes, at age 17) and the 1st Woman to be appointed a Flight Instructor (Gabrielle Patterson), as well as the 1st Woman to Fly a Spitfire (Margaret Fairweather). This Group of 8 represented the best Female Pilots of the time – 9, including their Commander, Pauline Gower. All were Stationed at Hatfield initially, Ferrying Light Training Aircraft. The initial Group of 8 expanded to 26 by the end of 1940, with famed Pilot Amy Johnson joining after some persuasion on Gower’s part, as well as Lettice Curtis.

Lord Beaverbrook, a Second World War Minister of Aircraft Production, gave an appropriate tribute at the closing ceremony disbanding the ATA at White Waltham on 30 November 1945:

Without the ATA the days and nights of the Battle of Britain would have been conducted under conditions quite different from the actual events. They carried out the delivery of aircraft from the factories to the RAF, thus relieving countless numbers of RAF pilots for duty in the battle. Just as the Battle of Britain is the accomplishment and achievement of the RAF, likewise it can be declared that the ATA sustained and supported them in the battle. They were soldiers fighting in the struggle just as completely as if they had been engaged on the battlefront. (Wikipedia)

(Wayne Logus Photo)

This embroidered wing was worn above the left breast pocket on the uniform of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) Ferry pilots during the Second World War.

Six Canadian women pilots flew in the ATA, including Marion Alice Orr, Violet Milstead and Helen Harrison-Bristol.

Marion Alice Orr, CM (née Powell; 25 June 1918 – 4 April 1995) was a pioneering Canadian aviator who was the first woman to run a flying school. She served with the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1986.

Violet Milstead Warren CM (October 17, 1919 – June 27, 2014) was a Canadian aviator, noted for being the first female Canadian bush pilot and one of only six Canadian women to work in the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during WWII. With over 600 hours of flight time during the war, she was the longest serving female Canadian ATA pilot. She worked as a flight instructor at Barker Field in Toronto, Ontario, and her students included commercial pilot Molly Reilly and author June Callwood. She is a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame, the Order of Canada, and the Bush Pilots Hall of Fame.

(Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame Photo)

Helen Marcelle Harrison Bristol (7 December 1909 – 27 April 1995) was a pioneering Canadian female civil aviation instructor and the first Canadian Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot during the Second World War. Until 1942, her experience was directed towards pilot training at Toronto, London and Kitchener, Ontario when she was accepted as the first Canadian woman ferry pilot to serve in the United Kingdom with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Harrison served in the ATA as a Pilot First Officer from 1 May 1942 until 22 March 1944. In 1943 she co-piloted a Mitchell bomber across the North Atlantic Ocean from Montreal, Quebec to Scotland, and until 1944 she delivered military aircraft within the United Kingdom.

(ATA Photo)

Helen Marcelle Harrison Bristol of Toronto with one of the Spitfires she flew.

Women pilots in the ATA

(The Bystander Photo)

The first nine women pilots of the ATA Womens' Section pilots walking past newly-completed De Havilland Tiger Moths awaiting delivery to their units at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. They are, (right to left): Miss Pauline Gower, Commandant of the Women's Section, Miss M Cunnison (partly obscured), Mrs Winifred Crossley, The Hon. Mrs Fairweather, Miss Mona Friedlander, Miss Joan Hughes, Mrs G Paterson and Miss Rosemary Rees.

The ATA hired women pilots to ferry aircraft. The female pilots (nicknamed "Attagirls")[ had a high profile in the press. On 14 November 1939 Commander Pauline Gower was given thetask of organising the women's section of the ATA. The first eight women pilotswere accepted into service as No 5 Ferry Pilots Pool on 1 January 1940,initially only cleared to fly de Havilland Tiger Moth biplanes from their basein Hatfield. They were: Joan Hughes, Margaret Cunnison, Mona Friedlander,Rosemary Rees, Marion Wilberforce, Margaret Fairweather, Gabrielle Patterson,and Winifred Crossley Fair.

(War Office Photo)

Five ATA Flyers Lettice Curtis, Jenny Broad, Audrey Sale-Barker, Gabrielle Patterson & Pauline Gower in 1942 by an Airspeed Oxford Trainer.

(War Office Photo)

Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) pilots Pauline Gower (partially cropped at lefthand frame edge), Jennie Broad , Lettice Curtis, Gabrielle Patterson, and pilot and skier Wendy Sale Barker beside an Airspeed Oxford at the ATA base RAF Hatfield, Hertfordshire, 1942.

(IWM Photo, CH 8945)

Allied women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary service. Their job done, four female ATA pilots (three Americans and one Polish) leaving an airfield near Maidenhead, 19 March 1943. They are from left to right: Roberta Sandoz of Washington; Kay Van Doozer from Los Angeles; Jadwiga Piłsudska from Warsaw; and Mary Hooper from Los Angeles.

(IWM Photo, C389)

Pauline Gower (far left), Commandant of the Women's Section of the ATA, stands with eight other founding female ATA pilots at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, by newly-completed De Havilland Tiger Moths awaiting delivery to their units. The other pilots are; (left to right), Mrs Winifred Crossley, Miss Margaret Cunnison, The Hon. Mrs  Margaret Fairweather, Mona Friedlander, Miss Joan Hughes, Mrs G Paterson, Miss Rosemary Rees and Mrs Marion Wilberforce.

(ATA Photo)

Diana Barnato Walker boarding a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX at RAF Hamble, UK,in May 1945. She is dressed in fleece-lined Afghan Shepherd’s Jacket, and last took the Controls of a rare, twin-seat Spitfire Trainer when she was 88 – “impolite not to,” she said – and still wore the Jacket, hanging in a cupboard at her Surrey Farmhouse, not far from Gatwick Airport, when out tending her Prized Sheep.

(IWM Photo, C381)

A group of women pilots of the ATA service photographed in their flying kit at Hatfield, 1940.

Overall during the Second World War there were 166 women pilots, one in eight of all ATA pilots, and they volunteered from Britain, Canada, Australia, NewZealand, South Africa, the United States, the Netherlands and Poland. Britishwomen pilots included Mary de Bunsen, Ethel Ruth Nicholson, Edith Beaumont andDiana Barnato Walker. Annette Elizabeth Mahon was the only Irish woman to servein the ATA. From Argentina and Chile came Maureen Dunlop and Margot Duhalde,and from Denmark Vera Strodl Dowling. Six Canadian women pilots flew in theATA, including Marion Alice Orr, Violet Milstead and HelenHarrison-Bristol.

(The Age newspaper Photo)

English Aviatrix Amy Johnson in her Black Hawk Moth leaving Australia for Newcastle, 14 June 1930. On 24 August 1941, some eight months after Amy Johnson’s death,Pauline Gower’s :

We have absolutely no doubt about how she met her death. Miss Johnson took off from the North of England in bad weather because she knew there was another job waiting for her. We concluded that running out of petrol she decided to come down through the clouds, and it was just bad luck that she happened to be over water. She baled out, and had she been over land she might have been alive to-day.

Fifteen of these women lost their lives in service, including the Britishpioneer aviatrix Amy Johnson, Margaret Fairweather, Joy Davison, Jane Winstone, Honor Salmon, Susan Slade and Dora Lang who died alongsideFlight Engineer Janice Harrington. Two of the women pilots receivedc ommendations; one was Helen Kerly.

(WASP Photo)

Pioneer American aviator Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran in the cockpit of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter plane. Cochran was head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

A notable American member of the ATA was the aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran, whoreturned to the United States and started a similar all-female organisation known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

In June 1940 the role of No 5 Ferry Pilots Pool was expanded to othernon-combat types of aircraft (trainers and transports) such as the de HavillandDominie, Airspeed Oxford, Miles Magister and Miles Master; eventually womenwere incorporated in the other (previously all-male) ferry pools, and werepermitted to fly virtually every type flown by the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm,including the four-engined heavy bombers, but excluding the largest flyingboats. Hurricanes were first flown by women pilots on 19 July 1941, andSpitfires in August 1941.

One notable feature of the ATA was that women received the same pay as men ofequal rank, starting in 1943. This was the first time that the Britishgovernment had agreed to equal pay for equal work within an organisation underits control. At the same time American women flying with the Women AirforceService Pilots (WASP) were receiving as little as 65 per cent of the pay oftheir male colleagues.

After the death in December 2020 of Eleanor Wadsworth at the age of 103, and ofJaye Edwards (née Stella Joyce Petersen; served as Third Officer in the ATAfrom 1943 to 1945)[34]) in August 2022[35] only one female former ATA pilotsurvived, American Nancy Stratford (co-author of Contact! Britain!: A woman ferry pilot's story during WWII in England). Wadsworth had joined the ATA in 1943, flew 22 different aircraft types, and flew Spitfires 132 times. (Wikipedia)

ATA Engineers

(Wayne Logus Photo)

As the ATA became established and expanded the size and number of aircraft variants, the need for having a variety of engineers quickly became apparent. Further, as they began delivering larger multi-engine aircraft, the Flight Engineer (F/E) became essential in assisting the pilots. They were presented with their own unique insignia in both stitched and bullion variations.

There were many specific categories and levels of Engineers within the ATA organisation including Flight, Ground, SCE, Records Clerk, Tarmac, etc. Of the approximately 30 Operational Flight Engineers, only a handful were women. One of these was Patricia Parker who started her career with the ATA as a Pilot, third class but went on to become a Flight Engineer. Others were Janice Harrington (died in service), Phillis Pierce and Alice Thomas, the latter who also started as a pilot with the ATA.

4 women served as Flight Engineers with ATA. One of them, Janice Harrington, was too short to be a pilot so became a flight engineer instead. She was killed in a Mosquito accident in March 1944 and is buried in a Maidenhead cemetery.

ATA Training

The first ATA pilots were introduced tomilitary aircraft at the RAF's Central Flying School (CFS), but the ATA soondeveloped its own training programme. Pilots progressed from lightsingle-engined aircraft to more powerful and complex aircraft in stages. Theyfirst qualified on "Class 1" single-engined aircraft such as theTiger Moth, Magister and Percival Proctor, then gained experience by doingferrying work with any aircraft in that class, before returning to training toqualify and gain experience on the Class 2 advanced single-engined aircraft.The same process was followed to progress to Class 3 light twin-enginedaircraft and Class 4 advanced twin-engined aircraft.

In each case, once cleared to fly one class of aircraft, pilots could be askedto ferry any plane in that class even if they had never seen that type ofaircraft before. To do so they had ATA Pilots Notes, a two-ring book of smallcards with the critical statistics and notations necessary to ferry eachaircraft.

To fly Class 5 four-engined aircraft, pilots were first trained on the HandleyPage Halifax heavy bomber and then could be permitted by their CommandingOfficer to fly other similar types such as the Avro Lancaster when they hadacquired more experience. When flying Class 5 aircraft and certain Class 4aircraft, the pilot was the sole pilot but was always accompanied by a furthercrew member such as a flight engineer. There were further rules for Class 6flying boat ferrying.

The ATA trained its pilots only to ferry planes, rather than to achieveperfection on every type. For example, aerobatics and blind flying were nottaught, and pilots were explicitly forbidden to do either, even if they werecapable of doing so. Also, in order not to strain the engines, an "ATAcruise" speed was specified in the ATA Pilots Notes. The objective of the ATA was to deliver aircraft safely and that meant taking no unnecessary risks. (Wikipedia)

(RAF Photo)

Faith Margaret Ellen Bennett (1903–1969) was a British actress and ATA pilot - here signing for a spitfire on ATA duty, c1942.

In the early days of the ATA, the Training on unfamiliar Types was largely Informal, mainly because the early Joiners were highly Experienced & Versatile, and usually needed only a few Pointers when they were assigned a Plane they had not Flown before. Sometimes Pilots did go through Standard Training Courses on more Advanced Classes of Aircraft, such as at the RAF Central Flying School. Often, though, when faced with an unfamiliar Type, a Pilot would snag someone who had Flown that particular Aircraft and ask for information & helpful hints, or buttonhole one of the Ground Crew for Particulars.

With the ever-increasing workload & influx of new Pilots, who were for the most part less experienced than the Pilots who had joined early on, it became necessary to institute a Systematic Training Program for Pilots as they progressed to more Advanced Types of Aircraft. There had been several unpleasant incidents in which Inexperienced Pilots mistook one Control for another. For instance, in the Bristol Blenheim Bomber, it was very easy to confuse he Emergency Fuel Cut-off for the Pitch Control (they were located very Close together, behind the Pilot’s Head). Thus was born the ATA Conversion School, where Pilots would be Trained to Fly various Classes of Aircraft.
Types of Aircraft were organised into the following Categories:
Class 1: Single-Engine Light Aircraft (primarily Trainers)
Class 2: Single-Engine Operational Aircraft (mostly Fighters, such as Hurricanes, Spitfires, F4U Corsairs, and P-51 Mustangs)
Class 3: Twin-Engine Light Aircraft
Class 4: Twin-Engine Operational Aircraft (mostly Medium Bombers)
Class 5: 4-Engined Aircraft (Heavy Bombers, such as Lancasters, Stirlings, B-17 Fortresses & B-24 Liberators)
Class 6: Flying Boats (PBY Catalinas, Sunderlands)
Classes 2 & 4 also had plus ratings, for more difficult Types within that Class (Class 2+ included P-40 Variants, Tempests, Typhoons & P-39 Airacobras; Class 4+ included Hudsons, Mosquitos, rare or older twin-Engined Types, & Twins with Tricycle Undercarriages, such as A-20 Havocs (which were also B-20 Bostons), P-38 Lightnings, B-26 Mauraders & B-25 Mitchells.

Pilots were given Classroom Courses, then Flying Instruction – 1st Dual, then Solo – usually on only 1 or 2 Representatives of each Type. They were then expected to be able to Ferry any Aircraft in that Class. However, Planes in the same Class might have wildly varying Control Configurations & Operational Setting.

11 women were authorised to fly types in ATA’s aircraft Class 5 which included the Lancaster, Halifax and American B-17. 4-engined types required a Flight Engineer onboard, and 151 were employed by ATA, of which, most notably, 4 were women. No navigators flew with ATA, as the pilots were charged with flying below cloud using map and compass alone. Use of radio and the carriage of seconded RAF wireless operators only came into operation when the ATA started operating into Europe and beyond. (John Webster)

On 19 July 1941 Winnie Crossley was the first woman to be checked out on a Hurricane fighter. With the bombing offensive against Germany in full swing, there was an increase in the number of four engine bombers to deliver. In September 1942, while based at White Waltham, Lettice Curtis was put forward to train on four engine bombers. In February 1943 she passed the tests. In autumn 1942 First Officer Lettice Curtis became the first woman to fly a 4-engined bomber. Joan Hughes soon followed and by the end of the war eleven women had been cleared to fly heavy bombers.

The success of the Conversion School, and the versatility of ATA Pilots, is demonstrated by Lettice Curtis. In Autumn 1942 1st-Officer Lettice Curtis became the 1st Woman to Fly a 4-Engined Halifax Bomber, an achievement shared by just 11–ATA Women.. (12-Women eventually attained a Class 5 Ranking.) In a single day, she Flew Class-1 Aircraft, a Spitfire (Class-2), a Mitchell& a Mosquito (Class-4), and a Stirling (Class-5). Her Experience was not unusual: Class-5 Pilots were expected, at a moment’s notice, to Fly anyone of 147-Types of Aircraft. Class-4 Pilots were capable of Flying 138 different Types. Almost half of the Women Pilots (82 in all) attained a Class 4 Ranking.

(ATA Photo)

Women of the ATA. Hatfield: Joan, Hughes, Margaret Cunnison, Diana Barnato Walker, ?, Pauline Gower, Rosemary Rees, ?, Winnie Crossley, Marion Wilberforce, ?, ?.

Pilots were based at 14 Ferry Pools as far apart as Hamble, near Southampton and Lossiemouth near Inverness in Scotland. Two of these Ferry Pools (Hamble and Cosford) had only women pilots, with female Commanding Officers, Margot Gore at Hamble and Marion Wilberforce at Cosford. Several were near aircraft factories which were priority targets for the Luftwaffe. The peak monthly output from the Spitfire factory at Castle Bromwich was 320 machines, so it was necessary to move aircraft away to relative safety as soon as they came off the production line. The nearest factories to No.1 Ferry Pool at White Waltham were at Brooklands (Vickers-Armstrong), Langley (Hawker) and Woodley (Miles).

After the invasion of Europe, ATA Women were not initially Officially allowed to Ferry to the Continent, though in late September of 1944 Diana Barnato Walker managed to Fly a Spitfire to Brussels, following her Husband, a Wing Commander in the RAF, in another Spitfire. At the time she was on a short Leave from the ATA. Her husband Derek got permission from the Headquarters of the 2nd Tactical Air Force of the RAF to allow her to Travel to Brussels. (In the Autumn of 1943, RAF Fighter Command was Split into the 2nd Tactical Air Force, which was to assist on Offensive Operations over the Continent, and the Air Defence of Great Britain, which was charged with Defending the Skies over England.) Shortly after Diana’s Trip, ATA Women Pilots were Officially cleared to Fly to the Continent. In the Final days of the War, some made it to Berlin. Also during this time, a few Women were given the opportunity to Ferry Meteor Jets.

After the war,aA few Women managed to carve out Professional & Commercial Roles. In 1963, Diana Barnato Walker became the 1st British Woman to break the Sound Barrier, in an Electric Lightning jet fighter.

ATA Pilots delivered over 300,000 Aircraft, of 51 different Types. The ATA’s Total Pilot complement comprised 1,152 men &166 women. Other Aircrew included 151-Flight Engineers, 19-Radio Officers, and 27-ATC Cadets. 129-Men &20-Women were killed in Service. 36-Pilots, among them 2-Women, received Certificates of Commendation from the British Government. Four Women Pilots, Pauline Gower, Margot Gore, Joan Hughes and Rosemary Rees, were awarded MBEs.

(ATA Photo)

Women of the ATA with a Supermarine Spitfire.

(ATA Photo)

Women of the ATA with a Supermarine Spitfire.

(IWM Photo)

Women of the ATA.

(ATA Photo)

Men and women pilots of the ATA with a Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)

(IWM Photo, CH 13699)

WAAF flight mechanics pull the chocks from the wheels of Bristol Beaufort Mark I, N1022, of No. 51 Operational Training Unit before a training flight from Cranfield, Bedfordshire. A Bristol Beaufighter Mark VI of the same unit can be seen parked behind the Beaufort.

(IWM Photo, CL118)

The first WAAF nursing orderlies selected to fly on air-ambulance duties to France, standing in front of a Douglas Dakota Mark III of No. 233 Squadron RAF at B2/Bazenville, Normandy. From left to right: Leading Aircraftwoman Myra Roberts of Oswestry, Corporal Lydia Alford of Eastleigh and Leading Aircraftwoman Edna Birbeck of Wellingborough".

(IWM Photo, CH 13736)

Leading Aircraftwoman Lilian Yule tractors Avro Lancaster B Mark III, DV238 'EA-O', of No. 49 Squadron RAF to its dispersal slot at Fiskerton, Lincolnshire. DV238 later went to No. 44 Squadron RAF with whom it was lost during a raid on Berlin on 16/17 December 1944

(IWM Photo, CH 11890)

WAAF engine mechanics servicing a Bristol Pegasus engine of a Short Sunderland.

(IWM Photo, CE 16)

A WAAF corporal checks a delivery of 20mm Hispano cannon shells before they are loaded into a Bristol Beaufighter NF Mark VI of No. 96 Squadron RAF at Honiley, Warwickshire.

(IWM Photo, CE 23)

RAF armourers clean the barrel of a Hispano cannon removed from a Bristol Beaufighter NF Mark VI of No. 96 Squadron RAF, as WAAFs unload boxes of 20mm cannon shells by the aircraft at Honiley, Warwickshire.

(IWM Photo, CH 11880)

WAAF flight mechanics pull the chocks away from a Miles Martinet TT Mark I target tug of No. 289 Squadron RAF, on a hard standing at Turnhouse, Midlothian.

(IWM Photo, CH 10372)

WAAF ground crew at work on an Airspeed Horsa of the Heavy Glider Conversion Unit at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. Armstrong Whitworth Whitley glider tugs are dispersed on the airfield in the background.