Pauline Gower, Pioneering Leader of the Spitfire Women
Pauline Gower, Pioneering Leader of the Spitfire Women

Author: Alison Hill

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2022-09-01

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1803991488

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Pauline Gower was the leader of the Spitfire women during the Second World War. After gaining her pilot's licence at 20, she set up the first female joyriding business in 1931 with engineer Dorothy Spicer and took 33,000 passengers up for a whirl, clocking up more than 2,000 hours overall. Pauline went on to command the inaugural women's section of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and achieved equal pay for her women pilots. She enabled them to fly 'Anything to Anywhere', including Tiger Moths, Hurricanes, Wellingtons and – their firm favourite – the Spitfire. Pauline Gower: Pioneering Leader of the Spitfire Women is a story of bravery, fortitude and political persuasion. Pauline was a clear leader of her time and a true pioneer of flight. She died after giving birth, at only 36; a life cut tragically short, but one of significant achievements. Pauline left a huge legacy for women in aviation.

The Female Few
The Female Few

Author: Jacky Hyams

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 0752481223

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Through the darkest days of the Second World War, an elite group of courageous civilian women risked their lives as aerial courier pilots, flying Lancaster bombers, Spitfires and many other powerful war machines in thousands of perilous missions. The dangers these women faced were many: they flew unarmed, without radio and in some cases without instruments, in conditions where even unexpected cloud could mean disaster. In The Female Few, five of these astonishingly brave women tell their awe-inspiring tales of incredible risk, tenacity and sacrifice. Their spirit and fearlessness in the face of death still resonates down the years, and their accounts reveal a forgotten chapter in the history of the Second World War.

Spitfire Women of World War Ii
Spitfire Women of World War Ii

Author: Giles Whittell

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0007235364

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First published in 2007. The accounts of women who flew aircrafts for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to the frontline of World War II. The women of Air Transport Auxillary came from every continent. They were not allowed into combat, but delivered warplanes to the male pilots who would fly them into battle.

A Spitfire Girl
A Spitfire Girl

Author: Mary Ellis

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2016-11-30

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1473895383

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This WWII biography recounts the heroic contributions of a female pilot who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Wellington Bombers for the RAF. A farmer’s daughter from Oxfordshire, Mary Ellis fell in love with flying at the age of eleven, when she rode in a biplane at a flying circus. Already a licensed pilot by the time the Second World War broke out, Mary joined the Air Transit Auxiliary in 1941. As a ferry pilot, she transported aircraft for the Royal Air Force, including more than four hundred Spitfires and seventy-six different kinds of aircraft. After the war, Mary accepted a secondment to the RAF as one of the first pilots to fly the new Gloster Meteor, Britain’s first fighter jet. By 1950, she became Europe's first female air commandant. In this authorized biography, Mary and biographer Melody Foreman vividly recount her action-packed career spanning almost a century of aviation. Mary says: I am passionate for anything fast and furious. I always have been since the age of three and I always knew I would fly. The day I stepped into a Spitfire was a complete joy and it was the most natural thing in the world for me.

Spitfire Girl
Spitfire Girl

Author: Jackie Moggridge

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-07-03

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1781859884

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The inspiring memoir of the remarkable Jackie Moggridge: ATA girl, Spitfire expert and pioneer. 'We had returned to a different world. We had taken off in peace at nine-thirty and landed in war at noon.' Jackie Moggridge was just nineteen when World War Two broke out. Determined to do her bit, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. Ferrying aircraft from factory to frontline was dangerous work, but there was also fun, friendship and even love in the air. At last the world was opening up to women... or at least it seemed to be. From her first flight at fifteen to smuggling Spitfires into Burma, Jackie describes the trials and tribulations, successes and frustrations of her life in the sky. What Amazon readers are saying about Spitfire Girl: 'There is something for everyone in this remarkable autobiography, adventure, romance, flight, struggle, victory. Must read!' 5* 'An amazing book by an inspirational woman' 5* 'Drama, aircraft, relationships... it's all there in this great page-turner!' 5* 'I am left with real admiration for Jackie Moggridge, truly an amazing lady' 5* 'Brilliant book. What an amazing women she was' 5*.

Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson

Author: Midge Gillies

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Published: 2004-05

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780753817704

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In May 1930, Amy Johnson, a typist from Hull, took off from Croydon Airport with a thermos flask and a packet of sandwiches to try to beat the world solo record to Australia. She arrived, sun-blistered and with grease on her face, after weeks of flying a second-hand, open-cockpit biplane with no radio communication and the most basic of maps. Her adventures inspired a world struggling with the devastating effects of the Depression and made her into a celebrity overnight. She married Scottish playboy Jim Mollison, and together 'The Flying Sweethearts' broke records, mixed with the Mayfair Set, Amelia Earhart and Hollywood stars. But her tempestuous marriage was soon to crumble and she resumed her love affair with speed, taking up gliding and rally driving, and finding solace with a French millionaire. Her plane disappeared over the Thames Estuary during the Second World War, sparking rumours which are still being investigated today. Her body was never found.

Miles M.52
Miles M.52

Author: Captain Eric Brown CBE DSC AFC QCVSA RN

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2012-03-01

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0752476912

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In December 1943, a top secret contract (E.24/43) was awarded to Miles Aircraft. The contract was to build the world's first supersonic jet capable of 1000mph. The only reliable source of data on supersonic objects came from the Armament Research Dept and their wind tunnel tests on ammunition. From this, Miles developed an exceptionally thin-winged, bullet-shaped aircraft. the research was inexplicably passed to the Americans in 1944. By December 1945, one prototype was virtually complete. The second, destined for an attempt at the sound barrier was 80 per cent complete. In February 1946, Capt Eric Brown was confirmed as the test pilot and October 1946 was set for the supersonic trials. However, on 12 February 1946, Miles were ordered to stop production. No plausible explanation was given for the cancellation when Britain was within six months of breaking the sound barrier. Eric Brown and others directly involved including Dennis Bancroft, the Chief Aerodynamicist on the M.52, have now come together to try and finally solve the mystery behind the cancellation.

The Female Few
The Female Few

Author: Jacky Hyams

Publisher: Spellmount, Limited Publishers

Published: 2016-05

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780750968188

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Through the darkest days of the Second World War, an elite group of courageous, gifted women risked their lives as courier pilots, flying Lancaster Bombers, Spitfires and many other aircraft in hundreds of perilous missions across the country. The role of these women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary was to deliver the planes to the male RAF pilots who would take them into battle, dangerous work which the women carried out unarmed, without radios. Fifteen would lose their lives. In The Female Few, five of these astonishingly brave women tell their stories for the first time, awe inspiring tales of incredible risk, tenacity and sacrifice. Their spirit and fearlessness in the face of death still resonates down the years, and their accounts reveal a forgotten chapter in the history of the Second World War.

Shooting 007
Shooting 007

Author: Alec Mills

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2014-07-01

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 0750957409

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In Shooting 007, beloved cameraman and director of photography Alec Mills, a veteran of seven James Bond movies, tells the inside story of his twenty years of filming cinema's most famous secret agent. Among many humorous and touching anecdotes, Mills reveals how he became an integral part of the Bond family as a young camera operator on 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, how he bore the brunt of his old friend Roger Moore's legendary on-set bantering, and how he rose to become the director of photography during Timothy Dalton's tenure as 007. Mills also looks back on a career that took in Return of the Jedi on film and The Saint on television with wit and affection, and Shooting 007 contains many of his and Eon Productions' unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs compiled over a lifetime of filmmaking. Featuring many of the film industry's biggest names, this book will be a must-have for both the James Bond and British film history aficionado.

Women in Space - Following Valentina
Women in Space - Following Valentina

Author: Shayler David

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-08-29

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1846280788

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* This is the only book that provides the full story of the role of women in space exploration. * Previously unpublished photographs of various aspects of training and participation in spaceflights are included. * Personal interviews with female cosmonauts and astronauts. * Traces the history of female aviation milestones from the early part of the 20th Century to the current space programme.