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.
ATA, Air Transport Auxiliary Ferry pilot's badge
Commendation for ATA pilot Ruth Kerly
First Officer Maureen Dunlop on the cover of Picture Post magazine
Diana Barnato Walker climbing into the cockpit of a Spitfire
White Waltham Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome located at White Waltham, 2 nautical miles southwest of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England.
White Waltham Airfield
Avro Anson of the RAF's Home Command Communication Squadron based at White Waltham