On Thursday 25th September, the presentation at our monthly meeting followed the recent trend of providing something different. The topic was the “Air Transport Auxiliary” (ATA) which operated during World War 2. Our guest speaker was Caroline Speirs, whose mother, Rita Baines from Trentham, was in the ATA during the war and even flew the iconic spitfire. She was the only lady ferry pilot from Staffordshire.

Caroline commenced by providing a history of the Air Transport Auxiliary. It was set up in September 1939 with some 23 male pilots. These male pilots were those that did not qualify to join the armed services, e.g. through age, or physical handicap. They were located in various areas of the country, and the groups were collectively known as Ferry Pools.

In November 1939, Pauline Gower was given permission to recruit a few female pilots with acceptable experience. Some 12 were tested in December 1939 and 8 joined from 1 January 1940. Caroline provided details about each of these eight ladies who had hugely differing backgrounds and education, but they all bonded together as one, with the common goal of aiding the War effort. By the end of the year there were 26 women pilots including the famous Amy Johnson. In total some 166 women flew for the ATA at some point during the War. Their safety record was good, albeit many were still lost.  

The role of these pilots was to ferry aircraft (both new and repaired) to the places they were needed by the RAF, hence they were called “ferry pilots.” Meir Aerodrome was one of the collection sites that was used extensively during the War period. The Rootes Securities factory, located across the adjoining Grindley Lane, produced Blenheims and Beaufighters and also carried out repairs as required. Before the aircraft were authorised for delivery, there was the necessity to carry out stringent test flights.  

Caroline then talked generally about the experiences of her mother and the other lady pilots, and concluded with a 20-minutes film for which she wrote the script. The film explained why Rita Baines, with no flying experience at all, came to fly planes for the ATA.

Many thanks to Caroline Speirs for an excellent presentation, which was enjoyed by all.