The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA)

The ATA was founded by British Airways Limited in May 1938 and organised by them into an operational unit at the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. It was thus a civilian organisation which made an enormous contribution to victory by taking over from service pilots the task of ferrying RAF and RN warplanes from factories to maintenance units and front-line squadrons and back again from the squadrons if damaged or due for overhaul. ATA's HQ was set up at White Waltham airfield near Maidenhead in Berkshire early in 1940 although the organisation was originally established at Whitchurch Airfield, Bristol. In total, over 309,000 aircraft were ferried by ATA pilots during the war.

The idea of a kind of Territorial Air Force using civilian pilots who were not eligible for RAF flying service and RAF pilots unfit for operational flying, was first put forward by British Airways in 1938. Initially, it was envisaged that the pilots would fly light aircraft to transport mail, dispatches, medical supplies, etc, but within six months the first recruits, men and women, found themselves moving trainer aircraft, fighters and even bombers from factory and stores to RAF airfields. From the first 28 pilots recruited in Bristol in September 1939, the numbers rose to over 650 pilots five years later.

ATA 's motto 'Aetheris Avidi' means 'Eager for the Air'. Eager they were, young and old, fit and less fit, men and women, British and foreign with 22 nationalities being represented. Depending on their level of experience and training, they could be called on to ferry any one of 147 different aircraft types from 'anywhere to anywhere'. Often they had never seen a particular aircraft type before being ordered to fly it and their only guidance was a thin volume of 'Ferry Pilots Notes' - a pocket-sized flip pad of basic do's-and-don'ts for every aircraft in service. Despite their initial inexperience, very few aircraft were lost or damaged although 173 pilots and 8 flight engineers lost their lives while operational in ATA service.

The business of ferrying was ATA's main task. Central Ferry Control at Andover in Hampshire allocated tasks to the 22 Ferry Pools operating as far apart as Hamble near Southampton, Belfast, Northern Ireland and Lossiemouth near Inverness in Scotland. When pilots (and flight engineers for four-engined bombers and heavy twin-engined aircraft) reported for duty each morning they received details of their day's ferrying. This could involve several flights and might mean staying away overnight. Aircraft taxis, usually Avro Ansons or Fairchild Argus's, conveyed pilots to their first ferry job and, if possible, collected them at the end of the day. Flights were usually flown below 2000ft under visual flight conditions only so there could be much sitting around waiting for the weather to improve, especially in winter.

After D-Day ATA pilots ferried operational service aircraft throughout western and southern Europe and the Mediterranean. They provided support for the ill-fated Arnhem operation and after the fall of Germany took large quantities of medicines and vaccines into Europe. White Waltham provided a base for this Air Movements Flight as well as ATA's own Advanced Flying Training School operations.

ATA was much more than just its pilots: there were ground school instructors, ground engineers, crash rescue teams, meteorological officers, motor transport drivers, nurses and doctors, administration staff and so on; there were even Air Cadets employed as messengers and auxiliary crew members. At the outbreak of war the concept of the ATA was an idea whose time had come and without it the course of the war might have been very different. At the end of the war, the ATA held a farewell Air Pageant at White Waltham in September 1945, at which Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, said the ATA had written 'a splendid chapter in British history'. The following images represent part of the pictorial history of the ATA and the book 'Brief Glory', published in 1946, is the official history of the ATA. Copies of this book may be obtained from the ATA Association Chairman, Wing Commander Eric Viles MBE at eric.viles.ata.association@virgin.net. All enquiries regarding the ATA should also be sent to Wing Commander Viles.