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Joy Lofthouse at Hamble, 1944, getting ready for a day’s work delivering Spitfires fighter planes from factories to airfields.
In 1943, 20-year-old Lofthouse and her elder sister Yvonne joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, after they saw an ad in a magazine which was seeking women to learn how to fly. Only 17 out of 2,000 applicants were accepted, including Joy, who had never even driven a car, and Yvonne.
She was one of a total of 168 women who were members of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Her job was to deliver aircraft from the factories where they were made to the airfields where they were to be flown from by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots. Lofthouse was able to fly 18 different types of aircraft. During the war, they were based at White Waltham, in Berkshire
After World War II, she became a teacher.
In May 2015, Lofthouse flew a Spitfire for the first time in over 70 years, to commemorate VE Day. She said, "It was the iconic plane, the Spitfire lasted much longer than [the Hurricane] because it was such a wonderful aeroplane, I think. [It is] the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying."
In 1943, 20-year-old Lofthouse and her elder sister Yvonne joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, after they saw an ad in a magazine which was seeking women to learn how to fly. Only 17 out of 2,000 applicants were accepted, including Joy, who had never even driven a car, and Yvonne.
She was one of a total of 168 women who were members of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Her job was to deliver aircraft from the factories where they were made to the airfields where they were to be flown from by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots. Lofthouse was able to fly 18 different types of aircraft. During the war, they were based at White Waltham, in Berkshire
After World War II, she became a teacher.
In May 2015, Lofthouse flew a Spitfire for the first time in over 70 years, to commemorate VE Day. She said, "It was the iconic plane, the Spitfire lasted much longer than [the Hurricane] because it was such a wonderful aeroplane, I think. [It is] the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying."
