The role of the ATA in WW2

Preparation and Planning

This lesson involves students moving around the classroom to collect information. To safely facilitate this you may wish to ensure that the information sources are easy to locate and that all school bags etc are tucked under the desk to ensure safe travel around the room.

Episode 3 involves students creating a mind map as part of a small group. You will need to ensure that you have a sufficient number of A3 sheets of paper and a good selection of coloured pens.

You might like to plan groups in advance.

About the MOD Topic

The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA):
The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a civilian organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories, maintenance units, assembly plants, active service squadrons and airfields freeing up pilots for combat duties.

With the ever-increasing demand for ferrying services, the Under Secretary of State for Air proposed that the ATA open its ranks to women. This met social and political opposition based on the assumptions that aviation was an unsuitable profession for women.
Many people, men and women, voiced their protests to this attitude and worked vigorously to promote the idea of utilising women for ferrying duties, but none with as much energy and determination as Pauline Gower, a commercial pilot with over 2000 hours experience and a Commissioner in the Civil Air Guard. In the latter role she had been responsible for overseeing the training and licensing of pilots in civilian flying clubs.

As a result of Pauline's zealous efforts, the decision was made in November 1939 to form a pool of eight women pilots to ferry Tiger Moths - small single-engined open cockpit trainers.
On 1st of January 1940, the ATA officially accepted the 'First Eight' into service: Winifred Crossley, Margaret Cunnison, Margaret Fairweather, Mona Friedlander, Joan Hughes (the youngest, at 21 yrs old), Gabrielle Patterson, Rosemary Rees and Marion Wilberforce. All these women were highly experienced, each having more than 600 hours of flying time.
In total the ATA had 166 women pilots. Fifteen lost their lives in the air. They earned the same pay as men in equal rank which was probably the first time the British Government had given its blessing to equal pay for equal work within an organisation under its jurisdiction. Flying in the ATA was extremely dangerous and was made even more so because its pilots flew unarmed, without radios and, in some cases, instruments.

The RAF:
At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the Germans had substantial but not overwhelming numerical superiority with some 4,000 planes to Britain's 2,000. After the defeat of France, Adolf Hitler ordered his generals to organise operation 'Sealion' - the invasion of Britain. Hitler's aim was to land 160,000 German soldiers along a forty-mile stretch of coastline in the south-east of England. Within a few weeks the Germans had assembled an armada of vessels, including 2,000 barges in German, Belgian and French harbours.

However Hitler's generals were worried that the Royal Air Force (RAF) would be able to both hinder the progress of German ships across the channel and inestimably damage German troops following their arrival in Britain. Hitler agreed to their request that operation 'Sealion' should be postponed until the RAF had been destroyed.

On the 12th of August 1940, Germany began mass air raids on British radar stations, factories and fighter airfields with the intention of destroying British planes while they were on the ground or drawing them into battle and destroying them in the air. During these raids radar stations and airfields were severely damaged and 22 RAF planes were destroyed. This attack was followed by daily raids on Britain.

Over the next month Britain sustained heavy losses with a fast developing shortage of both planes and pilots. By the end of August Hitler believed the RAF to be destroyed and changed his tactics, ordering the Luftwaffe to switch its attack from airfields, factories and docks to civilian targets.

This decision to concentrate bombing on civilian targets significantly lessened the pressure on the RAF, allowing them to regroup and decisively repel the Luftwaffe signalling an end to the Battle of Britain. During the conflict the RAF lost 792 planes and the Luftwaffe 1,389. 2,353 men from Great Britain and a further 574 from other countries took part in the battle. An estimated 544 were killed and a further 791 lost their lives in the course of their duties before the war came to an end.

The RAF also played a significant role in intelligence throughout the war, flying over German held territory in order to take reconnaissance photos detailing the concentration of enemy troops. They also took place in a bombing campaign against industrial cities such as Dresden in an attempt to stifle German production of raw materials such as steel and manufactured goods such as armaments.

Women's current role in the Armed Forces:
Women have played a vital role in the Armed Forces since at least the Second World War, when they were employed in a wide variety of roles, many of which exposed them to extreme danger.
After the War, it was recognised that women continued to have an important role to play in the Armed Forces, and the 'Women's Services' were permanently established.

The early 1990s saw the most dramatic peacetime changes in their duties, with women serving in surface ships, as aircrew for the first time, and also in a much greater range of posts in the Army.

Around the same time, women's roles were fully divided into the three main Service branches - the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force - and the separate Women's Services were abolished (the Women's Royal Air Force was never a separate Service, although the use of the term was discontinued).
Today, the contribution of Servicewomen to the combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces is essential. More women are serving in a greater variety of posts than ever before, many of them on the front line.

The proportion of jobs open to women is as follows:
Royal Navy: 71%
Army: 71%
RAF 96%

Women serve in all specialisms, except those where the primary duty is 'to close with and kill the enemy.' Women are, therefore, excluded from the Royal Marines General Service (as Royal Marine Commandos), the Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps, the Infantry and the Royal Air Force Regiment. The exclusion does not, however, prevent them serving as part of such units in administrative and support roles.
For health reasons relating to breathable air mixtures, service aboard submarines or as mine clearance divers continues to be precluded.

Consistent with the UK's policy on the employment of Servicewomen, women deploy alongside their male counterparts with no restrictions on their deployment, unless they are pregnant.

The following figures (correct as of April 2008) indicate the numbers and proportion of women in each of the services.

Army
Total personnel male and female: 105090
Female Officers: 1640
Female Other Ranks 6600
Percentage Female: 7.84%


Royal Navy
Total personnel male and female: 35570
Female Officers: 700
Female Other Ranks 3680
Percentage Female: 9.54%


RAF:
Total: 43390
Female Officers: 1420
Female Other Ranks: 4290
Percentage Female: 13.15%


Total Services:
Total personnel male and female: 187060
Female Officers: 3760
Female Other Ranks: 13860
Percentage Female: 9.4%

The number of women in the Armed Forces is increasing steadily; over the last 5 years between 19% and 26% of the initial officer cadets in the RAF have been women.

Further Opportunities for Learning

The subject of the ATA could be adapted to provide material for a citizenship lesson on equal opportunities, that considers the fact that women were entrusted with important and dangerous jobs originally thought to be only suitable for men marking a change in the way women were perceived.

Lead the students in a group discussion about how the role of women in the Armed Forces has changed since the Second World War.

Complete a study in empathy. Organise students to evaluate the feelings of the new ATA pilots as they were allowed to fly fighter aircraft, which had previously been the responsibility of men only. This could be developed into a 'drama' exercise with female students, who might enact e.g. the experience of their first flight in a Spitfire, watched closely by male Battle of Britain veteran pilots.

To help develop numeracy skills ask students to use graphs and pie charts to present the statistics about female members of the Armed Services in the 'Notes about associated MOD topic' section. Students could be asked to work backwards from the statistic showing the percentage of women to calculate the number of men in each service.

Ask students to use the internet to research one of the services covered in episode one and create a 300 word written report, thus helping to develop ICT and Literacy skills.

Student worksheet answers

Download the teachers notes PDF to access the answers for this lesson.