Second World War female pilots exhibition at Ingrebourne Valley

ATA Flight Officer Violent Milstead gets aboard a Spitfire in 1943 to ferry to RAF Biggin Hill (Image: Ingrebourne centre) The two-day display is at the site of the RAF station, now Hornchurch Country Park, on August 3 and 4.

It is being put together by Kim Smith, Havering women’s military historian from Rainham, about the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) who delivered aircraft from the factories to the operational airfields across Britain like RAF Hornchurch.

Also included is the story of the famous Soviet ‘Night Witches’ squadrons formed after Hitler invaded Russia in 1941.

They flew biplanes dropping bombs on German positions at night from only a few hundred feet high, keeping the invaders from getting any sleep and demoralising them.

American wartime women pilots known as WASPs (Image: Ingrebourne centre) Other female flyers whose stories are also being told include US Women Air Force Service Pilots - known as WASPs.

One of the most famous female pilots was Amy Johnson, who broke aviation records in the 1930s — but killed in 1941 when her aircraft crashed off the Kent coast.

Women who flew in Nazi Germany are also included in the exhibition, mainly test pilots like Hanna Reitsch who was involved in testing the V1 flying bomb and the Messerschmitt Me262 jet fighter.

Wartime posters for women pilots for Britain's ATA (left) and America's WASPs (Image: Ingrebourne centre) The exhibition at the Ingrebourne Valley Visitor Centre in Hornchurch Country Park runs from 10am until 4pm on Saturday, August 3 and Sunday, August 4. Admission is £2 including a donation to Essex Wildlife Trust.