The “Attagirl” who made her last flight at 92
They called them Attagirls, said the Daily Express – a group of just 164 women charged with flying Spitfires and other aircraft from their factories to the front line, as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary (Ata). Joy Lofthouse, who has died aged 94, was one of the last two surviving members of this elite group. She learnt to fly before she could drive a car – it was, she recalled, “just about the most exciting job there was to be done by women in the War”.
Born in 1923, Lofthouse grew up in Cirencester, near several airfields, and began reading Aeroplane magazine as a teenager – so that, she said, she could have something to talk to the local airmen about. It was there that she saw an advert calling for female pilots. Her sister Yvonne’s husband had recently been killed over Berlin. They applied together, along with about 2,000 other women, and were two of only 17 accepted. After just 12 hours of dual instruction, she began flying solo light aircraft, such as Tiger Moths, from their factories to RAF training schools. Later, she was transferred to Hamble, which was close to the Supermarine factory where Spitfires were built. She flew 18 types of plane in total, but Spitfires were her favourite. “It’s the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying,” she said, decades later. Although women were not allowed to fly in combat, the work of the Attagirls was far from risk-free: scores of Ata pilots were killed during the War. A few were caught in dogfights, others fell victim to bad weather.
Lofthouse had mixed feelings about the War ending: “I missed flying dreadfully when I stopped,” she recalled. “I thought to myself: whatam I going to do for the rest of my life? I am never going to do anything as exciting as this again – and I was probably right.” She married twice (both times to pilots), had three children and worked as a teacher. All the while, she kept in touch with her Ata comrades, who were finally awarded a badge in 2008. “For 60 years nobody asked me about my wartime job, but for the past ten I’ve been dining out on it,” she observed later. Then, two years ago, she was invited to fly a Spitfire again, for the first time since 1945, as part of a new documentary. She was 92. “It was lovely,” she said afterwards. “Quite perfect.”