You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The remarkable autobiography of a pioneering female aviator who left a privileged life to serve in World War II. Her father was a millionaire race-car driver who became chairman of Bentley Motors, and her grandfather cofounded the De Beers mining company. But by the late 1930s, debutante Diana Barnato had enough of her affluent, chaperoned existence and sought excitement in flying—soloing at Brooklands after only six hours’ training. Joining the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941 to help ferry aircraft to squadrons and bases throughout the country, she flew scores of different aircraft—fighters, bombers, and trainers—in all kinds of conditions, and without a radio. By 1945, Barnato had lost many friends, a fiancé, and a husband—but she continued to fly. In 1962 she was awarded the Jean Lennox Bird Trophy for notable achievement in aviation, but her greatest moment was yet to come, when in 1963 she flew a Lightning through the sound barrier, becoming “the fastest woman in the world.” Spreading My Wings is her remarkable memoir, brimming with history and adventure.
This is an account of Diana Barnato Walker's life, including her Second World War service with the Air Transport Auxiliary, set up at the start of the war to ferry aircraft to RAF and FAA squadrons and bases all over the country. Daughter of a millionaire racing driver, Diana deliberately stepped beyond the world of chaperoned privilege to fly.
A gripping, entertaining and empowering WWII adventure about the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary, perfect for fans of Emma Carroll, Michael Morpurgo and Hilary McKay. The story of WWII starring the brilliant pilots you've never heard of... the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) who battled against the odds to get the air force's planes to the front lines. When twelve-year-old Bill is out exploring with her pet chicken, she sees a plane crash into a field and is left wondering if the pilot even survived. Determined to find out more, Bill finds a way into the ATA - a group of amazing pilots who defy the odds to get planes from the factories to the front lines and her life changes for ever. Some of the pilots are men who are too old, or too injured for the air force. But many more are women. Intrepid, inspiring women who show Bill what she might grow up to become. With missions including ferrying turkeys over from Ireland and flying unfamiliar, broken planes, Bill is desperate to help. But piloting fighter planes could turn out to be more than she bargained for...
First published in 2007. The accounts of women who flew aircrafts for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to the frontline of World War II. The women of Air Transport Auxillary came from every continent. They were not allowed into combat, but delivered warplanes to the male pilots who would fly them into battle.
This WWII biography recounts the heroic contributions of a female pilot who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Wellington Bombers for the RAF. A farmer’s daughter from Oxfordshire, Mary Ellis fell in love with flying at the age of eleven, when she rode in a biplane at a flying circus. Already a licensed pilot by the time the Second World War broke out, Mary joined the Air Transit Auxiliary in 1941. As a ferry pilot, she transported aircraft for the Royal Air Force, including more than four hundred Spitfires and seventy-six different kinds of aircraft. After the war, Mary accepted a secondment to the RAF as one of the first pilots to fly the new Gloster Meteor, Britain’s first fighter jet. By 1950, she became Europe's first female air commandant. In this authorized biography, Mary and biographer Melody Foreman vividly recount her action-packed career spanning almost a century of aviation. Mary says: I am passionate for anything fast and furious. I always have been since the age of three and I always knew I would fly. The day I stepped into a Spitfire was a complete joy and it was the most natural thing in the world for me.
_______________ A brilliant debut historical adventure from writer and comedian Iszi Lawrence, perfect for fans of Emma Carroll, The Princess and the Suffragette, and Opal Plumstead. _______________ The story of the suffragettes with the Jiu Jitsu and roller-skating left in... this impeccably researched debut novel from Iszi Lawrence shows the fight for women's suffrage as it really was. Lettice Pegg's father is a working-class policeman and her mother is a middle-class suffragette. Stuck between them (and her terrifying grandma) as they argue, Lettice mostly cares about trying to fit in at school and convincing her parents to let her have roller skates and go to the music hall. But, when Lettice sees her mother brutally thrown to the ground by a policeman while on a protest march, her life changes forever. Not all of the women on the march are vulnerable to attack. Some of them have a secret weapon: Jiu Jitsu. As the suffragettes welcome Lettice to the fight back, things at home go from bad to worse. Can Lettice bring her family back together and keep her new friends? _______________ 'Thoroughly recommended' - Books for Keeps 'A superb read' -The Reading Realm
None
The changing role of women in warfare, a neglected aspect of military history, is the subject of this collection of perceptive, thought-provoking essays. By looking at the wide range of ways in which women have become involved in all the aspects of war, the authors open up this fascinating topic to wider understanding and debate. The discuss how, particularly in the two world wars, women have been increasingly mobilized in all the armed services, originally as support staff, then in defensive combat roles. They also consider the tragic story of women as victims of male violence, and how women have often put up a heroic resistance, and examine how women have been drawn into direct combat role...
Celebrating the lives of the magnificent women, the ATA girls, who courageously flew Spitfires, Tiger Moths, Lancaster Bombers and many other aircraft during World War Two. These extraordinary women, Mary Ellis, Jackie Moggridge and Pauline Gower are just a few of the remarkable stories inside . . . Since the invention of aeroplanes, women have taken to the skies. They have broken records, performed daredevil stunts and faced such sexism and prejudice that they were effectively barred from working as pilots. That changed in the Second World War. Led by firebrand Pauline Gower, an elite group of British women were selected as ferry pilots to fly for the Air Transport Auxiliary. They risked their lives flying munitions and equipment for the boys on the front line. Flying day and night without radio; dodging storms, barrage balloons and anti-aircraft fire; and with only a map, compass and their eyesight to guide them, they navigated the treacherous wartime skies. ____________ The Hurricane Girls is the thrilling, moving and inspirational story of the female air force who once ruled our skies.
Between 1997 and 2014, Tom Kristensen won the world's toughest motor race, the Le Mans 24 Hours, a record nine times and finished on the podium on five more occasions. Every time his car made it to the finish, in fact, he was in the top three. It is no wonder that this great sports car driver is known as 'Mr Le Mans' to motorsport fans around the world. Now retired from racing, Kristensen shares in this book his deepest personal reflections and insights from inside and outside the cockpit. He looks back on more than 30 years spent striving for perfection in racing and tells of the battles and setbacks that sometimes seemed impossible to overcome, including a terrible accident in 2007. Climbi...