I am not sure they make women like these any more. ( )

An interesting account of an aspect of wartime flying that I was previously unaware of. However, it was somewhat let down by the disjointed nature of the anecdotes and by the fact that there wasn't really enough material for a book of this length. ( )

Women weren't allowed to fly combat planes in WWII, only deliver them, sometimes flying without instruments and under enemy fire. Doesn't make sense, but that's par for the course for sexism. I've read a few military books recently, notably The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, and the wonderful, if brutal, Brotherhood of Warriors, both very impressive books, so now its time to see what the women did when not on the 'home front'.

I've given up on this book. It is a very boring book about extremely wealthy young ladies just before WWII who generally owned private planes (so that they could fly to social events) and mostly didn't work for a living who all signed up for the Auxillary Royal Air Force in WWII. Almost every story is similar to the next and I eventually got to the point where I just couldn't care less. They never saw combat anyway - no matter how well they could fly, they were stuck just delivering planes. I don't know how the author could have written such a dull book but I guess the research of socialising with these women and their families, who I'm sure were quite fascinating to talk to in person, must have been interesting. It just didn't translate to a book.

I recommend it to people whose plane goes down in the jungle. Read some, use some, two stars! ( )

The 'spitfire women', or female pilots of the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), whose stories are touched upon in Giles Whitell's book are inspirational. In fact, they are almost verging on the stuff of fiction, especially the glamorous Diana Barnato Walker (I downloaded her memoirs, Spreading My Wings, after finishing this general account of the 'atagirls'). Mr Whittell's patchwork narrative, however, left me wanting, and the Kindle version doesn't even contain photographs! He gives the background of the ATA, and spices up history with descriptions of the more dramatic flights, but I didn't really feel like I got to 'know' any of the women, even though Whittell personally interviewed some of them. This book - or maybe the TV documentary which prompted me to look up and buy the source material - is a great introduction to some of the relatively unsung heroes of the Second World War, yet doesn't give the full picture (or any pictures at all, in my case!)

The women, though, are truly incredible. Yes, the original set, selected by Pauline Gower, were from privileged backgrounds (they had to be, to afford flying lessons before the war), but the whole concept of a group of women flying war planes around the country, 'without radios, instrument training or weapons', in perilous weather conditions and under risk of enemy fire, was still a staggering achievement, then and now. I'm reminded of that quote from Ginger Rogers, who once said that she did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels! Women like Diana Barnato Walker and Lettice Curtis were skilled, professional and very brave, just like the men who actually flew into combat, only the women were then more or less pushed back into the kitchen after the war.

A fair and concise impression of the 'spitfire women', told in a patchy, 'anecdotal' style. ( )

This books retreads the well (or at least better) known stories of a few of the women of the ATA. You'll find a lot about the pre-war life of Diane Walker, Lettice Curtis, Jackie Cochran et al., but less about the day to day experiences of the bulk of pilots. The concentration on the more 'glamorous' recruits does begin to wear thin after a while, and leaves some questions unanswered e.g. obviously there was a certain amount of discrimination towards the women, but in the later years did it suffer from the same class distinctions as the RAF? It reads as though sourced mainly from biographies and interviews, and it would have been fleshed out so much more by examples of logbooks, the pilot notes or even a map showing the main bases. However, some of the actual flying stories are fascinating and it makes light reading as an introduction to the subject. ( )