During the Second World War, five New Zealand women made their way to Britain to serve as pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). The ATA was established in September 1939 as an adjunct of the airline British Overseas Airways Corporation. Initially it was envisioned that the ATA would fly light aircraft to transport mail, dispatches and medical supplies. However, within weeks they were required to ferry new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factories, assembly plants, active service squadrons and airfields. Many of the pilots were also women, the first 8 women joined the ATA on New Years Day 1940, eventually 168 female pilots served with the ATA during the Second World War. Nicknamed ‘ATA-girls’ (attagirls) female pilots from around the world eagerly volunteered to serve, here Historian Gabrielle Fortune has compiled five profiles about these fab New Zealand women who served with the ATA.¹

BETTY ELLICE BLACK

First Officer, Air Transport Auxiliary. 

“Oh Boy! Will that be the day when I deliver my first Hurricane or Spitty!”

Betty Black was born in Dunedin on 1 September 1913. Her father was George Black New Zealand Superintendent of Dalgety & Co.²  She was educated at St Hilda’s Collegiate School, Dunedin. In common with other New Zealand women who served as pilots in Britain during the Second World War she was a member of the Otago Aero Club and had obtained her “A” licence in 1936.³ 

Betty served with RNZAF in New Zealand as an equipment assistant until the end of 1941 when she went to Britain to join the ATA. As was the case with other New Zealand women who wished to serve in the ATA in Britain, she had to pay her own fare to get to the United Kingdom and sit the flying exams, and pass the medical on arrival. There was no guarantee of being accepted. Betty was accepted in 1942 and served until 1946. She began work as a taxi pilot before training on Spitfires and other aircraft. 

In late 1946 she married Christopher Dalton Beaumont in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, and remained in the United Kingdom for the next twenty years, returning to New Zealand in 1966. She lived in Nelson where she died on 9 July 1977.

JUNE CONSTANCE HOWDEN (JUDY)

Airwoman of the Watch 1941, ATA Pilot 1943-45

"I once dreamed of flying around England in a Tiger Moth but never dreamed I'd get to do it in a Spitfire."⁴ 

While still at school at Diocesan School in the Waikato, June Howden was taking flying lessons and gained her “A” Licence at the age of 17 in 1936. She won the New Zealand Herald’s Air Scholarship in 1936. Diocesan School celebrated her success with a half day off classes.⁵ 

Her interest in and experience of flying saw her enlist with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force at the outbreak of World War II, and she served at the Second Elementary Flying Training School at Woodbourne. She was the Airwoman of the Watch at Woodbourne, where she used her aviation skills and training, to guide pilots taking off and landing at the airbase. She was not however allowed to fly, and with no prospects of flying, let her license lapse.⁶ After two years word came through from Wellington that the ATA in Britain was training women as pilots for their Ferry Service. A cable was sent asking June to be considered, a reply came which stated, if she travelled to England at her own expense, they'd give her a fair trial - but no promises.⁷  Judy passed all of the requirements and was admitted in December 1943, she served until August 1945 when the service was disbanded. 

When Judy Howden first presented herself at RAF White Waltham airfield in Berkshire (the home base of the ATA) she was met by Betty Black, a New Zealander already serving there. During her time with the ATA Judy flew twenty-two different types of planes including Spitfires, Fireflies, Barracudas and Mustangs.⁸ The Ferry Service was engaged in taking aircraft from manufacturers to operational air bases in Britain, or for repair, or transfer from one base to another. Pilots therefore flew all over Britain on their missions using a wide range of aircraft and encountering a range of sometimes challenging weather conditions. In a word they were very skilled aviators.

Having served two years in the ATA in Britain, Judy Howden returned to New Zealand on the Rangitata in January 1946. She gained a commercial pilot’s licence and worked for Waikato Aero Club for six years, it was here that she met her future husband Robert William Gummer. Bob Gummer was an RNZAF pilot who served in the Pacific theatre during the war and later a pioneering topdressing pilot, and farmer. The couple raised their children on their farm in Te Kuiti. They retired to Tutukaka in 1974. June Gummer died in 2007 aged 88. 

TREVOR HUNTER

First Officer Air Transport Auxiliary

 "Spits have got something"

Trevor Balfour Hunter was born on the 25 January 1915 to Alice Elsie and Douglas Horatio Dale Hunter, she was infamously named Trevor because her mother was convinced she was going to be a boy. ⁹

When Trevor Hunter returned from the UK on the Dominion Monarch in October 1945 she told the reporter she had flown Warwicks, Mitchells, Wellingtons, Beaufighters, Mosquitoes, and Dakotas – forty-five types in all. However her favourite was the Spitfire.¹⁰  She had served in Britain for nearly four years flying aircraft from factories and workshops, to squadron bases clocking up over 1100 hours solo flying. Now she was returning to Whanganui, to her ballet teaching and to the Aero Club to continue flying. 

As the first New Zealand woman pilot accepted for flying duties with the ATA, Trevor Hunter had a long flying career before she sailed to Britain on 31 August 1941. ¹¹  She had 53 hours flying to her credit, beginning her training flying Gipsy Moths, she flew solo at age 16 and obtained her ‘A’ Licence in 1933 at Kaitaia. She moved to Whanganui with her family and taught ballet and was attached to the Whanganui Aero Club. 

Most of her flying was over the Whanganui and Taranaki regions. One of her early adventures was to accompany Ted Harvie, on a record-breaking flight from North Cape to Bluff in December 1933. At the time it was the longest (1168 miles, 1880 km) flight made in New Zealand in one day (16 hours and ten minutes).¹² An account of this flight and details of all the refueling stops along the way, was published in 1966 by the pilot, Ted Harvie. Trevor was 18 and Ted Harvie was 21. It was a challenge and an endurance exercise that set a record that lasted 28 years.¹³

Trevor was involved in another historic event, when Jean Batten arrived at Whanganui on 21 July 1934 having flown solo from Britain. Batten was met by an escort of four aeroplanes flown by four women;  Eva Parkinson, Trevor Hunter, Jane Winstone and June Summerell. The formation of five planes coming into land all piloted solely by women was an unusual sight. An official at the airport is reported as saying: ‘It was probably a record for the Dominion to have five women flying machines together at the same time.’¹⁴   

During her time with the ATA she accumulated 1200 flying hours, flying 42 different types of aircrafts, towards the end of the war she flew as unofficial second pilot in four-engined bombers. Of her experience in the ATA she described it as ‘... pure joy.’¹⁵ 

On her return to New Zealand, she got a commercial flying licence and clocked up hundreds of hours over the next few years. In 1950 Trevor married James Colway, a journalist and the editor of the Whanganui Chronicle from 1964. Her flying career spanned twenty years until she gave up flying as family responsibilities took over.

JANE WINSTONE

WAAF Second Officer, Air Transport Auxiliary

Jane was a foundation member of the Whanganui Aero Club.  She took up flying at age 16 and was the youngest female to fly solo when she was seventeen, gaining her licence in 1931. Before leaving for Britain to serve in the ATA she had flown Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s Southern Cross, and Mr P. O’Hara’s plane, a single-engined Klemm-Eagle, both of which had made trans-Tasman flights in 1934 and 1935 respectively.¹⁶  This put her in the midst of New Zealand’s flying fraternity of the day. She participated in numerous air pageants and flying events around New Zealand, Jane was one of four female pilot escorts for the arrival of Jean Batten on 21 July 1934, alongside future ATA pilot Trevor Hunter.

Jane Winstone was living in Whanganui when she applied to the ATA in Britain explaining that she had a pilots licence and asking for a position flying aircraft in the war effort. In 1941 when Jane Winstone was applying to the ATA, she was engaged to Pilot Officer Angus Carr Mackenzie, a New Zealander who was serving in the RAF in Britain. Besides her keen interest in flying she had, therefore, a personal interest in travelling to Britain. Both Jane Winstone and Angus Mackenzie were Whanganui Aero Club members, and had known each other for many years as part of a close-knit society in Whanganui.

The ATA replied to Jane’s enquiry to join their Ferry Service saying that they would consider her as a candidate if she presented herself for examination in Britain.¹⁷ At her own expense therefore she went to England. By the time she arrived her fiancé had been reported as missing in action. She took the examinations and flying exam and passed with excellence. However, she had to wait for weeks for notification from ATA of acceptance – her future brother-in-law Donald Mackenzie who, like Angus was in the Air Force, helped Jane‘s application process by writing to his superiors.  It was a difficult time for Jane as there was no word of her fiancé and she was flatting in London in wartime conditions. Once she was enlisted and assigned to the Ferry Service she flew Hurricanes and Spitfires, delivering them to bases for pilots on air operations^.18 

Pilot Officer Angus Mackenzie was confirmed killed in action on 9 June 1942. ¹⁹  His brother Donald Carr Mackenzie was killed a year later in June 1943 while serving with Royal Australian Air Force 467 Squadron.²⁰ 

On 10 February 1944 Second Officer Jane Winstone was ferrying Spitfire LF.1X MK616 from the Vickers Aircraft at Cosford to 39 Maintenance Unit, RAF, Colerne, Wiltshire. On take off the engine cut out three times and in making a forced landing crashed at Tong Lake a couple of miles from the airfield.²¹ Tragically Jane died on impact.

Jane’s funeral was held at St Joseph's Church, Maidenhead, and she was buried in All Saints' Cemetery, Maidenhead, Berkshire. Her long time friends Second Officer Trevor Hunter and Betty Black, both of whom were serving with the ATA in Britain attended. The New Zealand High Commissioner was represented by Lieutenant W.A. Goss, NZEF.²²  The pallbearers were members of the Air Transport Auxiliary.²³ 

EDITH ELIZABETH MARIE FURKERT

Edith Elizabeth Marie Furkert nee Power-Collins, known as Marie was a well-known member of Wellington Aero Club, where she gained her pilots licence in September 1933. She married fellow Wellington Aero Club member Bruce Roden Furkert, in Rotherham, North Canterbury on the 2nd January 1935. 

For their wedding Marie flew from Wellington to Rotherham, the couple were determined that their friend Reverend Moore should officiate the wedding, and since it was impossible for him to leave his parish and go to the North Island they flew to his parish instead. ²⁴ Marie and Bruce were both experienced pilots who received ‘Evening Mail’ aviation scholarships, introducing them to flying. It seems as though there was a bit of friendly competition between the couple, both competing for the Sir Charles Kingsford Smith cup, Marie won the first of the contest, while Bruce took out the second - the final contest between the winners of the first heats and Marie secured the coveted cup against 200 competitors.²⁵ 

Shortly after their marriage, Marie received her ‘A’ Endorsed license, and Bruce became the Secretary of the New Zealand Aero Club.²⁶  At the outbreak of the Second World War, Bruce served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, first as Flying Officer and then becoming an Acting Squadron Leader in 1942. In 1943, Marie went to England to join the ATA, she had over 130 flying hours and was stationed near Oxford for six months. While she passed and joined the training course, for reasons unknown she did not complete the course, and instead joined the clerical staff of British Overseas Airways Corporation as a civilian. 

Marie returned to New Zealand from London in July 1945, though in the late 1940s Marie and Bruce divorced. Marie remarried Leslie Roger in Australia and the couple lived in New South Wales during the 1970s. Marie returned to New Zealand, and passed away on 12 August 1987 in Feilding. 

These fab five women were incredibly experienced pilots, as members of the ATA they were extremely adept at flying numerous different types of aircraft, often having to switch from plane to plane flying different aircraft within the same day. Because the radios were often reserved for those in the Air Force, navigational skills were essential, ‘You estimated your course and then worked your way cross country. It was all map reading.’²⁷  It was their love and determination to fly that encouraged them to make the trip to England, with no promises of being accepted into the Air Transport Auxiliary, paving the way for future female pilots. 

We are incredibly grateful to Gabrielle Fortune for putting together these profiles and highlighting the stories of New Zealand's 'attagirls', shining a light on some exceptionally talented female pilots. Tēnā rawa atu koe.

REFERENCES

[1]  Air Transport Auxiliary Museum 

[2]George Black died in 1937. Betty Black’s next of kin was her aunt, Mrs Owen Gould, Hampton, Otago. She was a member of the Otago Aero Club.  

[3] Lainé, Shirley., Silver Wings, New Zealand Women Aviators, Grantham House, 1989.

[4] New Zealand Herald, June Gummer Obituary, 9th June 2007 

[5]  Biographical details in this paragraph from Shirley Lainé, Silver Wings, New Zealand Women Aviators, Grantham House, 1989. 

[6] Dawson, Bee., Spreading their wings: New Zealand WAAFs in Wartime. Penguin Books, Auckland, 2004. p. 78

[7] Interview with Trevor Colway, National Library 

[8] Gisborne Herald, Women's World, 4 October 1945  

[9]  E.F. Harvie, Venture the Far Horizon: The Pioneer Long-distance Flights in New Zealand, Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd, 1966, pp 157-187.  

[10] Waikato Times, Local and General, 25 July 1934

[11] David Rendel, Civil Aviation in New Zealand: an illustrated history, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1975, p. 37. 

[12] Information about Jane Winstone’s application and efforts to get accepted by ATA, A Fleeting Place. 

[13]  Manawatu Standard, Killed in Air Crash, 15 February 1944. 

[14] Errol W. Martyn, For Your Tomorrow, Volume 1. 

[15] Gisborne Herald, The Last Rites, 19 February 1944   

[16] Evening Post, The late Miss Winstone, 19 February 1944   

[17] Press, News for Women, 24 December 1934; Press, Weddings, 3 January 1935; Nelson Evening Mail, Wedding, 5 January 1935