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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Donna Ferguson

Female pilots finally celebrated for crucial role in Battle of Britain

Dolores “Jackie” Moggridge
Dolores “Jackie” Moggridge was recruited into the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) aged just 18. Photograph: Leonard McCombe/Getty Images

They flew together, died together, and are buried side by side. First officer Dora Lang and Flight Engineer Janice Harrington were killed on 2 March 1944 while delivering a de Havilland Mosquito Mk VI plane to an airfield in Hampshire. Their plane stalled as it approached the landing strip, and they crashed.

This is just one of the untold stories of the heroic young women who, with minimal training, flew thousands of aircraft around the country and risked their lives to keep British planes in the air during the second world war. Now, the numerous achievements of these women – and the remarkable courage they showed, often before resuming their roles as housewives in postwar Britain – will be celebrated for the first time in a forthcoming exhibition at Biggin Hill Memorial Museum.

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