Читать книгу A Sister’s Courage - Molly Green - Страница 4

To all those remarkable women in the Air Transport Auxiliary who risked their lives every day to make sure their male counterparts had the planes they urgently needed for training and combat. There were 168 female pilots including four female engineers who joined the ATA during the war years, along with their male counterparts – sadly, there were a number of fatalities.

I would like to make a special dedication to Pauline Gower, a qualified pilot before the war with her own aviation business, who successfully fought for the right of female pilots to be allowed to join the Air Transport Auxiliary along with the men, and was appointed Senior Commander of the women’s section.

Before the war it was unheard of for women to have equal pay in any job whatsoever, but in May 1943 Miss Gower was the first person in any company or organisation to obtain equal pay for the women pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary. She pushed home the point that her pilots were doing exactly the same job and taking exactly the same risks every day as the men. She refused to take no for an answer – a truly outstanding achievement.

Unfortunately, after the war, the gap between male and female pilots’ pay was once again firmly in place.

Tragically, in 1947 Pauline Gower died at only 36 having just given birth to twin sons who thankfully survived. Who knows what more she might have achieved if she’d had a longer life?