Royal Air Force History

Diana Barnato Walker -
A love affair with flight

Part 2 - Ferrying and Guardian Angels

Diana already had experience of delivering patients and stores for the Red Cross, so ferrying aircraft was just a variation on the job she was already doing, with the bonus of enabling her to do something she enjoyed at the same time; flying. Diana was posted to No.15 Ferry Pool Hamble, which was the first all women's ferry pool. Her initial flying was on the Fairchild Argus doing 'taxi' runs for the other pilots.

Her Guardian Angel came in to play to protect her for the first time one misty morning when she was flying a Miles Magister heading for Gloucester when, off course, she lost her way. She began to circle, and having spent some time getting her bearings she continued on. What she had not seen was the balloon above her, whose wires she almost entangled the aircraft in!

Diana has many fond memories of the characters in the ATA. One day, walking into the mess area, two of her colleagues, R.A. Corrie and Charles Dutton, were arguing in the common room as to which arm was the better to have for flying aircraft; apparently it depends on the aircraft. It is worth noting that both of the gentlemen in question were one-armed pilots, and thus were making one of the more unique informed contributions to aviation lore!

On 6th April 1942, Diana was told to take a Magister to Henlow from White Waltham, the weather crashed in around her and she had to stay over at Debden, in Essex. Here she met up with an old friend. The following day the weather was still foul and the aircraft would not start. Diana called her Operations Officer to explain who said sort it out and get back soonest. It finally took three days to rectify the aircraft and Diana to be on her way. During her time here, which was less than a month, her relationship with Humphrey Gilbert blossomed and they agreed to marry. Unfortunately the wedding never took place. Humphrey never turned up to make the final arrangements for the wedding. It was two years later that Diana finally found out how Humphrey had died. He had taken his controller up for a flight in his Spitfire and regrettably crashed and killed them both. The day before Humphrey's funeral Diana was called in to her CO's office. He slapped down a pair of ATA wings on the desk, instead of the usual ceremony, said; "Here, Miss Barnato, are your wings. But Miss Barnato, because you have your wings it does not necessarily mean you can fly".

During her time with the ATA she meet several remarkable pilots, one of whom was Poppa Fairweather. As part of the ATA instructions each pilot had to carry their own maps. Nowhere did it say to what scale. Poppa's was about three inches square; he only carried it because of regulations. Instead he used to measure his journeys by the number of cigarettes he smoked. A journey from Belfast to White Waltham took 23 cigarettes, or 2 hours 40 minutes!

On first completing her training Diana was restricted to single engine aircraft. She was given the rank of Third Officer. Each pilot in the ATA had to complete three hours of Hurricane training, after this they passed on to Spitfire training. On 26th April 1942, Diana finally flew her first Hurricane; her initial flight being 1 hour 5 minutes. This to her was the final stage of becoming a fully-fledged pilot within the organization. By the time she first flew her Spitfire, she had already flown seventeen different types of aircraft and in doing this she had gained 324 flying hours.

Diana's first Spitfire was a photographic reconnaissance aircraft, which meant that it did not carry any weapons and combat machinery which caused excess weight. Her PR Spitfire IV (BR425) allowed her to go to the highest possible altitudes for that particular type of aircraft. Her first flight took 40 minutes, longer that it should of, but then she was getting to know the aircraft. During her career she flew a total of 260 Spitfires, from the Mark I through to the heavier Mark XIV and F21, with the large Griffon engine, and did not break any of them!

Another anecdote from the period, again, with a twist. During bad weather she landed safely at the Navigation and Blind Flying Establishment at Windrush, the funny thing was the fact that she had never had any training in blind flying. On this occasion she called her operations officer to report that she had landed safely to be told that every pilot had been caught out by the English weather, several aircraft had been damaged and two pilots killed. Diana was again grateful to her Guardian Angel.

The next occasion the Guardian Angel came in to play was when she was flying in an Anson with Jim Mollison, Amy Johnson's husband. The Germans shot at the aircraft; fortunately the aircraft was hit, but not the twelve passengers. On landing Jim's only concern was how to get a cup of tea! This was not the only time Diana was shot at, although the next time was to be by her own side. She was crossing over the Bristol Channel between 1500 and 2000 feet when suddenly a barrage of shells and bullets flew past her. Once she had landed it became clear that it was not only Diana who was being shot at but several other British aircraft as well.

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