The Air Transport Auxiliary Mystery Club!
Four ladies of the Air Transport Auxiliary bond over solving the mystery of who was responsible for the death of one’s sister. Battling both internal forces and those of the country’s mutual enemies, the women find that both love and dangers are cousins cut from the same ilk.
This is a sweeping story of love, death and betrayal set against the backdrop of war when ties of friendship are exceptionally strong.
What first spurred you to write this book A Wing and A Prayer in the Broken Wing series?
It came about purely by chance. I was off work ill and was finding it hard to write my then work in progress and an author friend suggested I look for something new and unrelated. A few days later a program came on the television called, ‘Spitfire Women’ and after watching that, it sparked the idea for what became the ‘Broken Wings’ series.
Can you tell us about some of the research you did about women of the ATA? Any facts that especially intrigued you?
Where to start? I have so much admiration for what these ladies did. Well, for a start, they often flew in weather which grounded Allied air operations. If an aircraft needed to be delivered, it was often up to the pilot assigned to the delivery to make the decision. Depending upon the distances, they often delivered two, three or more planes a day. Much to the annoyance of some officers who loved being saluted the ATA were never taught to salute and even though there a Daily Routine Order in April 1943 announced they were required to salute senior officers, it made no difference as they never saluted. I'll give you one more wonderful example of their spirit. One woman once accused a lady pilot of basically doing this for a hobby. This made her mad and so she challenged the woman to a fight and when she refused, she offered to take on the woman’s husband, who chickened out!
Tell us a little about the dangers of the job these women did.
It always amazes people when I talk about these pilots and I tell them that the planes they flew didn’t have radios; nor were their guns provided with ammunition. So, if they got into trouble, not only could they not call for help, but they couldn’t try to shoot their way out either. It wasn’t common for planes flown by the ATA to be shot down, but it also wasn’t unheard of. This, of course, gives me lots of scope for getting my characters into trouble – which actually occurs in book 3 of the series. At the beginning, they also were not trained to fly on instruments and because of this, if they flew into cloud or fog, they could and did fly into the ground or hills.
Tell us about the planes they flew.
At first, the idea was the ATA would only deliver training aircraft, which meant mostly Tiger Moth type biplanes. However, it quickly became obvious this would be a waste of resources and they quickly moved on to Spitfires and Hurricanes; just in time for the Battle of Britain. Indeed, their contribution to the battle should not be underestimated, the ability to deliver replacement aircraft was vital. Gradually, the pilots flew everything which the RAF fought and flew, including four-engine bombers like the Lancaster and, on occasion, the B17 Flying Fortress if required. The only type they never flew were flying boats as taking off and landing on water was considered too specialized even for this incredible group of aircrew. The even created procedures for flying planes which, initially, the RAF’s pilots considered too difficult to fly. More on this will be revealed in my books.
How did you decide to include the American Doris, and can you talk a little about her personality?
I love Doris! During my research about the ATA, I found out about their American equivalent, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or, WASPs. They were treated dreadfully in comparison to their UK compatriots. Poorly treated, badly thought of and in general, not taken seriously by their male equivalents, in virtually complete opposition to their UK colleagues. So, I decided I wanted to have an American girl as one of my main characters in small tribute. She gets to do 99% more than she would have been allowed to do, I she’d have joined the WASPs. She goes into her motivation on joining the ATA near the start of ‘A Wing and a Prayer’.
Can you tell us about your character Penny's motivation to join?
Penny was a quite well know pilot pre-war, think Amelia Earheart and Amy Johnson, but has a poor relationship with her father after the death of her mother. He disapproves of her flying, especially because she kept getting into the newspapers, in his opinion, bringing the family name into disrepute. Under the threat of being married off, she wants to prove she is her own woman and determines to do what she can for the war effort.
What kind of training did these pilots get?
Despite all the dangers, your characters are filled with humor and camaraderie, is that a reflection of the real ATA pilots? Oh yes. They had to suffer some terrible nicknames, amongst them, the Lesbian Pool and the Always Terrified Airwomen. Despite the constant dangers they faced each day, they were a close bunch who had each other’s backs. Many of the stories I've come across would not be believed if I wrote about them. I've used a few so far, and more will appear. Like most pilots, they were happiest in the air and always up for any job. Their excellent morale was also helped by their being the first female workers to be awarded the exact same pay for doing the same job as their male colleagues.
Along with a mystery, there is also romance in your book A Wing and A Prayer, was this also true in history?
Yes, there were instances of RAF pilots marrying ATA pilots, in fact - don’t tell anyone but this is a spoiler – Penny has a romance with an RAF pilot. When they met was one of the most fun scenes I wrote for this book. However, not all romances are meant to be and that’s certainly true with this series of books. I'm not going to say anymore though, as that would give away more plots from book 2 which I hope will the readers will love.
What hints can you give us about what's in store in your next book in this series?
In book 2, ‘Wild Blue Yonder, we become quite heavily involved with the USAAF (United States Army Air Force) in Europe. Where I live in the UK there is an ex-USAAF base called, RAF Polebrook where much of this book is set and, a certain major film star is based for a while. Without giving away his name (because, frankly my dear…) he is at the center of this books mystery. Compared to ‘A Wing and a Prayer’, the mystery is not as central to the story however, it is vital to the story which is more based around the developing relationships of the group of characters.
EXCERPT
“Mind the duck!”
Mary’s warning was a smidgeon too late. Betty turned her head toward the shout just when she needed to do the exact opposite and keep her eyes on the path.
“Aargh!” cried Betty as she was sent sprawling to the ground.
A loud, angry, “Quack! Quack!” was followed by a flurry of wings and feathers as the slightly stunned duck half flew and half staggered to the sanctuary provided by the river.
“I did tell her to watch out for the duck,” Mary muttered in her own defense as they rushed to help Betty to her feet.
Penny and Doris took an arm each as Mary reached to retrieve Betty’s handbag. It had landed precariously close to the edge of the river, and the dastardly duck was snuffling at it before Mary seized it and handed it back to Betty.
“Mary!” cried Betty. “Grab that envelope!”
Swiveling, Mary saw a large brown envelope and stooped for it before it could fall into the water. “Got it!” she yelled, waving it in the air. Unfortunately, the envelope being upside down, the contents spilled onto the ground around her, luckily missing going into the river. She bent down to pick them up and was surprised to discover they were all newspaper cuttings.
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