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ATA Girl #1
ATA Girl
ATA Girl is a drama inspired by the real women of the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII. From the UK and beyond, a hundred and sixty eight female pilots, alongside the men, transported a vast range of aircraft from the factories to the squadrons, sometimes flying in perilous weather conditions and without radios or instrument instruction.
One in ten ATA pilots died.
Told as a series of reminiscences from (fictitious) former pilot Amelia Curtis, the stories aim to honour these unsung heroes of WWII, whose shared passion for flying contributed so much to the war effort and who represented one of the first examples of ‘equality in the work place’ for women in the UK.
1.1 Up in the Air by Gemma Page
It’s March 1944 and young widow Daphne Coyne arrives at the Air Transport Auxiliary, having signed up to train as a new pilot. Already unsure of her decision, she is shocked to find that her estranged younger sister, Rebecca, has also joined the ATA, hoping for a chance of reconciliation. As Daphne grows close to her flying instructor, the injured former RAF pilot, David, and discovers an unexpected passion for flying, the two sisters try to navigate their broken relationship. But David has family trapped in Belgium and Daphne has a plan that could jeopardise all of their futures…
1.2 Dancing With A Spitfire by Victoria Saxton
In 1942, Glamorous ‘It Girl’, Second Officer Mina Lauderdale is enjoying her work with the ATA, flying her aircraft recklessly and living up to her nickname, ‘The Wildcard’! However, amidst all of the press attention, the partying and the endless flirting, Mina is secretly running away from an unwanted destiny. It’s only when she meets outspoken US pilot Jeanette that Mina finally begins to discover her true self and face up to the reality of who she wants to be.
1.3 Flying Blind by Helen Goldwyn
1942-43, Judith Heathcote has been with the ATA since the start and is one of the few mothers in the Corps. With her husband ‘missing presumed dead’ and her daughter living with her parents, Judith is beginning to question the sacrifices she’s making for the war effort. Seen as a maternal figure by many of her colleagues, it seems that Judith looks out for everyone but herself. So when a chance of happiness arises, she seizes upon it, only to find herself caught up in a series of events that propel her towards an unthinkable solution.
1.4 Grounded by Jane Slavin
It’s early 1945. The end of the war is closer than the pilots realise, but meanwhile there is an unexpected air raid to contend with. When the sirens sound at the ATA ferry pool, the women have to find a way to protect themselves and each other: some making it to the bomb shelter, whilst others are trapped above. Elsewhere, RAF pilot Walter (already traumatised by his war experience) has come to seek solace with ATA pilot Amelia. She and her best friend Widdley, do their best to comfort him, but with war still raging around them, they are reminded of losses suffered... and losses still to come…
PLEASE NOTE: ATA Girl contains adult material and is not suitable for younger listeners.
Written By: Gemma Page, Victoria Saxton, Helen Goldwyn, Jane Slavin
Directed By: Louise Jameson
Cast
Alicia Ambrose-Bayly (Amelia), Anna Andresen (Daphne), Matt Barber (Walter Richardson / Daniel), Nathalie Buscombe (Judith), Tor Clark (Rebecca), Kate Copeland (Pauline Gower), Oliver Dimsdale (David Stein / Cadet), John Dorney (Nurse Norris / Major Charlie Blackthorn / Roger), Amy Downham (Tilly / Operations Officer), Nigel Fairs (Freddie / Norman / Mr Thomas), Helen Goldwyn (Chile / Anna Leska / Elizabeth Bryant), Holly Jackson Walters (Felicity / Jackie Cochran / Billet Mate), Louise Jameson (Rose), Gemma Page (Dorothy Fury / Barbara), Lucy Pickles (Widdley), Lydia Piechowiak (Susan De Winter), Jess Robinson (Jeanette), Jane Slavin (Mrs Cook), David Warwick (Harry / Mervyn Symms), Matthew Wellman (Eric / Flight Captain Bryant), Claire Wyatt (Mina). Other parts played by members of the cast.
One in ten ATA pilots died.
Told as a series of reminiscences from (fictitious) former pilot Amelia Curtis, the stories aim to honour these unsung heroes of WWII, whose shared passion for flying contributed so much to the war effort and who represented one of the first examples of ‘equality in the work place’ for women in the UK.
1.1 Up in the Air by Gemma Page
It’s March 1944 and young widow Daphne Coyne arrives at the Air Transport Auxiliary, having signed up to train as a new pilot. Already unsure of her decision, she is shocked to find that her estranged younger sister, Rebecca, has also joined the ATA, hoping for a chance of reconciliation. As Daphne grows close to her flying instructor, the injured former RAF pilot, David, and discovers an unexpected passion for flying, the two sisters try to navigate their broken relationship. But David has family trapped in Belgium and Daphne has a plan that could jeopardise all of their futures…
1.2 Dancing With A Spitfire by Victoria Saxton
In 1942, Glamorous ‘It Girl’, Second Officer Mina Lauderdale is enjoying her work with the ATA, flying her aircraft recklessly and living up to her nickname, ‘The Wildcard’! However, amidst all of the press attention, the partying and the endless flirting, Mina is secretly running away from an unwanted destiny. It’s only when she meets outspoken US pilot Jeanette that Mina finally begins to discover her true self and face up to the reality of who she wants to be.
1.3 Flying Blind by Helen Goldwyn
1942-43, Judith Heathcote has been with the ATA since the start and is one of the few mothers in the Corps. With her husband ‘missing presumed dead’ and her daughter living with her parents, Judith is beginning to question the sacrifices she’s making for the war effort. Seen as a maternal figure by many of her colleagues, it seems that Judith looks out for everyone but herself. So when a chance of happiness arises, she seizes upon it, only to find herself caught up in a series of events that propel her towards an unthinkable solution.
1.4 Grounded by Jane Slavin
It’s early 1945. The end of the war is closer than the pilots realise, but meanwhile there is an unexpected air raid to contend with. When the sirens sound at the ATA ferry pool, the women have to find a way to protect themselves and each other: some making it to the bomb shelter, whilst others are trapped above. Elsewhere, RAF pilot Walter (already traumatised by his war experience) has come to seek solace with ATA pilot Amelia. She and her best friend Widdley, do their best to comfort him, but with war still raging around them, they are reminded of losses suffered... and losses still to come…
PLEASE NOTE: ATA Girl contains adult material and is not suitable for younger listeners.
Written By: Gemma Page, Victoria Saxton, Helen Goldwyn, Jane Slavin
Directed By: Louise Jameson
Cast
Alicia Ambrose-Bayly (Amelia), Anna Andresen (Daphne), Matt Barber (Walter Richardson / Daniel), Nathalie Buscombe (Judith), Tor Clark (Rebecca), Kate Copeland (Pauline Gower), Oliver Dimsdale (David Stein / Cadet), John Dorney (Nurse Norris / Major Charlie Blackthorn / Roger), Amy Downham (Tilly / Operations Officer), Nigel Fairs (Freddie / Norman / Mr Thomas), Helen Goldwyn (Chile / Anna Leska / Elizabeth Bryant), Holly Jackson Walters (Felicity / Jackie Cochran / Billet Mate), Louise Jameson (Rose), Gemma Page (Dorothy Fury / Barbara), Lucy Pickles (Widdley), Lydia Piechowiak (Susan De Winter), Jess Robinson (Jeanette), Jane Slavin (Mrs Cook), David Warwick (Harry / Mervyn Symms), Matthew Wellman (Eric / Flight Captain Bryant), Claire Wyatt (Mina). Other parts played by members of the cast.
Audiobook
First published March 6, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 21, 2019
Perfect production, beautiful female voices and bubbly characters, contrasted with hard reality.
It's girls and it's airplanes, goodness reinforced with more goodness.
These brave women played important part in putting a full stop at the end of one of the heaviest paragraphs in human history, and they did it with ignorant audacity of their male counterparts, as well as with finesse of female touch and, dare to say, womanly passion towards their flying machines.
If I ever wanted to fly the Spitfire, now I wanted to BE one.
It's girls and it's airplanes, goodness reinforced with more goodness.
These brave women played important part in putting a full stop at the end of one of the heaviest paragraphs in human history, and they did it with ignorant audacity of their male counterparts, as well as with finesse of female touch and, dare to say, womanly passion towards their flying machines.
If I ever wanted to fly the Spitfire, now I wanted to BE one.
April 13, 2018
War stories have been dominated by male narratives since the war. It's like women simply disappear for those 5 years of history. ATA girl attempts in a small way to change that, telling four stories about the different women who worked flying planes to the RAF. So it combines women doing man's work as most women did during the war, within a military setting, thus giving it the standard framework for most WW2 narratives.
The first story was about estranged sisters and had the set up of explaining what the ATA was. There were some great moments of battling sexism. The second story was about two of the women pilots falling in love (though alas they'd broken up by the fourth story). It definitely seemed to cling to more modern ideas than ones that were actually around at the time. Compared with Tereska Torres' writing people were much more hidden, ashamed, and clueless. From the research I've done most of the shame about homosexuality came after the war, and until then it was much more accepted. The third story was about a married, sometime widowed woman, having an affair and getting pregnant, with the predictable bad ending. The last story was the most emotional, an air raid on the base, and reunited some of the characters and introduced some new ones. It also showed how quickly men's voices dominate. (I think it was Dorney playing the shell shocked soldier) He did a wonderful job portraying his trauma, but he did quickly seem to be the focus and the women were there to look after him. But it was definitely the most emotional of the pieces, particularly in it's description of antisemitism.
One of the weaknesses of the drama was that everyone speaking with their very crisp posh accents the characters tended to blend together. It was hard to remember who was who. Particularly as story-lines (and characters) didn't really cross over between stories until the last episode. I think it would have been better to have a more consistent narrative between the stories. As Dorney said in the special features most thing BF does are derivative of something else in some way so people come in knowing the setting and characters, and starting something new, set at different times and with new characters every story it was easy to get a bit lost.
Still it is definitely worth a listen, and one I shall have to listen to again. I do hope they make more as I think it was very ambitious as a first project and the few odd bits would easily be evened out in another series. I felt like they managed to do justice to the historical women who were part of the ATA, in many ways it was the opposite of the night witches. But I suppose it's easier to make Russians villains than English.
The first story was about estranged sisters and had the set up of explaining what the ATA was. There were some great moments of battling sexism. The second story was about two of the women pilots falling in love (though alas they'd broken up by the fourth story). It definitely seemed to cling to more modern ideas than ones that were actually around at the time. Compared with Tereska Torres' writing people were much more hidden, ashamed, and clueless. From the research I've done most of the shame about homosexuality came after the war, and until then it was much more accepted. The third story was about a married, sometime widowed woman, having an affair and getting pregnant, with the predictable bad ending. The last story was the most emotional, an air raid on the base, and reunited some of the characters and introduced some new ones. It also showed how quickly men's voices dominate. (I think it was Dorney playing the shell shocked soldier) He did a wonderful job portraying his trauma, but he did quickly seem to be the focus and the women were there to look after him. But it was definitely the most emotional of the pieces, particularly in it's description of antisemitism.
One of the weaknesses of the drama was that everyone speaking with their very crisp posh accents the characters tended to blend together. It was hard to remember who was who. Particularly as story-lines (and characters) didn't really cross over between stories until the last episode. I think it would have been better to have a more consistent narrative between the stories. As Dorney said in the special features most thing BF does are derivative of something else in some way so people come in knowing the setting and characters, and starting something new, set at different times and with new characters every story it was easy to get a bit lost.
Still it is definitely worth a listen, and one I shall have to listen to again. I do hope they make more as I think it was very ambitious as a first project and the few odd bits would easily be evened out in another series. I felt like they managed to do justice to the historical women who were part of the ATA, in many ways it was the opposite of the night witches. But I suppose it's easier to make Russians villains than English.
September 1, 2018
Some solid stories, good narration (full cast), I just wish it had been fewer and longer stories, or well, longer anyway.
February 4, 2022
A collection of four one-hour audio stories, each built around the work of the Air Transport Auxiliary in WWII. This was the civilian service responsible for flying warplanes from factories to airfields, and similar “ferrying” duties. It’s best known for employing female pilots (on equal pay, no less, which was more than the US did at the time). In reality, even towards the end of the war, only around one in five of ATA pilots were women but, since that’s the thing that’s most interesting about the organisation they are rightly the focus here. The stories are connected in the sense that they share some of the same supporting characters and have a common framing device set in the present day (2016), but they’re otherwise standalone.
• Up in the Air – The first story in the collection has the additional burden of explaining what the ATA was for those unfamiliar with it. This it does a good job of, showing it through the eyes of new recruit Deborah. That takes up a good portion of the story, but it’s done in an engaging way that helps to show what a unique opportunity it was at the time. In addition to this, of course, we have the episode’s plot. This is partly a story of bereavement (plenty of that to go around in WWII) and ties in with the ramifications of the Battle of the Bulge. It’s a bittersweet tale with some well-drawn characters that does a good job of drawing you in. 4 stars.
• Dancing with a Spitfire – Although this is set two years prior to the first episode, since the main characters in it are different, and there are no ongoing plotlines, it’s barely noticeable. It’s the story of two contrasting women, one a glamorous attention-seeker and the other an American tomboy wallflower, thrust together by circumstance as the US enters the War and sends some of their own women pilots over to join the ATA. Both are hiding secrets, although neither is particularly hard to guess. 1940s attitudes to women (at least by some men) play a significant role and, for all its short length, it’s another good character piece peppered with the joy of flying. 4.5 stars.
• Flying Blind – There’s rather less joy in this emotional tale of a widowed pilot with a young child having an affair with a married man. The impossibility of resolving the pair’s situation is at the heart of it, as are the expectations of ‘40s society; flying is a theme, of course, but mainly as a metaphor for freedom rather than a direct element of the plot. There’s also a subplot with a teenage pilot who may be making the same mistakes with her life as the central character once did with hers… and a particularly harrowing scene that might merit a trigger warning. It’s not an easy listen at times, but it works very well. 5 stars.
• Grounded – The final story, as it names suggests, takes place entirely at the ATA airbase. At least to begin with, it’s more introspective than the others, exploring the attitudes of the various characters to the war and the situation they’ve found themselves in. The pointless loss of life in air raids is a major theme, along with psychological strain, making this another relatively dark one. There are ties back to two of the previous episodes and the lead character in the framing device takes centre-stage for the first time… making it clear why (like so many veterans) she doesn’t talk about her time in the service. 4.5 stars.
• Up in the Air – The first story in the collection has the additional burden of explaining what the ATA was for those unfamiliar with it. This it does a good job of, showing it through the eyes of new recruit Deborah. That takes up a good portion of the story, but it’s done in an engaging way that helps to show what a unique opportunity it was at the time. In addition to this, of course, we have the episode’s plot. This is partly a story of bereavement (plenty of that to go around in WWII) and ties in with the ramifications of the Battle of the Bulge. It’s a bittersweet tale with some well-drawn characters that does a good job of drawing you in. 4 stars.
• Dancing with a Spitfire – Although this is set two years prior to the first episode, since the main characters in it are different, and there are no ongoing plotlines, it’s barely noticeable. It’s the story of two contrasting women, one a glamorous attention-seeker and the other an American tomboy wallflower, thrust together by circumstance as the US enters the War and sends some of their own women pilots over to join the ATA. Both are hiding secrets, although neither is particularly hard to guess. 1940s attitudes to women (at least by some men) play a significant role and, for all its short length, it’s another good character piece peppered with the joy of flying. 4.5 stars.
• Flying Blind – There’s rather less joy in this emotional tale of a widowed pilot with a young child having an affair with a married man. The impossibility of resolving the pair’s situation is at the heart of it, as are the expectations of ‘40s society; flying is a theme, of course, but mainly as a metaphor for freedom rather than a direct element of the plot. There’s also a subplot with a teenage pilot who may be making the same mistakes with her life as the central character once did with hers… and a particularly harrowing scene that might merit a trigger warning. It’s not an easy listen at times, but it works very well. 5 stars.
• Grounded – The final story, as it names suggests, takes place entirely at the ATA airbase. At least to begin with, it’s more introspective than the others, exploring the attitudes of the various characters to the war and the situation they’ve found themselves in. The pointless loss of life in air raids is a major theme, along with psychological strain, making this another relatively dark one. There are ties back to two of the previous episodes and the lead character in the framing device takes centre-stage for the first time… making it clear why (like so many veterans) she doesn’t talk about her time in the service. 4.5 stars.
April 27, 2022
This was really great. I listened to the first story a few years ago when it was available for free, but I only just now got around to buying the rest and listening, and I'm really glad I did. Based on the real stories of the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII, all the stories about these women pilots who are trying to navigate expectations about their lives during and what will come after the war. My only issue was that sometimes I had a hard time keeping some of the different voices straight, but that could've been on me.
June 7, 2018
This was a great listen, tough going sometimes though as the storylines got very dark. I love the inclusion of an LGBT+ character that was refreshing. I would have liked a greater connection between episodes, a huge thing happens in episode 3 but no one mentions it in the next ep. That being said, I did love it and I genuinely hope that this gets a 2nd series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2020
Brilliant. Beautiful. Any words I have to describe this set of 4 interconnected stories would sound trite and wouldn't do this heartbreaking, visceral, and inspiring tale justice. Beautiful. Brilliant.
March 17, 2020
Stories of women who were in the air transport service in wwii.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews