MARY ELLIS (1917-2018)

At one RAF base where Mary Ellis landed a Wellington bomber, the ground crew flatly refused to believe that she was the pilot. They even searched inside the bomber convinced that its male pilot was lurking somewhere.

- JOSEPH NORONHA

Mary Ellis was a British ferry pilot during the Second World War. At that time women were not considered capable of engaging in combat, or even of flying skilfully for that matter. However the War Office, in its desperation to find enough pilots to ferry planes to and from the frontline bases, was ultimately compelled to accept women.

Mary Wilkins Ellis was born on February 2, 1917, in Leafield, Oxfordshire. Since her home was located close to a couple of Royal Air Force (RAF) airfields she was familiar with aviation from an early age. When she was eight, the Sir Alan Cobham Flying Circus visited the area. Mary’s father did not need much persuasion to sign her up for a joy ride in an Avro 504 biplane. And she promptly lost her heart to flying. She took her first flying lessons as a teenager at a flying club in Witney and successfully gained her private pilot’s licence. Thereafter she flew whenever possible for pleasure.