The civilian flyers of the ATA ferried more than 309,000 RAF aircraft during World War II, very often without instruments and a knowledge of the aircraft gained from a series of short flying notes. So doing, they saved valuable flying hours for the RAF’s pilots.

Leading glider pilot Philip Wills, was one of the first to join the new service in 1939 and went onto become the ATA’s second-in-command and Director of Operations. Full of stories of his time in the service, Wills shares his knowledge of how the service was rolled out, the day-to-day work of its pilots and their training. He also highlights how the organisation set standards for the future path of air accident investigation and pilot documentation through the development of their flying and ground handling notes – the one-stop-shop for those interested in how to fly World War II aircraft. A full set of the notes are held at the National Aerospace Library in Farnborough.

The Lecture took place on 5 April 1965. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.