By A W from Wikimedia Commons

On this day, 22nd July,  in 1902 Marion Wilberforce, the pioneering Scottish aviatrix, was born.

One of the first eight women pilots to be recruited by the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1940, her job was to fly new aircraft from the factories to the squadrons. This work was originally done by men, generally pilots who were not fully fit for operational flying and who were nicknamed “Ancient and Tattered Airmen”.

The women were nicknamed “Atagirls”. In order to do the job the women had to overcome the deeply ingrained sexual prejudices of men in politics and the armed forces.Scotclans

Courage

Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.
The soul that knows it not Knows no release from little things:
Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
The sound of wings.
How can life grant us boon of living, compensate
For dull gray ugliness and pregnant hate
Unless we dare The soul’s dominion?
Each time we make a choice, we pay
With courage to behold the restless day,
And count it fair.

Amelia Earhart