Obituaries

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Mary Wilkins Ellis- ATA Association Commodore and First Officer 'Spitfire Girl'. :salutepilot:

The last of the Spitfire girls Mary Ellis, who flew 76 different aircraft during the Second World War, has died at her home on the Isle of Wight aged 101.
The Oxfordshire native died in Sandown on Tuesday, and was one of the two last surviving UK female Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) pilots.
Mrs Ellis flew 400 Spitfires and 76 different types of aircraft during WWII, and just before her 100th birthday she was able to fly once more in a Spitfire.
Just two weeks ago, Mrs Ellis attended the London premiere of Spitfires, where she was seen smiling on the red carpet and received a standing ovation after the film. Mrs Ellis took her first flying lesson as a teenager and flew for pleasure until 1939 when she heard a radio appeal for women pilots to join the auxiliary service. As news broke of her death, people took to social media to pay tribute to the legendary woman and to thank her for her service.
John Nichol, a former prisoner-of-war and author, wrote: 'Another giant leaves us to john her heroic friends in Blue Skies. Rest in peace Mary; you truly deserve it. Thank you.'
Twitter user Mike said: 'More awful news. RIP Mary Ellis. A legend of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Over 1000 aircraft; 76 different types and over 400 Spitfires alone. I hope you're enjoying a well-earned sherry up there with Joy Lofthouse again. Blue skies Ma'am #LestWeForget.' Kevin Powell added: 'I saw Mary Ellis interviewed recently. Her selflessness and belief that she had a duty to do all she did for the greater good shone through. A Truly inspirational lady who achieved so much for Britain.' Melody Foreman, author of A Spitfire Girl, described Mrs Ellis as 'one of the world's greatest female ferry pilots'. She wrote: 'Mary helped the war effort by delivering much needed aircraft including Wellington Bombers, Mustangs and many more to the aircrews of RAF fighter and bomber command squadrons.'
'She flew 400 Spitfires and maintains that it is her favourite aircraft of all time. It is a symbol of freedom and liberty,' said Ms Foreman.
'When the ATA was closed in November 1945, Mary was seconded to the RAF to fly the new Meteor fast jet.
'The next few years saw her working as a personal pilot to a wealthy businessman and by 1950 she became the boss of Sandown Airport on the Isle of Wight.
'Mary became Europe's first female air commandant and remained as managing director of Sandown until 1970.
'[She] heard an appeal on the radio from the BBC for women pilots needed to help the war effort,'
'She joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, an organisation which ferried aircraft from factories and maintenance units to RAF airfields all over Britain.'
When Mrs Ellis turned a century old, a surprise party was held in her honour at Sandown Airport, where more than 60 guests attended.
Mrs Ellis said at the event: 'The war was a challenge and one had to do something about it. I went on and on until I flew everything. I love the Spitfire – it's my favourite aircraft, it's everyone's favourite, it's the symbol of freedom.'
Then as part of her celebrations, Mrs Ellis was handed the controls of a 275mph twin-seater Spitfire as it swooped over West Sussex.
After about 15 minutes, she turned for home, and told her co-pilot Matt Jones: 'Goodwood on the nose, you have control…'. Then she settled back to enjoy the ride back to base.
Earlier that day, Mrs Ellis watched in delight as Spitfire MV154 took its place beside her in an extraordinary airborne tribute. It was a plane she had delivered to RAF Brize Norton from Southampton on September 15, 1944, and it hides a sentimental secret.
For at the end of the 25-minute wartime flight, she signed the cockpit, scrawling her maiden name Wilkins and the initials ATA.

Mary died yesterday (Tuesday 24th July) in Sandown…

source: Dailymail

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Hi everyone

I live on the Isle of Wight and am honoured to of met Mary who lived at the Sandown airfield of course, as per your excellent obituary. I volunteer at the Wight Aviation Museum on the Sandown airfield. I can tell you that we are in the process of building a display at our museum to Mary with many personal effects to display. Also we hope to have a gathering of Spitfires and vintage planes next year to honour Mary, many she would of flown .
She, as all these women were, were a tribute to their countries and should not be forgotten as all our veterans.
Regards
Perry Clifton.
Sandown Isle of Wight


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James A. Cotten,
a member of the fabled Tuskegee Airmen, 332nd Fighter Group, died on August 14. He was 93.

Cotten spent 21 years in the U.S. Air Force before beginning a 45-year career as a contract administrator for the U.S. Department of Defense at Joint Base McGuire-Dix. He retired in 2012 at age 85.

"We were really doing something in the interest of the nation," Cotton said in 2017 interview "We were considered to be elite personnel. We were taught every day that this was another day to excel."

In 2012, Cotten was presented the Congressional Gold Medal for his service with the Tuskegee Airmen. The following year, he was one of six veterans present when President Barack Obama paid tribute to the famed unit.

Cotten joined the elite, all Black Air Force unit in 1945, after he turned 18. In 1949, he was assigned to the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron 4th Fighter Group as the Air Operations non-commissioned officer.

He spent more than 20 years on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Credit Union League Board of Directors and served on the Veteran's Advisory Committee. Cotten was a Willingboro resident.

Cotten is survived by his wife of 73 years, Oteria, 10 children, 15 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren.

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Kazimiera Mika dies at 93

The girl whom Julien Bryan's iconic photographs from German-besieged Warsaw turned into a symbol of war suffering, passed away on 28 August, having outlived her sister, a victim of German crimes, by 81 years.
In these images, the teenager is grieving over the dead body of 14-year-old Anna, murdered by a Luftwaffe pilot who targeted a group of women collecting potatoes on the outskirts of Warsaw. The scene was witnessed and recorded by American photojournalist Julien Bryan; he managed to capture Kazia's disbelief, shock and pain, and then put the camera away.
"The child looked at us in bewilderment. I threw my arm about her and held her tightly, trying to comfort her. She cried. So did I and the two Polish officers who were with me. But what could we tell her? What could anyone tell that child?" he recalled. Kazia was beyond consolation, but the stranger nevertheless managed to gain a little bit of her trust.
As the only foreign journalist in bombed, shelled and burning Warsaw, he often won the trust of civilians because he stood for normality and represented a friendly foreign power, which gave them a glimmer of hope in their ordeal. The Poles wanted the world to know what was happening, and needed to believe that someone would come to their assistance.
Bryan wanted that too, and went beyond his role as a witness. Via Polish Radio he addressed President Roosevelt and his fellow Americans, speaking about German atrocities, describing the tragedy of the Polish capital, and calling on his countrymen to take action. The footage he made in Warsaw shocked Eleanor Roosevelt and became the first newsreel of WWII.
After the war, he returned to Poland a few times, and met with Kazia, who recovered from her tragedy but never forgot it. She recalled his light suit, his comforting hug, and, as something of an oddity, that relentless drive which forced him to walk into destruction - when everyone else wanted to be as far from it as possible - and record it, the way he recorded her tragedy.
Apart from Julien, Kazimiera Mika also met Sam, who accompanied his father on his last visit to Poland, who came again in 2019 for the opening of the IPN's "Siege of Warsaw 1939. Photographs by Julien Bryan" exhibition – and who is participating online in the IPN's press conference on the release of "The Most Mysterious of Countries. The Soviet Union in the Photographs and Writings of Julien H. Bryan 1930–1959" on 22 September.

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So much for the Knights of the Air myth.

I believe that if you were a young fellow here in the States and started seeing these images in the news/newsreels, it would be hard to have much empathy for the Germans you'd be fighting once the U.S. got in the war. I remember seeing Don Blakeslee in an interview where he said something to the effect of him hating the German sons a bitch's. You certainly cannot condemn an entire people on the actions of a few but you see this and you can understand his point.

One wonders what motivated the Luftwaffe pilot to strafe women picking potatoes in a field, I find it hard to believe it was a case of mistaken identity.
 
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