Fearless
By Erin O'Reilly
With another world war brewing, women pilots from around the world made their way to England to join the Air Transport Auxiliary.
The ATA was comprised of pilots who could not qualify to fly for the Royal Air Force. Meg O’Brien, who fell in love with flying when her uncle took her up in his plane, wanted nothing more than to fly. Her family had other aspirations for the red haired girl—home, hearth, husband, and children. It was not for her and as soon as the opportunity arose, she joined her uncle in England, and soon joined the ATA.
Jo Laughlin, left to care for her sisters after the death of her father, took over the family crop dusting business in the panhandle of Texas. To supplement her income she joined other pilots and barn stormed throughout Texas and Oklahoma. When a friend, Midge Reister, suggested they go to England and join the ATA, Jo finally capitulated and found herself on a tramp steamer to England.
Sarah Faulkner, dubbed by the press as a flying debutante, tried to make a time record for the fastest time between London and Sydney Australia. When she runs out of gas and lands in a field near Brisbane Australia, she meets a poor young girl whose circumstances are fraught with abuse. In time, Sarah returns to Australia and eventually brings Brenda back to England with her. Brenda learns to fly and soon the two women join the ATA.
Their lives were not easy and often filled with danger and doubt but together the women form bonds that shaped their lives forever.
