Celebrating, sharing tales of aviation days gone by

RAF MILDENHALL, England -- Thos copy of "Ferry Pilots Notes" belongs to the Eleanor Wadsworth, a former Air Transport Auxilliary 3rd officer and pilot, which she brought to show at an event 13 at Building 809. Richard Poad, chairman of the Maidenhead Heritage Centre, read out passages from the notebook, including the one-page basic instructions on "How to Fly a Spitfire." The Maidenhead Heritage Centre, near White Waltham, has the world's only dedicated Air Transport Auxiliary Exhibition and Study Centre, which is set to open in 2011. Visitors can learn how civilian pilots -- both male and female -- including 203 from the United States, contributed to victory in World War II by ferrying 309,000 war planes, of 140 different types, between factories, maintenance airfields and front-line squadrons, often with little or no training on the aircraft in question. For more information, visit www.atamuseum.org. (U.S. Air Force photo/Karen Abeyasekere)