Display 8 of 20

Joy Lofthouse (Photo by kind permission of the Trustees of the Spitfire Society)

Born Joyce Gough in South Cerney on Valentines Day 1923, Joy was educated at Cirencester Grammar school and began working in Lloyd’s Bank in Cirencester.  In 1943, she saw an advert for women to train for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and applied - even though she’d never even driven a car!  Only 17 out of 2000 applicants were accepted and Joy  was among them (as was her sister Yvonne!) and she showed great aptitude for flying.  Before long, Joy was flying and delivering Tiger Moths and Miles Magisters to RAF flying schools all over the UK, but she soon moved on to ferrying fighters – including Spitfires, Hurricanes, Tempests and Mustangs.  She was one of only 168 ‘Attagirls’ who served and by the time she left the RAF at the end of WW2, she’d flown 38 different types including twin-engined bombers, but her greatest love was always the Spitfire.