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Helen Kerly or Ruth Helen Clark (6 January 1916 - 26 May 1992) was a British civilian female pilot officer who was one of only two such women commended for their work.
Women were not permitted to be fighter pilots during the war, but they were allowed to deliver aircraft to replace those lost during either training or combat missions. Kerly had been photographed as a member of the Royal Aero Club in 1938, but although the ATA were desperate for pilots she was the 130th employed in 1943.Helen Kerly
A Fleeting Peace, retrieved 6 March 2015
Kerly was one of only two women to be commended as pilots during the war. Her commendation was given for landing a Spitfire that had technical difficulties in a small field on 25 June 1944. She was in the Air Transport Auxiliary and it was her job to deliver aircraft from various factories including the
When she died on 26 May 1992 she left her
Life
Third Officer Ruth Helen Kerly was born in 1916 in London and she came to notice as an officer who deliveredSpitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
s during the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Women were not permitted to be fighter pilots during the war, but they were allowed to deliver aircraft to replace those lost during either training or combat missions. Kerly had been photographed as a member of the Royal Aero Club in 1938, but although the ATA were desperate for pilots she was the 130th employed in 1943.Helen KerlyA Fleeting Peace, retrieved 6 March 2015
Kerly was one of only two women to be commended as pilots during the war. Her commendation was given for landing a Spitfire that had technical difficulties in a small field on 25 June 1944. She was in the Air Transport Auxiliary and it was her job to deliver aircraft from various factories including the Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory
Castle Bromwich Assembly is a factory owned by Jaguar Land Rover. It is located on the Chester Road in Castle Vale, Birmingham, England and employs 3,200 people. The plant covers an area of 110 acres (44.5 hectares), with a 60,000 m² (6-hecta ...
which was one of the main factories for assembling the aircraft. She would deliver the aircraft to airfields around Britain. She left the ATA in September 1945 and in 1947, she married Storm Clark.
Legacy
When she died on 26 May 1992 she left her leather flying helmet
During the first years of aviation, pilots started wearing leather flying helmets as a form of protection from the cold and the noise of aircraft engines. Leather was becoming a popular choice for protective gear with the rise of motor sport and ...
and goggles to a fellow pilot, Alec Matthews. He in turn donated their joint memorabilia to Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point (Birmingham), Millennium Point complex on ...
. The helmet and goggles are now on display in the Spitfire Gallery which opened in 2015.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerly, Helen 1916 births 1992 deaths British women in World War II English aviators Air Transport Auxiliary pilots People from London British women aviators