Background
Third Officer Ruth Helen Kerly was born in 1916 in London and she came to notice as an officer who delivered Spitfires during the Second World War.
Third Officer Ruth Helen Kerly was born in 1916 in London and she came to notice as an officer who delivered Spitfires during the Second World War.
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 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 on 25 June 1944.
She was in the Air Transport Auxiliary and it was her job to deliver planes from various factories including the Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory which was one of the main factories for assembling the planes.
She would deliver the planes to airfields around Britain. When she died in 1992 she left her Leather flying helmet and goggles to a fellow pilot named Alec Matthews.
He in turn donated their joint memorabilia to Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum. The helmet and goggles are now on display in the Spitfire Gallery which opened in 2015.
Kerly had been photographed as a member of the Royal Aeronautical Club in 1938, but although the ATA were desperate for pilots she was the 130th employed in 1943.
