Mary Ellis (1917–2018) — British ferry pilot and wartime aviator

Wartime service and role

During the war Ellis served with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), a civilian organisation that supported the Royal Air Force by transferring new, repaired or damaged aircraft between factories, maintenance units and operational bases. She is also associated with service to the Royal Air Force through these ferrying duties. ATA pilots — both men and women — flew many different types of machines and operated in challenging conditions without the combat support given to RAF squadrons.

Typical duties and characteristics

• Ferrying aircraft from construction sites to maintenance depots and front-line airfields.
• Flying a broad range of types, from single‑engine fighters to larger multi‑engine aircraft, often with minimal transition training.
• Operating unarmed in varying weather, navigation and wartime conditions, which required adaptability and strong piloting skills.
• Working as part of a civilian-military support structure that freed combat pilots for frontline duty.

Later life and legacy

After the war, Mary Ellis remained a public figure in accounts of women’s contributions to aviation and wartime service. Her longevity — she died on 24 July 2018 in Sandown, Isle of Wight, at the age of 101 — drew renewed interest in the history of the ATA and the changing roles available to women in the mid-20th century. Ellis's experience is frequently cited in discussions of gender and military support roles, and in broader histories of British civil and military aviation.

Though individual details of her postwar life vary in public accounts, Ellis's significance rests on her participation in an organisation that played a vital, if often understated, part in the Allied air effort. Her story helps illustrate how civilian pilots bridged manufacturing and combat during a period of intense technological and social change.