#Monument
Air Transport Auxiliary Memorial, Hamble
The Air Transport Auxiliary Memorial in Hamble is a striking memorial, with a silver Spitfire commemorating the men and women who were based here at the Hamble Airfields. It especially commemorates in those who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary
The memorial is on a small, grassy green on Hamble Lane. This sits in between two of the airfields: the one to the south is now a housing estate, and the one to the north is a grass heathland and publicly accessible. The memorial was unveiled in 2010 and a was attend by several women veterans of the ATA.
The memorial reads:
In Honour of the Courageous Men and Women of the
AIR TRANSPORT AUXILIARY
The ATA was formed at the outbreak of war in September 1939 to transport mail, dispatches and essential supplies. It quickly developed to ferry new, damaged and repaired aircraft between the aviation industry and the RAF and Fleet Air Arm airfields. The ATA delivered all types of newly built operations aircraft and flew others in need of repair. Between September 1939 and November 1945 the ATA flew 309,011 aircraft missions.
The fledgling ATA consisted of just a few dozen men with eight women joining shortly after. The wartime strength of ATA was in excess of 1200, including 168 women. It employed able bodied and disabled people from 28 countries. They all performed the same duties, and they all received equal pay and rights. Tragically 173 ATA personnel were killed on duty.
This memorial marks the entrance to the Hamble le Rice Airfield, and to the ATA Ferry Pool which by 1941 had become an all-women unit.