Mona Friedlander

Mona Friedländer, 1939

Mona Friedländer, 1939

Mona Renee VE Forward, May 17, 1939

The first pilots of the ATA Womens' Section pilots in front of a De Havilland Tiger Moth. Right to left: Pauline Gower , Women's Division Commander, M. Cunnison (partially obscured), Winifred Crossley, Margaret Fairweather, Mona Friedlander, Joan Hughes, G Paterson, and Rosemary Rees

Pauline Gower (far left), commander of the ATA women's division, stands with eight other female ATAs in front of the De Havilland Tiger Moth. The other female pilots are: (left to right), Winifred Crossley, Margaret Cunnison, Margaret Fairweather, Mona Friedlander, Joan Hughes, G Paterson, Rosemary Rees and Marion Wilberforce

Mona Friedlander (born June 2, 1914 in London , England , † 1993 in England) was an English national player in ice hockey and pilot. She flew as a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War II and was one of the eight founding pilots who founded the ATA's women's division.

life and work

Friedlander was born in London as the daughter of the German banker Ernest Friedlander, who was naturalized in England in 1909, and the Russian mother Vera Friedlander. She received her education in Vienna , Switzerland , Germany and at the Royal School of Art in London. She played in the squad of the British women's ice hockey teams that competed against France in 1934 and 1935. Her parents financed her pilot's license to become a flight instructor. In 1939 she worked for Air Taxis Ltd in the London Borough of Croydon. From March 1, 1939 to the end of November 1939, she worked as a pilot in the Army Cooperation and flew in front of the anti-aircraft units to help them aim and aim weapons and searchlights. In 1940 she joined the women's division of the Air Transport Auxiliary as a second officer and was one of the ATA's 'First 8' pilots. In 1941 she married Major Alan Forward. In 1942 she was promoted to first officer. In 1943 she left the ATA, where she had flown 32 different types of aircraft. She became a censor whose job it was to inspect photos in the press that were suspected of containing classified information. In 1985, the Imperial War Museum recorded her biography as Oral History.

Honors

A bus company in Hatfield named eight buses after the "first eight" of the Tiger Moth pilots in the ATA. In 2008, the fifteen surviving female ATA members (and 100 surviving male pilots) received a special award from Prime Minister Gordon Brown .

literature

• Lois K. Merry: Women Military Pilots of World War II , 2010, ISBN 978-0-7864-4441-0

Web links

Commons : Mona Friedlander  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The extraordinary women who risked their lives during World War Two
• Britain's FEMALE Spitfire pilots to receive badge of courage at last
• Uno launches 'Tigermoth' buses in Hatfield named after inspirational female aviators
• British Air Transport Auxiliary- The First Eight
• London Society Girl is Army Pilot
• Forward, Mona Renee Vera Ernesta (Oral History)