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| Pauline Gower | |
|---|---|
| Name | Pauline Gower |
| Birth date | 20 September 1910 |
| Birth place | Sunderland |
| Death date | 18 November 1947 |
| Death place | Barrow-in-Furness |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Aviator, flight instructor, administrator |
| Known for | Leadership of the women's section of the Air Transport Auxiliary |
Pauline Gower was a pioneering British aviator, instructor and administrator who led the women's section of the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II. She campaigned for women's roles in ferrying military aircraft, trained civilian pilots, and helped establish pathways for female pilots into wartime aviation service. Her work intersected with prominent figures and institutions of British and international aviation in the 1930s and 1940s.
Born in Sunderland to a family with civil service and entrepreneurial connections, she grew up amid the interwar expansion of civil aviation and the rise of flying clubs such as the Royal Aero Club. She received formal schooling in England and pursued flying training influenced by contemporary aviators like Amy Johnson, Lady Mary Heath, Jean Batten, and members of the Women's Engineering Society. Her formative years involved exposure to organizations including the Air Ministry, the Royal Air Force, and civilian aeronautical societies that shaped British aviation policy.
She earned her pilot's licences and certificates through institutions such as the Civil Aviation Authority's predecessors and trained at aerodromes linked to the de Havilland community and the Airspeed] company. She worked as a flying instructor and charter pilot, joining networks that included British Airways predecessors, the Royal Aero Club, and international aviators like Hanna Reitsch and Harriet Quimby in publicity and competition circuits. Engagements with aircraft manufacturers such as De Havilland Aircraft Company, Fairey Aviation Company, and Hawker Aircraft familiarized her with types ranging from light trainers to multi-engine transports used by the Royal Air Force.
When the Air Transport Auxiliary expanded during World War II, she lobbied the Air Ministry and leaders such as Sir Kingsley Wood and Sir Archibald Sinclair for a women-only ferry pool. Approved in 1940, her leadership brought together experienced pilots from the Royal Aero Club, Women's Royal Naval Service, and civilian flying schools to ferry aircraft between factories, maintenance units and Royal Air Force stations. Under her command they flew types produced by Supermarine, Vickers-Armstrongs, Avro, and Hawker Siddeley, contributing to operations connected with events such as the Battle of Britain logistics and the broader Allied invasion of Europe. Her unit coordinated with figures and organizations including Pauline Gower's contemporaries—pilots and administrators associated with the Air Transport Auxiliary leadership, wartime ministries, and manufacturing directors—to maintain ferrying schedules despite hazards from enemy action, weather, and mechanical failure.
After demobilisation, she engaged with reconstruction-era aviation debates involving the International Civil Aviation Organization, civil air transport companies like British European Airways, and training institutions linked to the Royal Aeronautical Society. She advocated for postwar roles for women in commercial and military aviation, interacting with policymakers such as Clement Attlee's ministers and transport officials involved in nationalisation and aviation policy. Her health declined after the stresses of wartime service; she died in 1947 following complications from an air incident and subsequent illness at Barrow-in-Furness.
Her family included members active in public service and business, and her social circle featured aviators, engineers and politicians such as Amy Johnson, Jean Batten, Lady Mary Heath, Sir Archibald Sinclair, and leaders of the Royal Aero Club. Posthumously she has been commemorated by museums and organisations including the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Air Force Museum, and regional aviation heritage groups in Sunderland and Cumbria. Her role influenced later female aviators in the Royal Air Force and commercial airlines, contributing to awards and memorials that reference pioneers of women's aviation in the United Kingdom and internationally.
Category:British aviators Category:Women in World War II