INTREPID WOMAN: Betty Lussier's Secret War 1942-1945

Betty Lussier was an American pilot whose service in World War II saw her graduating from piloting planes in support of D-Day to membership of the American intelligence agency the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) as a counter-espionage agent in the field. Betty learned to fly as a teenager and in December 1941 she heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as she and her boyfriend listened to Glenn Miller on the radio. She immediately resolved to head for Europe to do her bit for the war effort. The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a group of pilots who delivered planes from factories to frontline airfields, composed of men and women from 28 countries. In 2008 British PM Gordon Brown awarded a badge of honour to the ATA's surviving women pilots. Betty describes the recruitment process and life in England at her billet in Maidenhead, where she wonders "would we like each other, the staid English couple Mr and Mrs Guy and the brash American volunteer?" During a fitting for her uniform she was dismayed at its shapelessness, but cheered up when she saw Mrs Winston Churchill bustling out of the shop. Later, on duty, she was reprimanded for wearing a coloured scarf. Betty's airborne escapades included getting lost over Morecambe Bay and finally on landing being told she had a completely dry tank. After D-Day the ATA was grounded, but Betty was reassigned to counter-espionage with X-2, analysing encrypted messages. The secret to be kept at all costs was the fact that the Nazi encryption code had been broken at Bletchley Park. Betty's service in North Africa and Italy took her to Rome and an audience with the pope. 224pp, illus.