Scramble

Great Britain 1940 Kitty and her brother Reggie are the offspring of Britain’s most famous World War one fighter pilot. They have been flying since they were children and are brilliant pilots, so in 1939, when war is declared, it’s assumed Reggie will join the Royal Air Force. Kitty is encouraged to join the Air Transport Auxiliary – the ATA – the service that delivers aircraft from the factories to operational RAF bases and admits women pilots. But she’s frustrated – she wants to be treated equally. She wants to fight. When Reggie receives his call-up papers their father insists he join up and take the lead in a squadron where morale is low after heavy losses. But Reggie has not told his father that he is a conscientious objector and will not fight. Rather than face his father’s wrath and be labelled a coward, Reggie runs away. Kitty – faced with breaking the news of Reggie’s disappearance to her father, who will be furious and shamed – lies and says he left to join the RAF. She decides to grasp this chance to fight by disguising herself as Reggie and joining up in his place. To explain her own absence she announces she’s joining the ATA. With the help of an actor-manager friend at the local theatre, she cuts her hair short, adopts men’s clothing, and presents herself as Reggie at the RAF base. Reggie’s ability has been bigged-up by the commanding officer, so there’s ‘expectation’ and cynicism from pilots who’ve been taking a hammering and losing men at a great rate. During her first ‘dogfight’ Kitty is brought down – to the disdain of the men - but her flying skill is exceptional and soon she becomes a real ace with a dozen kills and regarded as a lucky charm as the squadron loses fewer pilots. More importantly, no one suspects that ‘Reggie’ is a woman. But when Reggie returns home to face the music, Kitty is exposed and given two options – be grounded or join the ATA. She joins the ATA. Her exploits have made her a legend. The women pilots – all adventurers and outsiders, a skiing champion, a mountaineer, a woman who flew in an air circus, as well as famed global aviator Amy Johnson, welcome Kitty with open arms. She befriends Beatrice Shilling, the remarkable woman engineer who developed a prototype device to fix the ‘fatal flaw’ in the engines of the British aircraft, allowing them to fight the Germans on an equal footing. Taking this prototype into the air plays a key part in the finale when, on 15th September 1940, a pivotal date in history, at the height of the battle, with every British aircraft in the sky, outnumbered three-to-one and with nothing in reserve, Kitty defies orders and convention and leads the women into battle for one decisive day where they help shift the course of history. Agent: madeleine@wgmatlanticgroup.com