Anna Leska-Daab

Born November 14, 1910, died January 21, 1998

Anna Leska was interested in flying from a young age. At the age of 18, she obtained qualifications for categories A and B of gliders, as well as a license to control a balloon. In 1938, she began flying a two-seater RWD-8 training plane.

At the beginning of the defensive war in 1939, Anna was appointed a wartime second lieutenant and began serving in the Staff Squadron of the Air Command. On September 22, 1939, she escaped from an airfield under German fire. She stayed briefly in Romania, then in France, and finally joined the pilots in Great Britain.

On January 1, 1941, she was the first Polish woman to become a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), the British auxiliary service of the Royal Air Force. As an ATA pilot, from the first days of her service she was responsible for transporting aircraft from factories and delivering damaged machines to a repair or scrapping point. Missions in ATA were difficult due to significant restrictions. It was forbidden to, among other things: use the radio (radio communication was used only in combat aircraft), use maps (this was due to the fear of the plans being intercepted by the Third Reich) and perform aerial acrobatics (which reduced the risk of disaster).

Anna Leska was one of the few pilots who spent over 1,500  hours in an airplane, which gave her the ability to operate all classes of aircraft, including four-engine bombers.

According to various sources, it transported about 700 planes, without a single accident! Anna Leska was awarded the British Golden Wings medal. In 1947, she married Mieczysław Daab, a pilot of the 301st Squadron.