One July day in 1941 as war raged in Europe four women made history when they took to the skies in RAF fighter aircraft.

Winnie Crossley, the Hon Margaret Fairweather, Rosemary Rees and Joan Hughes made 15-minute flights in a Hawker Hurricane from Hatfield Aerodrome, in Hertfordshire.

Aged just 23 in 1941, Ms Hughes had been flying since she was 15, and held the record for the youngest person to fly solo.

They were the first of 168 women who were recruited to fly aircraft during World War II from factories to airfields as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

A new exhibition in Maidenhead, Berkshire, is commemorating their previously unsung achievements on the 70th anniversary of the first flights, which took place on 19 July 1941....