Kassala, Sudan: armourers of No. 47 Squadron RAF fill Small Bomb Containers with incendiaries before loading them into the underwing panniers of Vickers Wellesley Mark I, K8527, for a bombing raid on Italian positions in Eritrea. K8527 was shot down by Italian fighters over Keren on 16 March 1941. Note that this aircraft is fitted with a lengthened cockpit canopy. Victor Sierra

Wellesley at Kassala

Italian Campaign: Churchill Tank, possibly of the 51st Royal Tank Regiment, is given a final check in a harbour area. (Imperial War Museum Catalogue number TR 2017)

Churchill tank in Italy

She was one of a pioneering group of women pilots who flew the latest fighter and bomber aircraft with the wartime Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). She achieved national fame as a cover girl when a Picture Post photographer captured her alighting from a Barracuda aircraft. 