[3] She developed a fascination with aviation from a young age, as her family home was located near Royal Air Force bases at Bicester Airfield and Port Meadow.

[4] When she was eight, the Sir Alan Cobham Flying Circus visited the area, and she persuaded her father to pay for a joy ride in an Avro 504.

[1][5] In October 1941, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), and was posted to a pool of women flyers based in Hamble in Hampshire.

[4] In 2016, Ellis published her autobiography: A Spitfire Girl: One of the World's Greatest Female ATA Ferry Pilots Tells Her Story.

[10] In 2017 a plaque was unveiled at RAF Brize Norton in recognition of Ellis' and fellow pilot, Molly Rose's, "contribution to ATA".