大象传媒

In 1946 I joined the WAAF when I was called-up in London where I lived and, after the preliminary square-bashing (learning to march etc.) I was taught to drive at the base at Cardington, Beds. I managed to pass this test, in spite of the nightmare lessons in night-driving with no street lights and a tiny slit of light through the shields over the headlights!

Now I was ready to be posted to an air base and this was to l5 Squadron of Bomber Command - then at Bourne in Cambridgeshire. Their aircraft then were Stirlings - very beautiful but slow. Soon the Squadron had to move to R.A.F. Mildenhall in Suffolk and this is something that remains in my mind - to see all the Squadron's equipment being loaded into gliders and then seeing the Stirlings taking off towing the gliders to their new base. All the vehicles - tankers, maintenance vehicles, ambulance, cars - were driven by road in convoy.

Being a new driver and on new ground, one night on night-duty I drove my vehicle on the perimeter track across the end of the runway just as a Stirling Bomber had landed and was taxi-ing towards me! I was quite unaware of the danger I was in until I got back to the M.T. garage - and the Control Tower had been in touch with my Duty Officer.

One other incident stands out in my mind - when I was a little more experienced at driving, I had to drive the NAAFI van out onto the airfield where the ground crews were "bombing-up" the planes for a mission (by now they were Lancasters). It was a bitterly cold night and the M.O. (Medical Officer) was in the vehicle tto dispense a rum-ration with the cocoa. We were parked near one of the planes when suddenly loud shouts came up "GET AWAY, GET AWAY!" One of the big bombs had fallen off the winch! I managed to get the M.O. and myself away fast, and thankfully the bomb did not explode and there were no casualties.

I was in the WAAFs for 4 years and it was not easy getting back into an office job - but in 1952 I met my husband - a D-DAY veteran - and we have just celebrated our Golden Wedding. Now, both in our 80s, we have many memories of WWII - and we thank the Lord for His care and protection.

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