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This story was submitted to the peoples war site by Wendy Young and has been added to the Web site on behalf of Dorothy Tyrrell with her permission and she fully understands the sites terms and conditions
Stories of my days in the WAAFS
I was in the first call up in the second world war, owing to my occupation I was deferred until further notice.
My mother was evacuated together with my youngest sister to the North of England, while I stayes behind with my father. to be the chief cook and bottle washer. We lived in Brockley a ward of Lewisham.
I can remember the first air raid, it was on a Thursday.After the siren sounded I rushed over to my friends house to see if they were alright.The Grandmother was blind, and I managed to get her and the Grandchildren down to the cellar
There were lines and lines of Heinkel bombers, and Spitfires trying to stop them, they were heading for the Docks. When we emerged they were ablaze. The bombers returned that night to bomb London. So we went from there living from day to day not knowing what was going to happen, but determined to carry on.
One of my sisters friends lived at Penge,near Chrystal Palace, all that area had an lot of bombs.
It was while she was having a bath that her house was bombed she finished up on the front lawn still sitting in the bath.In those days we were all very modest, so she was embarrassed to be rescued in the nude by the fireman.
I remember walking up the Old Kent road where some big houses had been bombed, a mirror was still hanging on one of the walls.
If there was an air raid when I was at work, we all went down to the basement where we had duplicate machines, so we were able to carry on working.
I was called up in 1943, the Government was getting ready for the big push in North Africa.My father wanted me to go into theCyber group in Bletchly to keep me near home, but I wanted to get away from the Blitz.I finally went into the Airforce as an instrument maker.
I went to Hendon in the April of 1943 to take a test for mental ability. This is where they decided into which group you would be placed.They placed me on the Technical side to work with the RAF as an instrument maker.
I was sent to Gloucester where I received my training, marching,exercising, and learning dicipline.
We were kitted out with our uniform.My feet were very small,and I took size two and a half in a shoe,I was told that there was no such size,and I would have to wear a
a size three, I told them they would be too large,but they would not listen and I had to wear them.When we were on parade the Corporal was saying "Pick em up, pick em up,
and I did, like everyone else, I about turned, marched forward, and my shoes came off, and I was marching barefooted, which sort of proved my point.After that I was given a chitty to enable me to order my shoes from Barretts, and they made me a pair to fit my feet, they were marvellous, and lasted me until long after the war.
After the initial training at Gloucester I was posted to RAF Melksham, thats where we learned our Technical trade, and thats where I met and teamed up with Dorothy Ashcroft. She came from Manchester, and to this day we are still friends.
We passed our initial exams, we now knew about electrical circuits, and worked on lathes, making inserts to 1000th of an inch, everything had to be precise. we became quite proficient at making different things.
From Melksham,Dorothy and I were posted to RAF Morpeth with six other WAAFS who were going to different parts of Northumberland. Some of these were cooks, and others clerks, only Dorothy and myself were technical.
We packed everything in our kit bags as we had been instructed,including our irons, which was our knife, fork and spoon.
We had a ghastly journey across England, starting in the morning and arriving at Morpeth station in the middle of the night.The R.T. office was closed, and the only person around was the Station Master, who got through to one of the Transport Officers in one of the camps.They sent a van to take us to the camp.We arrived at the cook house,the staff were cross at having to provide us with food. THey gave us baked beans without any bread,and because we had left our kit bags in the van we had to eat with our fingers.
Our Billets were in a field just outside the camp, we found out that the three huts we were living in had been condemmed by the Medical Officer.These places were very isolated, there was one stove and three lots of cupboards down the middle, this is where we hung our great coats,which were only worn in the winter.When Dorothy came to put her coat on she found mice nesting in the pockets.
The wash house looked out over the fields where there were cattle, there was no glass in the window.We put up a line from the window to the fence to hang our smalls on.One day I was told that the cows were eating my stockings and I was put on a charge for neglect of my uniform. I had to prove that I was telling the truth.so I had to bring witnesses along to tell them that I had not damaged them myself, and that I, had retrieved them from the cow.
The RAF made it hard for the women, because they were annoyed that women were doing mens jobs.Flight Sergeant Kilburn who was a regular airman treated us with respect,but the call up airmen were quite unpleasant.
We all had nicknames, Dorothy was called Lofty, and I was known as Squibs.
Because I was good at my job,I worked on adjustments on the instruments.I had to use watchmakers tools which were very fine.We worked on the blind flying panel which is still in existance today on every aircraft today.On it was the air speed indicator,and altimeter.The air speed indicator was worked from air pressure from a pitot head which was fixed at the end of the wings, air went through the pitot head and through to the instrument measuring air speed. This is the sort of instrument that I learnt the inside of and how to service it.
We learnt about the oxygen supply which was in the Spitfires and Hurricanes, the pressures and supply of it.
I went to Melsham for a refresher course, and to learn about the camera gun. A 16mm film was put into a cartridge instead of bullets, the caseing which held the bullets was replaced by the caseing which held the camera.I had to learn the electric circuit of the camera,which was used to train the air gunners how to shoot accurately.
The aircraft trailed a diogue behind it flew ahead followed by the trainer aircraft with the camera gun.
Afterwards we showede film on a screen, it showed the markings and how accurate the air gunners shooting was, and how they could improve it.We also had to prove that we tested our guns and everything correctly.
First we were expected to do a parachute jump in the hangar,and then we went up in the aircraft.
I was posted to an Island off Barrow in Furness, called Walney Island, here there was a training school for airgunners, thats where I worked for quite a long time. It was interesting work,servicing the aircraft,and doing the camera guns, to show the air gunners how their learning was progressing.We worked every day of the week including Sunday
First thing in the morning we would be on parade, even in the winter.When it was dark we would have hurricane lamps ,it would be very breezy sometimes with the wind coming off the sea,
When we were on parade we would wear our battledress.Technical people had to wear trousers with a battledress top,we carried our tool in our left hand pocket like all the other airmen did.We only had one best dress, which was a skirt and tunic.
My friends could not understand my apprehension at times, when I wasn`t getting any mail from home.There was a news blackout in the North of England,because we didn`t want the enemy to know where their bombs were dropping. I was home on leave when the V2`s dropped, so of course I knew they were being launched,but in the North they didn`t know anything about them.
While I was working at Walney the Government was preparing for the Normandy invasion.Our leave was limited to a fifty mile radius. that was alright for most of the girls in the camp as they lived in the North, except for me the LondonerI wasn`t able to get home.
My grandmother and my two Aunts lived in Blackpool, now to get to Blackpool across land was more than fifty miles, but to go by sea was less.I complained to the Officer, and I was permitted to go by land.Grandmother had a telephone so I was able to contact my family.
After Walney Island I was posted to Sealand no 2 maintenance unit, which was just outside Chester,while I was there I was put on to the Aeronautical A.I.D Inspection Division.We were put into locked cages, because we were inspecting the inserts for the Cyber machines at Bletchly.
My boyfriend was called up into the airforce earlier than myself, he was sent to Canada, and spent an easy war out there.He wrote to me regularly.
One night when I wasd on duty a call came through " will L.A.C.Loltgen go to the guard house where there`s an airman waiting to see her".I got permission to leave and went to the guard house, there under the blue light was my Wally.He`d landed in Liverpool, about 30 miles from where I was.He produced an engagement ring from his pocket, when I returned to the section,I showed them the ring.
Wally was the chief mechanic for the Group Captain,on the airfield.He was a Flight Engineer, and dealt with engines.He was posted too Bishop Stortford to get ready for the invasion and had volunteered to go over.He serviced the aircraft that went to Arnhem.He remembers the padre going up with his parachute and travelling altar.
When he was on leave he would go to Chester and stay at a hotel. Because ordinary ranks were not allowed in hotels I had to change into non uniform.
I had to go to Wythall near Birmingham to a dispersal centre to be demobbed during 56 days leave, because during that time you could still be recalled in an emergency.I had come out prior to the actual finishing of the forces, under the married womans act, thats why I was released on that condition,and I didnt finish till the finalisation of the forces.

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