大象传媒

Before joining the RAF at 17`1/2 yrs old, I was evacuated with my brother and sister from Finsbury Park to Stansted Abbots. It was a bad experience for us because we came from a family of 8 children. I was the only evacuee in the house because my brother and sister were next door. They hated it, but I felt like a little lady, I'd never been on my own before. After 9 months we went to Waltham Cross to where my parents had moved to get away from london.
When I was old enough I went into the Air Force as a Flight Mechanic. I was already familiar with thr tools because my five brothers were carpenters before the war. I passed the exams and came out as ACW. I did three years in the Airforce from 1942-45 and we did a lot of shifts which were 24hrs on and 24hrs off. It took the men mechanics about 9 monthe to realise that we knew our job. They needed us and they eventually learnt to trust us. The pilots did a wonderful job up in the air, but we were the mechanics who kept them there.
When the war ended I was working in Wales and was demobbed from there. It took me a long time to settle as a civilian but it got better when I got a job with Pickfords in Enfield - again as a mechanic. I used to be very good at repairing the bodywork of a car, but I haven't done so since I settled into married life and had two children.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.