´óÏó´«Ã½

Joan Abbott (nee Monks)

In November 1944 Joan Monks joined the 170 Squadron at Dunholm Lodge and a month later moved to Hemswell. She began doing various jobs on the gunnery van and later became a driver on the ambulances until leaving the RAF in December 1945.

Joan’s first job was at an ammunition factory in Spencer Road, however she didn’t like this and decided to join up, much to her dad’s dismay. With three sons already in the services he wanted Joan to stay at home. However, she was determined to do her bit and decided to join the RAF in 1942. However, at only 17 she was too young and paid a visit to the vicar to get a letter stating she was 18. When the vicar realised Joan was from the Monks family he wasn’t suspicious of her lost birth certificate tale, and gave her a letter declaring she was 18 and could join up. The downside of this was that Joan’s dad refused to talk to her on her first leave as he disapproved.

During her time at Hemswell Joan met her future husband Dennis Abbott at one of the regular dances at the sergeant’s mess. Dennis was a wireless operator of the aircrew of the Lancaster F170. They married soon after the end of the war in 1946 and, after Dennis finished serving at Hemswell, moved to Wimbledon, where they had their first son Les. For four months after the end of the war Joan drove big-wigs around London, squadron leaders, air vice marshals and flight lieutenants. She didn’t enjoy this as she could never find her way around and frequently got lost. After the war they spent a brief time in Huddersfield before moving back to Wimbledon.

Joan worked on the ambulances during her time at Hemswell. To do this she had a 12 week driving course, with 4 weeks on cars and advancing up to 3 tonne vehicles, which qualified her for driving the ambulance. The shifts lasted up to 24 hours, they had one night a week off and that was spent at the naffy, cinema and various dances at the sergeant’s mess. Joan got 10 days off every three months and often went home. However, she often wished she was at the base as she felt far safer than in Wimbledon where the bombing was heavy. She remembers the bombing of the Lions Toy Factory, where her uncle was killed by a machine gunner on board a German plane whilst running towards the shelter. Joan didn’t realise how bad the bombing in London was until she came home on leave and travelled on the bus.

Joan thoroughly enjoyed Christmases at the camp, there would be a nice dinner then everyone would go back to the billet and get ready for the dance in the mess in the evening.

During her time at Hemswell Joan witnessed a number of accidents, one memory in particular is of a crash which occurred at the 170 hangar when a 170 squadron plane crashed. The pilot was badly injured with numerous face injuries and died on the way to hospital in the ambulance. Joan had to take the MO a cup of tea but couldn’t face going into the medical office so slid the tea along the floor. She vividly remembers seeing the bodies laid out and crying her eyes out, finding it hard to do her job.

Joan also remembers the following names from her time at Hemswell and would be keen to hear from anyone.

Corporal Bates - sick quarters
Sergeant Sell
Mary Bagnell — worked opposite shifts on ambulance
Charlie Crow — driver on men’s ambulance

Dennis Abbott’s Lancaster Crew:

170 Squadron Lancaster
K. J. Hayden - Pilot Flight Engineer
P. R. Harris-Smith - Bomber
M. Howard - Skipper
M. A. Crewe - Mid-Upper Gunner
Jim B. Gannon — Rear Gunner
H. Kelly - Navigator
Dennis Abbott - Wireless Operator

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