大象传媒

I was eighteen and it was the beginning of the year, 1940, when I was called up and marched down to the recruitment office in Liverpool. I didn鈥檛 have a choice of which branch of the Forces I joined, so I found myself becoming part of the RAF.
I and about twelve other women were sent on an Armourers course at a training and maintenance school in South Wales. We learnt about the machine guns used on fighter planes such as the Spitfires and Hurricanes. When I finished my training, which took about ten months, I was posted to Scotland where I stayed for about a year. Then I was posted to RAF Leuchars where I worked with seaplanes as well as the spitfires, etc. At this point, I also began working with Bomber Command.
I was then posted to Northholt, Middlesex where I was attached to the
Polish squadron, for about eight or nine months. From there, I was posted to a transit camp just outside Birmingham for about three months before being posted to RAF West Kirby in Cheshire. In 1944, I was posted to Belgium. We landed on French soil before travelling to Belgium where I was stationed near Brussels, at the 21st Army Group Headquarters under General Montgomery. I remained there for about thirteen months before being posted back to Britain and to an Empire Air Navigation School in Shawbury, Shropshire. There I learnt about aircraft navigation and cockpit equipment. I wanted to be a pilot but I was told I was unsuitable because of my age and for medical reasons.
In 1944 they were starting to wind the forces down so by 1945 I was given a choice as to whether or not I wanted to stay in the Forces. As my husband, who was serving in the Navy, was still posted abroad, I decided to stay in the Forces and pursue it as my career. Another crucial factor was that as a woman who had worked as an Armourer and Flight Mechanic, there were limited career options for me to pursue on Civvy Street.
I was told I couldn鈥檛 stay in the RAF because they were emptying it out and there would only be a few Officer Reserves until future plans for the RAF were organised. At this point, I was a Warrant Officer Class 2 and I was told that they would like to transfer me to the army but I would have to drop to a Staff Sergeant. I accepted and was sent to Liverpool University where I trained men and women to become regular officers until 1964.

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