大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Jean Goodfellow, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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[You鈥檙e a local woman?]
Yes, from up the scrabo road [in Newtownards, Northern Ireland].

[Do you remember when the war started?]
Oh yes. But I didn鈥檛 join up until 1943. I was 17 and 陆 when I joined up. I served 4 years. I was a flight mechanic, airframe.

[Were you stationed here in Newtownards AFB?]
No. I was stationed at the end of the war here, but I was in England and Scotland. About 5 stations, 5 RAF stations in England, then I was moved to Scotland with the Flying Boats. And from there to Bishop鈥檚 Court over at Ardglass here.

[Was it always the Flying Boats you were on?]
No, no. I was on Blenheims and Wellingtons.

[Blenheims have 2-engines, but Wellingtons have 鈥

4. They were the bombers.

[What about Spitfires?]
No. I didn鈥檛 work on those.

[interesting for a teenage girl working on 4-engine bombers?]
We had a corporal and a sgt, a flight sgt, over us. We worked alongside the men.

[Were they women?]
No, they were men.

[4 years service, from 43 to 鈥
47. The end of 47. I met my husband in the air force. He was engine. He was Flight mechanic, engines. So I met him and we got married in 1947. And then I left.
I met him at Bishop鈥檚 Court over here. And he lived here.
He passed away 30 yrs ago. He was from Newcastle on Tyne, but he lived over here. That鈥檚 life.

[Before you joined the WAAFs, were you evacuated?]
No, not over here. These ones are English, but I was born here.
And then when I joined the air force I was trained over in England for about a year. And then I came back.
He was stationed here at Bishop鈥檚 Court, and he loved the country.
The children are grown up now, they鈥檝e all got married.

[NI had the same rationing as in mainland].
In the air force you were well fed and that. Sometime.

[They had to keep you in shape.]
Aye, they had. I enjoyed every minute of it. Every minute of it.

[did you want to make a career of it?]
No, once I got married I got out then.
My husband could have stayed on, he was getting to be a sergeant. And he had a trade to come back to. He was a joiner on Civy street, so he had something to go back to. They were needed all over the place after the war. He decided to come out then. And that was it.

I made many great friends. And we kept in touch.

[Any great stories?]
Not really.

[What about before you joined?]
Well, I was in the aircraft factory for about a year before I joined. [Shorts]. I was up Crawfordsburn road for about a year before I joined up.

We done the square-bashing in Cheshire, then went down to Lochlin in Somerset for 3 months on a mechanic鈥檚 course. And after that I was sent in to the air force. And that was it.

But you felt less when you came out. You missed it. The companionship and all the rest of it.

[What was it like in the aircraft factory?]
It was all right. It was long hours.

[Was it all women?]
It was mixed.

[Surely a lot of men quit so they could join the RAF]
That鈥檚 right, that鈥檚 right. A lot of them.

[was it just young girls working?]
Older ones too. Especially the aircraft factory, they just got anybody there. You got hired then. And tried to get as much done as you could.

[Did they work you too hard? Terrible working conditions?]
No, it was nothing like that.

At one of the stations we were able to go in civilian clothes. This WAAF had High heels and she brightened them sitting outside, and I said to her 鈥淚鈥檒l get this and I鈥檒l get that if you don鈥檛 come back鈥�.
She went up with a pilot on a test-flight. They never came back, and they never found them. They never got the plane or anything else.
In RAF stations I saw things like that happen, but I just don鈥檛 talk much about them.

[That was at a base in England?]
Aye.

[At the Aircraft factory, in the canteen, what were the rations like?]
No, you just took a lunch in. There was nothing laid on, you just took a lunch in. that was it.

I was at a stitching factory before, and then I went into the aircraft factory.
Better wages in the aircraft factory.
I was always wanting to do something, and thought it would be an experience. Then from there I joined up on Waring st, and away. And that was it. I had good times.

[Did the factory have procedures for if there was an air-raid?]
Over here? No, I was never called out over here.
There was thick on the airdromes. Once you got the word.
But it was sad to see some of the airmen there, coming down all burnt, and then they went back when they鈥檙e out of hospital and they came back to visit. It was very sad then.

In the forces you always looked for companionship. I think that鈥檚 what it was.

So that is my life story!

I didn鈥檛 quite like the flying boats in Scotland. I would rather be in the other stations.

[Were they harder to repair?]
No, it鈥檚 just 鈥� I don鈥檛 know. It鈥檚 just too far out, there鈥檚 nowhere near it.

[Out in the middle of nowhere?]
That was it.

[On one of the wee islands?]
No, no. you can see it when you鈥檙e coming in on the Stranraer boat. 鈥淩igboy鈥�, you called it. 鈥淩igboy鈥�. That was on the right-hand side when you were coming up the Loch. That鈥檚 where the Flying-Boats were.

[It could have been worse. You could have been up in John O鈥橤roats or somewhere]
I know.
I enjoyed the test-flights. I used to go up with the pilots testing the planes. I enjoyed that.

[Did you get much leave?]
Aye. About every 3 mths we got a week.
I just came back home.

[Did you not get a weekend pass?]
Oh, we did 鈥� over there. But the leaves - we went out on weekend passes and that, but for Leaves we always came home.
It鈥檚 good travelling round different places.

[Did you see more of the world?]
Aye. I was at 5 stations in England, then I was in Scotland and then here. You were all over the place. In the air force you were stationed from 1 place to another. Posted from 1 airdrome to the other.
It was very very good.

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