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I think it was a little man named Rob Wilton wo used to start his comedy act by saying “The day war broke out ….’ So I’m repeating this by saying that the Day War Broke Out I was surfing on the beach at Perranporth and when I got home my father said to me ‘Trust you to be out larking about when something serious happens.’ I was 19 at the time.

Anyway, next day, a Monday, I took the train off to Plymouth as I’d read an advert which said ‘Join the Women’s RAF and release a young man for Flying Duties.’ So, I thought, why not? My parents got the shock of their lives when I returned home to Perranporth and told them I’d joined up in the RAF as a clerk. I was a shorthand-typist.

While I was waiting for my call-up papers I had driving lessons every day and passed in two weeks. October 1939 I was called-up and 50 or 60 of us met at Plymouth and we went off to an RAF camp named Warmwell between Dorchester and Weymouth. We met at Weymouth Sation and we were delivered to billets in the district. There were four of us, two double rooms, with a couple in a bungalow. I was terrified. Next morning at 8.00 am the RAF transport arrived to take us to Warmwell. It was a canvas covered lorry with benches down each side. At camp we were kitted out by the Equipment Section. We had a blue-grey mac, beret with badge, a respirator and black shoes. They didn’t have any shoes my size! We had our own clothes apart from those issued for about 2 months and then we got our uniform. (see pictures). I had terrible chilblains that winter.

The idea was for we girls to replace the men so that they could take up flying duties. So some were clerks, accounts clerks (paid wages), cooks, M>T> drivers, wireless operators, Ops Room girls, nurses, parachute packers and later Aircraft Mechanics.

I stayed at Wormwell until March 1940 and was posted to the HQ Bomber Command at Knaphill, near High Wycombe. There I was a secretary to the Code and Cyphers, Col. Ivons. He was a civilian boffin, old and had a Sgt who ran about for him. He invented the system. Very clever man and a very secret, hush-hush job. Bomber Command was split into 5 groups over the UK. These code and cypher cards or whatever they were called were collected from our office by Code and Cypher WAAF Officers by a staff car with their own driver with a gun for protection. These young girls were daughters of politicians and such like; I always thought they were chosen for their looks. I know I had to serve up tea and biscuits for them; I think it was the first time I’d tasted China tea. We were billetted in the Officers houses there amongst the gorgeous beech treees. I was made up to Admin Corporal later and was in charge of the houses. I had to see the WAAF’s kept their rooms clean, (we had a cook and assistant at each house), to see their clothes were clean and smart, also what they called an F.F.I inspection at the Medical Centre each month.

I had my 21st birthday at Bomber Command in March. Whenever we went to High Wycombe to go to a dance it seemed that there were S.P.’s there (?). I discovered later on when I’d left there that they were following me. Anyway I met one very nice S.P., an Australian called Jack. He did a bit of scrounging from the cookhouses for cold meat and butter and we took it to the local pub and we had a bit of a party, and it was that evening that we got engaged! Also on that day I heard I was posted to the WAAF Recruiting Depot at Innsworth, between Glos and Cheltenham. I saw these brazier things on the grass verge and I wondered what there were — I soon found out — smoke screen. I was Corporal in charge of a hut of 30 women. They were with us for a week, kitted out, had injections, medical tests, and given lectures on hygiene, sex and the History of the RAF. I was a square-basher and nursemaid! I went on a course to St Athen and used to hitch-hike from Gloucester to High Wycombe at the weekends to see Jack. When he came down to me he used to leave some washing for me to do. Some blue pyjamas went missing and all the girls had embroidered their names on it from the P.T.I hut.

To relieve boredom we had an Inter-Service Athletics Meeting for the WAAF , RAF Innsworth, RAF Boscombe Down and RAF Yatesbury. I did quite a bit of training that summer (1941), up early jogging etc. I won 6 cups for different events. All the P.T.I’s booked into the Bell Hotel at Cheltenham for a party to celebrate our Victory for the night, I was so stiff the next day, one of them had to give me a piggy-back down the stairs for breakfast. As a result of this, the C.O. sent for me — I was promoted to Sergeant and recommended for an Officers Course in P.T.I. and Administration. That was for a month. In the meantime my fiance had been posted to Evanton in Scotland for an Air Gunners Course. He eventually went to a Bomber Squadron at Feltwell in Norfolk. He was killed in October 1942 on a Bombing Raid over Germany. He was declared missing for several months, until I got word from the Red Cross that he was buried in Dinant, Belgium.

I was posted to various Stations as a Relief Officer for a while and then settled at the satelite of RAF Shawbury, Shropshire named RAF Condover. There were only 9 WAAF Officers there and over 200 girls in various trades. It was a hutted camp, very dispersed — we had bikes to get round from living quarters to working areas and on to the aerodrome. When we were duty Officers we had to report to the C.O. in the mornings for instructions and dip our hands in a bag and pull out a time disc. This was the time we had to go up to the aerodrome and see if the WAAF were doing their duties — during night flying time.

I met my future husband there at the Cadbury’s Caravan. He was a pilot. Condover was a Training School for Navigation personnel. We had intakes from Canada, South Africa, Asustralia as well as the UK. He came home on leave with me about June 1943 and we decided to get married at the end of September 1943, the 29th to b exact. He was posted to RAF Penrhos, North Wales, still training aircrew. We weren’t allowed to be on the same station so I got a posting to RAF Mona in the middle of Anglesey. It was there I had an infection in my eye and the Doctor said that I had ulcers on my eyeballs. I was sent to RAF Padgate near Warrington — it was a RAF Hospital. A Canadian Doctor experimented on me with penicillin eye-drops. He came and put a drop in every hour — even during the night. Within 24 hours I was better.

We were confined to camp on the Isle of Anglesey leading up to D-Day. For relief from boredom we had lorry trips to Carnaervon Castle. I was guide (got information from somewhere). I used to take the girls round on this tour of the Castle. I had this dog, a rough-haired terrier called Cran. What a terror he was —used to get off his lead and although the camp was very dispersed as before, used to find the nearest farm and once killed a chicken. I had to pay 2 pounds to the farmer. My husband used to fly over from Penrhos for weekends — we stayed in a farm house — candle at the bottom of the stairs, feather bed, gorgeous breakfast, but they wouldn’t take any money. We had to go back the next day. During this time my husband lost his way on a training flight. The young navigator had the compass all wrong, several degrees out and they thought they were in N. Devon but they were in Southern Ireland. Air internable defense (?) They were in a training plane — yellow. No identification on them because the weather was hot. They had quite a good time — party etc and they came away with a barrel of Guinness. The A.O.C. of the Group was on the tarmac when they returned. Brian got Court Martialled and had to forfeit 18 months seniority — that meant that his promotion to Sqd Ldr was delayed for 18 months.

We learnt about the D-Day landings that year and we were all very concerned. I liked it at Mona - to see the sun rise over the Welsh Mountains when the girls were on early morning parade was really something! I was posted to RAF Pembry early 1945. It was an older camp and we had proper houses to live in. I remember we were invited to a party by the Army and a DUK came to fetch us and we went across the Bay and landed on Pendine Sands — that’s where the land speed car racing was held.

The end of the war was near. My husband had been posted to RAF Waddington on 9 Squadron with 617 Squadron. Flew there for the VE Celebrations. Th Co. requested that we sat by him at dinner, smoked a cigar and had a few brandy’s. I became pregnant about that time and I left the Service in August 1945. I went to live in rooms in a farm house near Waddington (Lincoln).

These are just some of the highlights of what I can remember of different stations that I was posted to. I remember I went to RAF Heaton Park, Manchester just after my marriage and and airman came to me one day and asked me to explain to his wife about sex!

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