大象传媒

I joined the WAAF in September/October 1941. My brother F/Sgt. Robert (Bob) Hind WOP/AG, had been shot down off the Dutch Coast, Squadron 18, Blenheim. My father Bobby Hind was leaving for India with his `The London Sonora Band` and other entertainers for ENSA. My mother went with him as manager, organising, confirming transport, lodgings etc. The went where there were troops and they went were in some far flung places.
So I joined the WAAF with a friend I had met playing tennis at the Cavendish Club in Eastcote.
We were picked up at a given place and time in Kingsway, I believe it was called Adastral House, and taken to Gloucester where we were given kit and signed on for duty for the length of the hostilities.
After four hectic days we were taken to Morecombe for 10/14 days. A cold and windy place at that time of the year. We were put in 'digs' accommodation which in normal times was rented to holidaymakers. My friend, Molly Henderson Snow and I were given a small room with a single and a double bed, both lumpy, and it was cold so were shared the double bed. During the day we were given lectures in a cinema and paraded around the streets. Finally we left there and were posted to Tangmere, a fighter station outside Chichester with a satellite called Westhampnett. Our first few nights were spent under the spectators seats at a racing course called Fontwell. Things were a bit confused at Tangmere at that time, it had been recently bombed, people killed and the WAAF's had been moved off not only as a safety precaution but their accommodation had also been destroyed. We were then moved to the 'new' accommodation four huts in a field, one for each Watch. There was a fifth hut which contained Elsan toilets!!! From this field , there was a gap in the hedge, cross a lane another, field and we reached the Administration area where there was a dining hall, ablutions (I love that word) which consisted of three or four showers, ditto baths in a very draughty area with a concrete floor.
I had been attached to D Watch who were just starting a 48 hour leave, so back I went to London and home. A couple of days later on the train to Chichester I was in the same compartment as another WAAF and we started talking, her name was Pat Shorthouse. Pat asked me were I was going and I told her D Watch etc. So she said that I could go with her which was great. We went back to the hut to dump our gear before going on duty and just as we were about to open the door it opened and there stood a WAAF, gorgeous skin and blond hair. Pat told her who I was and she said I hope your name is not Joan, there are already three other Joan鈥檚 and I am Joan MacMaster. I gaped but could see her point and said yes I am a Joan so we stood there and she asked if I had any nickname or such. I said sometimes my father called me Janet so Joan said there you are then.
I have been Janet ever since.
So at last the day came when I would finally start being a plotter. A coach collected us from the site and off we went.
The plottingroom had, of course, been at Tangmere so the present one was in what had been a children鈥檚 school. It was quite an attractive single storey building, there was a short passage which led to the centre which was a cloister with a large green lawn in the middle, presumably where the children played. The hall had been turned into the ops room and former classrooms were given over to other things, an RT room and also a very large room with beds, night duty was 8 hours and if it was a quiet night we took it in turn to have a nap.
There was of course one big handicap or should I say 'small' the toilets, there were about six of them, all about a foot high and doors which started a foot of the ground and finished about 3 feet from the ceiling. Normal enough in a kindergarten so the teacher could keep an eye on things, but for adults???
So then it began, training on the spot, there was a training school at Eastleigh but it was full or they wanted plotters quickly so there we were. This huge table covered the south east of England, the Channel and some of France and there we were with our little bone arrows in three different colours, there was a clock on the wall and each 15 minutes was also divided into three different colours. You would use a coloured arrow which matched the colour of the clock at that time. Leave them for 5 minutes and then removed them so the Controller 鈥� who sat on a dais the length of the room, could see at a glance what was happening, what was showing up in France, crossing the channel and which direction the aircraft then took. Our information came from the RDF stations and Uxbridge where the main ops room was which covered not only our area of Group 11 but also the area on either side.
We quickly got quite proficient at throwing the arrows down and pushing them in place with a long wooden pole wit a flat piece of wood on the end. Some time later, much later, the bone arrows were changed to metal ones and the poles had a metal end with a magnet in it so the arrows be picked up and place instead of being pushed around. Also on that wall there was a row of numbers showing which squadron were at Tangmere and Westhampnett, with strings running down the wall with balls on them which were moved up and down to show what state the squadron were, flying, standing by etc. There were Spitfires and Hurricane, sometimes Typhoons came down if there was going to be a big sweep over France escorting bombers. Sometimes there was a Lysander which went over to drop or pick up resistance people. There was also a tannoy in the room on which we could hear the conversations of the pilots 鈥� some months later this was turned off. 'They' had decided it was a distraction and also upsetting when someone called out 鈥渉e鈥檚 down鈥� 鈥淪o and so in the water鈥�.
I can鈥檛 say exactly when but about a year or year and a half later the whole thing was transferred to Bishop Otter College. We all had rooms to sleep in, two to a room. Sheer heaven after the huts. The Gym or Hall, I don鈥檛 remember which had been turned into the Ops room and all five minutes walk from Chichester, Chi as we called it.
Chichester was a lovely place going back into distant times with the Eastroad, Westroad etc. of the original village and a Cathedral that was founded in 1078. Also it had two great pubs, the Union and the Nag鈥檚 Head. The landlords of both were very friendly to us, OK we were customers and they were glad of the business I don鈥檛 doubt. George King (I think that is his name) was the Landlord of the Unicorn and there was a small bar upstairs where we congregated. There was a big saloon downstairs as well as a spit and sawdust (metaphorically speaking) so it was quite a big place. We often went when we were off duty, there was a Dining room as well which was very popular.
After the war in Europe was over I was posted to 8HQ outside Newmarket. There was a small Ops room about half a dozen personnel and nothing much to do. The horse racing was very low key of course but we went to the course if there was any, if we were off duty of course. A much quieter life all round and finally I was discharged 31st January 1946 after just over four years of service.

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