大象传媒

Dorothy M. Stanleick went to grammar school during the 1930鈥檚, which was quite unusual then as the uniform alone cost 拢80, a lot of money in those days, far more than the average annual family income. Dorothy left school, in Devon in 1941. During 1943 at 19 years of age she was directed by the Women鈥檚 Technical Service Register to train at the Government Training Centre in Radnor Road, in Horfield, to become a draughts-woman. After eighteen months of training she was sent to the Bristol Aeroplane Company鈥檚 training school in The Promenade in Clifton, to train to do detailing lists. After training she was told and had it in writing that she would be given 鈥渘ice clean work in a quiet office鈥�. However, she was sent to the flight test drawing office and given the job as an instrument panel designer and tester. She was one of the first, which eventually became eight women to do this very important technical work that had only been done by men before. This was by no means nice clean work, it was very noisy where the engines were being tested for twenty four hours continuously, for two weeks at a time. Dorothy remembered that they were not allowed to open the windows, there was no such thing as ear defenders then either.

As a designer of static flight observers 鈥� with all instruments aboard she worked on Bristol Freighters, Wayfarers, Britannia and Brabazon to name a few; she was also involved in the early years of the development of the prototype Concorde as it took ten years just to build a test model!

Another of the jobs that she had to do was to photograph using an F24 camera, the aeroplanes as they landed, and during the first week that Dorothy was there were three plane crashes as the undercarriages did not operate!

It was a very well paid job, with the added bonus of being able to do test flight observation in the planes herself, where she was paid extra money per flight. There were automatic Observer panels, some of the many monitors installed to monitor all aspects of aircraft and system behaviour. She stated that:

鈥淲e knew it was dangerous, but we were absorbed by the task and it did not stop us as we thought it was a good thing we were doing and we were getting paid for it鈥�.

Another aspect of working in a test hanger was that the men there had to be told to behave themselves, as the idea of a woman working in what was normally a very much male domain was unusual, so no wolf whistling or swearing was allowed.

Like so many other people Dorothy experienced the bombing raids of September 1940 that fell on Filton. One fateful day when the music was played 鈥楳arching Through Georgia鈥� over the tannoy system that meant everyone had to find his or her designated shelter. On her way she helped a blind colleague find her way into a shelter, but because it took longer than normal to get there they went to another shelter other than their usual one. When the bombs fell, they were lucky because the one they should have gone into was completely demolished. Ninety-Two people lost their lives in that bunker that day.

There were thousands of people working at Filton during the 2WW; very few would have their own cars. Dorothy remembered how women left 25 minutes past the hour and men left half past the hour, all rushing to catch the buses back to Bristol. The buses were all lined up in long rows waiting for the workers as they left.

Dorothy married Malcolm West in 1950, but she continued to work after her marriage, which was unusual for those days, she was ahead of her time. The work that she did was interesting and well paid, and it meant that she was able to continue in her professional role in life, and she left following the birth of her daughter. Malcolm West who had joined the company during 1948 became the Chief Flight Test Observer at BAC so continued the family connection in aviation.

During 2001 it was the 50th year anniversary of the Brabazon launch. Dorothy was one of those invited along with her ex-colleagues, and following a special luncheon put on, they were taken down to the Brabazon hangar, to remember those days.

Sadly Dorothy passed away during July 2004, but this story has been contributed with the full agreement of her daughter Lesley, who fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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