大象传媒

Mickey Mouse Mechanics
My Experience as a Woman Radio Location Mechanic
By Norma Lodge

W. 107183 Pte. Lodge, Norma E. September 1942 鈥� November 1943 (R.Lo.M)
19th A.A.Coy Workshops. R.A.O.C. Charminster. Nr. Dorchester, Dorset.

In September 1942, a 鈥榤ini invasion鈥� took place in Charminster 鈥� nine A.T.S. Privates arrived at A.A. Workshops, Charminster. Up until then the Camp had been completely male personnel. Craftsmen, drivers, office staff, cooks, orderlies, etc., all male. We were the very first A.T.S. 鈥榞irls鈥� to be trained as Radio Location Mechanics, an experiment to see if we would be able to take on jobs that up to then had always been done by men.

It had all started for me in 1941, living in N.W. London, and working in an office in St. James鈥� Street not far from Buckingham Palace. I had run the gauntlet of the 鈥榖litz鈥�, the daylight bombing of the Palace, diving into a shop doorway to avoid being machine gunned and suffered the trials of getting to work by bus through the bombed out streets. I decided it was time to try to get my own back. Towards the end of 1941 I volunteered for the A.T.S. and I was called for a medical and job assessment to a recruiting office just behind Buckingham Palace. After the medical I was interviewed by an officer and asked what I would like to do. I replied 鈥淎nything but office work!鈥� I was informed that a new category had just come in 鈥� R.Lo.M. She did not know exactly what it was but a high standard of physics and mathematics was required. I had reached matriculation standard in both these subjects so I was put down for this.

On December 19th, 1941, I was put on a train, together with a medley of girls and transported to York Station. We were met by open lorries, with wooden forms along each side, humped up by soldiers and taken to Fulford Barracks, just outside the city, on the edge of the moors. Here most of the personnel were men, even to the N.C.O.鈥檚 who dished out our uniforms! We filed past a sergeant who sized us all up 鈥� small, medium or large! We were given a kit-bag and filed past three soldiers; the first gave us a pile of undies and nightclothes, then uniforms, then hats and gas masks etc. Having got back to the billets we sorted ourselves out and with a bit of swapping got some sort of order. The usual three weeks of training followed, ending with a 鈥楶assing Out鈥� parade through the town. A blizzard, followed by a slight thaw and then a freeze up, left the roads like ice, and one by one we did 鈥榩ass out鈥�, starting with the band who were going down like ninepins. Of course, it had to be abandoned, the first time in history.

At the beginning of February 1942 (a week after my 21st birthday) I was on my way to London to start my R. Lo. M. training. Humping my kit-bag and suitcase I arrived and had to report to a house in Montague Square, just behind Lyons Corner House at Marble Arch. There I joined nine other girls, all about the same age, and from various parts of the British Isles. Our billets were a three-storeyed town house, whose owners had been evacuated. There were facilities there for hot drinks only. We were lined up and marched through the London streets to the Polytechnic in Regent Street, W1, where we were taken to a restaurant for a meal. We were then taken to Room 24, Electrical Workshops where we joined 13 men who were to be our classmates for the next six months. These men were of varying ranks and Regiments, and like ourselves were not aware of the type of job we were training for. We were in Section D and there was another class, Section B running concurrently with ours. We were the only A.T.S. girls there; a few civilian girls were also attending (on hairdressing courses). There was the Cameo Theatre attached to the Polytechnic, which showed a variety of newsreels and cartoons, amongst those being ones of Mickey Mouse. As we weren鈥檛 quite sure what to call ourselves when asked, we dubbed ourselves the MICKEY MOUSE MECHANICS and so we remained until we had finished our training.

We had three months training working in the Electrical Workshops learning all the general principles of electricity, with practical training in twisting wires, tempering steel, filing metals to accurate sizes, using a micrometer for measuring, and much more. While in the workshops a lad from Section B took some photographs of us, one of which I had autographed by most of the Section. I also passed round my autograph album and have been fortunate enough to have these to hand, showing the variety of regiments represented.

At the end of three months we had exams which we all passed, and we went on to Radio Workshops. Here we learnt the principles of transmitting and receiving equipment and the use of cathode ray oscilloscopes. Even then we still did not know quite what it was all about. After passing the final exams the class split up. One girl dropped out but the rest of us girls, now nine in total, found ourselves on our way to Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. We were met at the railway station by a covered lorry and taken to the outskirts of the town. We were told that the camp was 鈥榓ll male鈥� with no accommodation for us and we were to be billeted with civilian families. I was assigned to a house near to the camp, to live with a young couple and small daughter. They only had to provide a bed, washing facilities, and a morning and evening drink; all our meals were to be provided at the camp. We were made very welcome by our hosts and most of us formed lifelong friendships.

At the camp we were put into a class with about 18 men and were divided into working groups of three, two men and a girl in each. It was here that I learnt that R.Lo.M. meant Radio-Location Mechanics. There we were introduced to the cabins that housed equipment to be used on gunsites for tracking aeroplanes more accurately. The cabins were mounted on wheels with fixed aerials, the whole cabin rotating! There was also a small version called S.L.C.- Searchlight Control - for mounting on a searchlight. The work was very complicated and highly secret. All our notes had to be locked away each night and extra study had to be done in the workshops in the evenings. We were still unable to tell anyone what we were doing so we remained 'Mickey Mouse Mechanics'.

It was here that we had our first embarassing moment working in all all male camp. We had to report to the M.I. room for a medical before being posted. The M.I. room consisted of a nissan hut. There were two adjoining rooms on one side of the hut, one for the M.O. and the other for the Medical Orderly. On the other side were wooden forms for the patients to sit and wait, with just a narrow passage between them and the offices. Patients had to strip off ready for inspection, and wait on these forms. As a concession, we girls were allowed into the Medical Orderly's office to strip. We were then ushered one at a time through the connecting doorway and back again to get dressed. The exit from the nissan hut facing this office was strictly for the M.O. and his staff. We therefore came out of the office and had to go back through the hut past the benches. Unfortunately, while we were being examined and unbeknown to us, a group of men had turned up for their medical. We took one look at them and fled through the M.O.'s exit! This was only the start of it as far as we were concerned. I'm sure the the powers that be at the War Office, under whose direct command we came, must have been all male at that time, not realising the problems we had to face!

Then at the end of September 1942, we received our first posting. We had to report to R.A.O.C. Workshops, Charminster near Dorchester. Here we found ourselves once again in an all male environment. There was no accommodation for females at the camp so a large part of a local house called 'Westleaze' was commandeered for our use. There were two halves to the house, the family and the servants' quarters. We had the latter plus a lovely large drawing room in the family section. We were also allowed use of the kitchen for evening drinks. All meals were to be taken at the camp. The family consisted of a very elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Davys and their housekeeper, Grace. At that time there were just us nine privates, no N.C.O.'s or officers. At the workshops toilet facilities had to be provided, so we were allocated those for senior N.C.O.'s, which were situated in full view of the whole camp on one side of the Parade Ground.

We were received with mixed feelings by the men in the camp. At first, none appreciated that we were to work as and with them. One of the first jobs that they handed over to us most willingly was that of keeping the workshops spick and span. Because of the smallness of some of the items used in the equipment, the benches and floors had to be kept polished and dust free. We all even had to wear felt overshoes in the workshops. The whole camp was divided into two sections "A" and "B". We worked a six day week, three days from 8am to 6pm, alternating with three days working 8am to 8pm. If we worked late on Friday, we had Saturday free; the next week we worked late Saturday and had Sunday off. This meant that we occupied the workshops until 8pm, (or later if there was an emergency) so the cleaning took us until about 10pm.We therefore dubbed ourselves the 鈥楥harminster Chars鈥�. We did complain often and loudly but as the complaints went through the male sergeant they seemed to go no further.

One Friday night, at about 9.30pm we were just finishing polishing the floor when the phone rang; one of the girls lifted the receiver and said 鈥淐harminster Chars speaking鈥�. A man鈥檚 voice said 鈥淭his is your C.O. Captain Forte here. You have a crack of light showing in one of your windows. Who did you say you were?鈥� 鈥淐harminster Chars, sir.鈥� 鈥淎nd what exactly does that mean?鈥� So she explained the situation, including the fact that our protests were not passed on. That did it 鈥� the next day on morning parade the C.O. came out and gave them a lecture. We girls were part of the work force, as they were, all jobs such as cleaning and lighting fires were to be done on a strict rota and we were to be treated the same as them in every way. After that we went out on site to work, carrying on there until the sites were back in action regardless of how long it took. We went on route marches with the men, marching in the centre of the columns. At first the marching songs they sang were very restrained, but soon they forgot we were there and we learned some entirely new versions.

Soon after our arrival there was an invasion scare and we were on Red Alert. It was decided to have a mock invasion of the camp and we had to 鈥榙efend鈥� it. I was made a 鈥榬unner鈥�, and had to go from the C.O.鈥檚 bunker to other parts of the camp with verbal messages. Most of my 鈥榬unning鈥� consisted of crouching and even wriggling on my stomach to avoid the 鈥榖ullets鈥�. It was after this that we asked for an audience with the C.O. and requested rifle training, so that we could defend ourselves. The C.O. agreed and after that we had regular rifle practice. I think we were some of the first women to have this training. Another request which we had made at the beginning was to have denim overalls supplied, ordinary slacks and jackets being impractical.

Soon after our arrival in September 1942, the Regiment of R.E.M.E. came into being and the whole workshops changed over from R.A.O.C. We then became Craftswomen and had to change our strip colours from red/blue to red/yellow/blue. On the Sunday afternoon we women retreated from our 鈥榯reat us the same鈥� attitude, and armed with scissors, needles and thread, we went to the canteen and seated on the ends of tables we had the men line up with their battle dress tops and proceeded to whip off their old flashes and replace with the new ones. We girls had these strips, the area flash of black Bow and Arrow on a red background, and Sparks flashes. This was another first for women, being in at the start of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

We started to go out to the various Gun sites when the radiolocation equipment developed a fault. This had to be traced and remedied as quickly as possible as the site was out of action until repaired. Here we met another problem; the sites were all male, not geared in any way for a female 鈥榠nvasion鈥�. At first we were a bit shy about this. The weather being fine and most of the sites being in the country we used to go 鈥榖lackberrying鈥�! Then one day when three of us girls were taken to a site at Shell Bay near Poole, there was just nowhere for us to go. We told the sergeant who hunted out the Orderly Sergeant and quickly posed our problem. He nodded and with a slight wink at us he went and stood outside the Ablutions, then in true Sgt. Major鈥檚 voice he bawled 鈥淓VERYBODY OUT鈥�. They all came running out in various states of disarray to be confronted by three blushing females. After that we had no hesitation in asking for the Ablutions to be cleared and a guard put there for us.

One of my first experiences was to be called out to a gun site at Kimmerage Bay. The site was right on top of the cliffs and very exposed. Three of us girls went with a Cpl just after lunch. It was quite a journey in the 鈥楾illy鈥�, there was only room for two in the front, the other two had to squat in the back. We arrived at about 3pm and set to work. The trouble was the one thing we dreaded to find. It was in the 鈥榗otton reel鈥�, a large wooden reel in the floor of the cabin underneath a hatch. All the connections from the outside equipment were connected to this reel and the cabin rotated round with radiolocation connections in constant touch as the cabin turned. Not only was it difficult to get at but it had to be done with the cabin doors wide open, meaning that after dark we had to work by the light of pencil torches. We therefore hoped to get it done in daylight. We traced the fault and found that the part we needed was back at the workshops. We phoned up for this part to be sent down by dispatch rider on his motorcycle. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. We phoned workshops and were told that it had left some time before. At last he arrived, and what a state he was in. It seems he had met head-on was a chicken crossing the road. Not only had he come off his bike but the wheels had jammed up with bird and feathers and he had taken a considerable time clearing the wheels. It was getting quite dark when we started repairs and we did not arrive back at camp until 2am, extremely cold as we only had our thin denims on, and very hungry as no meals were provided.

That winter there were some very nasty storms and one night a huge tidal wave swamped the Gun Site on the strip of land leading from Weymouth to Portland Bill. Every bit of equipment was affected by sand and sea. What could be shifted was brought to the workshops to be stripped down and cleaned. I worked on the field telephones. We all worked extra hours to get the site back in action again.

In March 1943 I joined the Calibration Team. This consisted of a lieutenant, a sergeant and three A.T.S. Whenever the weather was fine and the cloud base high, we went out on site to take readings of all the equipment. We were joined by an R.A.F. radio van, and when we got to the site, we had to lay out two long white strips in the form of a cross for the pilot in the aircraft to get his bearings. He had to circle round at a set height and distance for some time trailing a target, while four of us stood one each side of the Predictor, clip boards and lined and sectioned paper at the ready. When the officer said 鈥淣ow鈥�, we had to note the exact reading on our side of the Predictor. The scales went from plus to minus numbers. After taking readings of various heights and distances etc., we took the figures back to camp and with a series of graphs, the corrections were worked out. We usually took advantage of fine days to go out, and we did the calculations when the weather was unsuitable. Sometimes the weather caught us out and we had to abandon the site for that day.

There were two more incidents that happened to me when I was at Charminster. One morning, immediately after breakfast, I set off with a corporal, a driver and two other girls to go to a gun site near Studland. It was between there and Shell Bay near Poole. The quickest route was via Wareham, but that went across the firing ranges, often closed for firing practice. We therefore had to go all the way to Poole and across the ferry from Sandbanks. We set out in plenty of time to catch the 10 am. ferry; in wartime these only ran every two hours and it was vital that we did not miss it! En route we stopped at a small 鈥榗af茅鈥�, (many of the houses used to run such in one of their rooms), serving sandwiches, coffee and buns. We often took a small break in one such, especially if we were not sure of our next meal. We got chatting and suddenly realised the time, and that we would certainly miss the ferry. We decided to go the Wareham way in the hope that the ranges would be open. . . No such luck. The barrier was down and the red flags were flying but there was no one on guard. We could not hear any firing and decided to chance it. We lifted the barrier and went through at breakneck speed. The ride was extremely bumpy and as we three girls were squatting in the back of the 鈥榯illy鈥�, it was rather hair-raising. We got through safely and reached the barrier at the other end. It was down and three guards were standing there with their backs towards us guarding the entrance. They turned round with a look of astonishment. 鈥淲here the b鈥︹�︹�� h鈥� did you come from?鈥� Our driver got out and assured them that he had not seen any barrier or flags. An argument then ensued, the driver having been refused permission to go through. Then we girls put in an appearance and the guards looked even more startled, but they changed their tune. There was no way they would send girls back through the ranges and they allowed us through, with a stern warning that we were not to try it again.

The other incident was even more frightening. Although that the furthest west that we serviced was Portland Bill, Weymouth and Chickerell, it was decided to send our Calibration team to Exeter for a few days to attend to the gun sites around Exeter. It was about April 1943 and an officer, a craftsman, three girls and a driver travelled there in a mobile workshop. This was a three tonner which had workbenches and equipment down the sides and one across the middle. Once again we girls had to travel in the back. We were told to take our own bedding in case we had to provide our own on arrival at the A.T.S. camp near where we were to work. There were just two stools in the back, which we tied firmly to the benches towards the back of the van, near to the double doors that went across the back. We used some heavy equipment to hold these doors slightly ajar and then tied them across the handles to stop them from swinging open. This was to let some air in and it gave us a bit of a view, even if it was only where we had come from. One of the girls made herself a bed on one of the workbenches and we two endeavoured to make ourselves comfortable with our pillows at our backs. We travelled from Charminster to Exeter like this. When we arrived at the town, one girl, Ellen, was dropped off at her home, which was near Exeter; Alice and I were taken right out of town to a village called Topsham. We were taken to a large house in its own grounds about two miles from Topsham. This house had been turned into A.T.S. Quarters for a small group of girls. We were told that this house was full but that at the rear there were two Nissan huts used as storerooms. They had cleared a small space and erected two beds and supplied us with mattresses. We were allowed to use the facilities in the house and they could provide us with breakfast and an evening meal.

In the morning, the men and Ellen came to fetch us to take us all to our first job. This was a gun site on the side of a range of hills, looking down over a valley and river. On the hillside on the other side of the river at quite a distance, we could just make out the sight of another camp. The personnel at the gun site, including the Lt i/c were not at all pleased to see us and we soon found out why. We had the 鈥榩lane circling overhead, but before starting, we took a look through the rangefinder. It was trained on to the camp at the other side of the river, which was occupied by W.A.A.F.s who worked nights and slept days outside, the weather being fine. They had no idea they were being spied on as they got ready for bed. However the job had to be done so we proceeded. At the end of the day we were taken back to our billets. As we had been taken right through the gates and up to the house, we did not see the name of the place, and the only way we could recognise it was by the distinctive gateposts. They were tall brick columns with big round concrete balls on the top. On the way back the lads mentioned that there was a very good film being shown at a cinema in Exeter, and invited us to join them if it was possible to make it. 鈥淰ery easy鈥�, we were told. We just had to go across the grounds to the back of the estate. There we would find a locked gate - climb over it 鈥� turn right along the road and walk along for about 2 miles and we would come to Topsham Station. We would then get a train to Exeter Station. To return we had to get the last train from Exeter to Topsham; there was however a HALT Station before Topsham. We had to alight at this station, walk along the platform and on to the railway line and carry on along this line until we came to where it went over a bridge. At the side of this bridge there was a flight of steps down the bank on to the road and we would see the house gates straight ahead. As it was blackout in the country, we were advised to take a torch. What they had failed to tell us was that this was illegal and had to be done secretly.

All went to plan until we got out at the Halt Station. It was about 10.30 pm and pitch black. We walked along the platform but as we stepped on to the track, a man鈥檚 voice shouted 鈥淎nd where do you think you are going?鈥� It was the porter. He called us back, gave us a lecture on the dangers on walking on the track, possibly being hit by a passing goods train, and made us go down the station path on to the road. There was a junction of three roads and we were lost. As we stood there, a jeep came along with four G.I.s in it. They offered us a lift but as we did not know where we were stationed, we had to decline. To our relief, we saw the porter put out all the lights, lock up the station gates, and cycle off. We crept back up, climbed over the gates on the platform and set off. We hadn鈥檛 gone far when my pencil torch flickered and went out and we were left in total darkness. After a time we became accustomed to the dark and could just make out the line to follow. All of a sudden, we walked into a gate across the line 鈥� we had gone down a siding. There was no turning back as we didn鈥檛 know just where we had turned off. We could vaguely see a road at the bottom of the railway bank so decided to get down to it. The bank was steep and slippery, covered with stinging nettles and brambles. We were wet and torn and stung but arrived at the bottom more or less OK. We thought that we had better continue the way we were heading, then we heard voices, but our joy turned to fear. It was a group of drunken soldiers. There was a hedge on one side of the road so we pressed into it and hid our faces, and they staggered past.

After quite a while we came to a gateway, looked over it and made out the outline of a house. We knew it must be very late but plucked up courage to go up to the house and knock on the door. A very nice old gentleman poked his head out of the window and asked what was wrong. We explained our predicament to him and described the gateposts of the house. To our relief, not only did he know the place but said that it was only a matter of about ten yards further on to the bridge and the steps. Fortunately, as we were not on the strength of the camp we did not have to sign in. We crept round the back of the house, found our Nissan hut and got ready for bed. The time was 2.30 am. When the lads came to fetch us next day and we told them about it, they roared with laughter, but it was very far from funny at the time. Soon after that we returned to Charminster, and were very relieved to be back.

In April 1943 we were suddenly posted to another all-male workshop at Weyhill near Andover. All that is except one girl. When we first arrived at Charminster the instrument shop was very busy and short-handed, and a volunteer was called for. The girl that went to help proved to be so apt that she was kept on and given proper training. She remained the only female Instrument Mechanic until June 1945 when she left to get married. At Weyhill two Nissan huts were put at our disposal, and we had an A.T.S. orderly with us. It was then that we had our first A.T.S. officer. The first thing that she had to deal with was a sit-down strike. We had been fully qualified mechanics since the previous September yet we were still only getting 8/- a week as ordinary privates. We should have been receiving 15/- a week but no one seemed to take the responsibility for putting it through Orders, a necessary process before we could get our pay. We therefore went into the workshops, sat on our stools and refused to budge until something was done about it! (The War Office still owes us about 拢13!)

Until another orderly could be obtained I volunteered to act as 鈥榖atman鈥� to the Officer and quite enjoyed the experience. In July we were once again on the move. More trained girls had arrived and so we were sent on to Cricklade near Cirencester, Wiltshire. Again we were the first girls there. They had no room for us at the camp so three Nissan huts were joined together, the end ones being sleeping quarters and the centre toilets, showers, baths etc. In hot weather the doors would be left open and one could walk straight through. These huts just happened to be at the side of a field full of curious cows. One hot night we made the mistake of leaving the doors open and we were woken up by a cow ambling through. The farmer was requested to move them to another field. Once again it was only sleeping accommodation and we had to walk to the main camp for meals. All this time I had been endeavouring to get posted back to Charminster. I was keen to get back to Calibrations and I had an ulterior motive. In the April of that year I had become engaged to a vehicle mechanic at Charminster, and hoped to get back to him. I achieved this in August just two weeks before he was posted overseas to North Africa and Italy. Soon after that I had health problems and it was decided that I would be better able to get treatment in civvy street, so I was discharged and returned to London to face the 鈥榙oodle bugs鈥� and rockets! I never regretted my two years鈥� service in the forces and the unique experience of it.

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