Interview with Muriel Blake
Title
Interview with Muriel Blake
Description
Muriel Blake was born in 1922 in Oakham, Rutland. Being interested in flying and aeroplanes from an early age, Muriel volunteered when her job prospects ended. Called up in 1944, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Being too short for driver, and turned down the job of mechanics, she became a safety officer. Throughout her service, she was posted to RAF Waterbeach, RAF Credenhill and RAF Mepal. Muriel recalls her time service stressing unpalatable food. She elaborates on different aspects such as service relationships, parties, celebrations, guard duty and having to wake people up, and finally packing parachutes and dinghies whilst working with 75 Squadron. This caused her to slip a disc in her back, ending her service in 1945. Many, herself included, did not often talk about the war, likening it to her father who served in World War One, wanting to forget her experiences. Although she liked the companionship, stating that if it was not for her back, she would have gladly returned. Following the war, Muriel moved around to several jobs, becoming a telephonist at the post office first, before eventually moving to a fire station
Creator
Publisher
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
2018-07-11
Contributor
Sam Harper-Coulson
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
01:18:54 audio recording
Language
Type
Identifier
ABlakeMMD180711, PBlakeMMD1801
Conforms To
Collection
Citation
Harry Bartlett, “Interview with Muriel Blake,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed January 25, 2021, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/9286.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.