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Interview with Joyce Exton Wallace. Four
![AExtonWallaceJ[Date]-04.mp3](/omeka/application/views/scripts/images/fallback-audio.png "AExtonWallaceJ[Date]-04.mp3")
Joyce Exton Wallace recalls being put on a charge for insolence to a non commissioned officer. Joyce and her colleagues had missed the last train back to camp at Stanmore after attending a dance. She was reprimanded for reacting inappropriately to…
Interview with Joyce Exton Wallace. One
Joyce Exton Wallace recalls reattaching a loose barrage balloon with the help of the commanding officer.
Interview with Joyce Exton Wallace. Six
Joyce Exton Wallace recalls a conversation with an elderly man who expressed his disgust at women wearing trousers. He had seen her tying a barrage balloon's wing down whilst up a 14 foot ladder in the playing field of St. Edward's school.
Interview with Joyce Exton Wallace. Three
Joyce Exton Wallace recalls a time when she was with barrage balloons protecting an army barracks in Barry when a dog stole their meat ration. It was subsequently replaced by locals pooling their own meat rations.
Interview with Joyce Exton Wallace. Two
Joyce Exton Wallace recalls a misunderstanding whist giving orders to inspect the barrage balloon bed wires which was misinterpreted as an order to inspect the wires of the 16 beds in the Nissen hut.
Interview with June Pauline Brandon
June Brandon was born in India, returning to England when her father died. She joined the WAAF and went into the Photographic Section, loading cameras on Spitfires then carrying out development of the films. She served at several RAF stations,…
Interview with Kathleen (Katy) Reid
Kathleen Reid worked in reserved occupation but wanted to join the RAF as a WAAF. She was initially trained as a telephonist but remustered to flight control. Duty meant staying all night in the tower to guide flights home. Then they would be…
Interview with Lawrence Henry di Placito. One
Lawrence di Placito served as a second-class coxswain on the RAF Air Sea Rescue launches during the Second World War. He was born in Chertsey and attended Egham grammar school where he was a member of the cadet force. Upon leaving school in 1936 he…
Interview with Lawrence Henry di Placito. Two
Lawrence di Placito served as a second-class coxswain on the RAF Air Sea Rescue launches during the Second World War. Henry gives further details of his experiences in rescues, both successful and those with a tragic ending. He also tells of Ealing…
Interview with Len Harper
Len Harper registered for the air force in April 1939, influenced by the positive experience of his brother, who had joined in January. Upon completing training at the Wireless Training School, RAF Yatesbury, he was posted to RAF Wittering, where he…
Interview with Lillian Margret Bailey
Lillian Margaret Bailey volunteered for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and after a brief time in RAF Balloon Command was trained as a driver. She served at RAF Elsham Wolds driving aircrews out to their aircraft.
Interview with Margaret Cuthill
Margaret Cuthill volunteered for the WAAF in Edinburgh. She went for her basic training at Wilmslow before completing her training as a teleprinter operator at RAF Cranwell. She was then posted initially to 14 Maintenance Unit. After the war she…
Interview with Margaret Habberfield
Margaret Habberfield was born in 1923. At sixteen she joined the Royal Air Force after giving her age as eighteen. She began her six-week general training at Harrogate and was billeted with around 20 other girls. Margaret was then posted to RAF…
Interview with Margaret Helen Day
As her father was in the Royal Navy, Margaret attended school in Gibraltar, Portsmouth, and (after her mother’s death) Malta, before returning to Gosport in the UK when she was eleven. In 1939, she was fifteen and working for a company making soft…
Interview with Margaret Hourigan
Margaret Hourigan grew up in and around Nottingham. Despite holding Labour principles she volunteered for the WAAF’s as soon as War was declared and was called up in January 1940. She Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a…
Interview with Margaret Sinclair Longmate
Margaret Longmate came from a family, from Edinburgh, with long links to the RAF. Her uncle had been in the Flying Corps in the First World War and various other friends and family joined the service during the Second World War. Therefore, it seemed…
Interview with Margret Young
Margaret Young grew up in Scotland and worked in a ladies shoe department. She volunteered for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force at the age of 18 and served as a wireless operator. She talks about the medical and reception centre and training,…
Interview with Marian Hollier
Marion Hollier served as a wireless operator in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force from February 1944 to September 1946. Before the war she worked in a construction firm, The George Wimpey Company, which built aerodromes. She learned the Morse code in…
Interview with Mary Stanley Foister
Mary Stanley Foister grew up in Buckinghamshire, where her father's farm was taken over as Bomber Command Headquarters. After leaving school, she served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Following training, she had a variety of administrative posts…
Interview with Mary Ward. One
Mary Ward grew up in Bloxham. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940 and was posted to RAF Driffield, on general duties in the officers’ mess. She describes a German daylight attack on RAF Driffield on the 15 August 1940 and the…
Interview with Mary Ward. Two
Mary Ward joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940. She served, briefly, at RAF Driffield but mostly at RAF Linton on Ouse. She trained as a cook before being moved to duties as a map officer, where she prepared maps for briefings and…
Interview with Maureen and Sidney Stevens
Sidney was inspired to join The Air Force when he was working as an Air Raid Precaution Warden and one night his own home was bombed. The house next door was also destroyed and the lady who had offered him a cup of tea only hours earlier died. He…
Interview with Muriel Blake
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,…