On the reverse of two of the portraits are hand written annotations:
"To Jean With Best Wishes from Beryl"
"To Jean wishing you the best of everything love from Pat."]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> William Cragg]]> Paul Baguley]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> 1945-11-05]]> 1945-10-05]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Paul Baguley]]> William Cragg]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Australian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1945-05]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Sergeants' Mess, Waddington]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Service material]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Australian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1945-06-13]]> On the reverse of one is 'Audrey Lily Doris'.]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> 'Joyce Mildred Ruby Gwen
Nora Georgie
Audrey'
#2 is Audrey. On the reverse 'NAAFI HQ Gardens'.]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]>
#2 is the same photograph but the individuals are named 'Florence Dorothy Audrey Lil Elsie'.
#3 is seven WAAFs and one airman arranged in two rows.
#4 is seven WAAFs and a pilot, taken at the same location.]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]>
#2 is Audrey sitting on a desk.
]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending text-based transcription]]> Cosgrove, Teddy. Album]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Personal research]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Gorton (Manchester)]]> England--Caister-on-Sea]]> France]]> France--Cherbourg]]> Germany]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Magdeburg]]> Germany--Cologne]]> Germany--Essen]]> Germany--Kassel]]> Germany--Rostock]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> Poland--Szczecin]]> England--Manchester]]> England--London]]> England--Bedfordshire]]> Scotland--Stevenston]]> England--Accrington]]> England--Littlehampton]]> England--Barnsley (South Yorkshire)]]> Poland]]> England--Bexhill]]> Audrey was 23 when the war started and was conscripted on 15 December 1942 electing to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. After her kitting out at RAF Innesworth she did some basic training at RAF Morecambe, then posted to RAF Lindholme and eventually to RAF Waddington where she worked as an administrator in the officer's mess. At that time there were four squadrons on the station: 9, 44, 463 and 467 Squadrons.
Audrey's duties in the officer's mess included checking the crews against the battle orders to ensure only crews flying that night got the special pre-flight meal and waiting on tables for VIP dinners, including Wing Commander Nettleton VC. She describes her friendships with the other staff and especially with bomber crews, mostly nice and respectful. Audrey and others would gather on the perimeter track to see them off. She and many others were billeted in a beautiful old building, known as "The Waafery”. Audrey describes her busy social life, dancing at many venues and winning jitterbug competitions. Remembers being called ‘belle gambe’ [beautiful legs] by Italian prisoners of war.
Audrey also describes the events of one night when an enemy fighter followed the aircraft home and strafed the airfield, hitting the incendiary dump, which exploded.
After the war, Audrey eventually worked for the local authority’s adoption service after the tragic death of her husband at a young age.]]>
Brian Wright]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Andy Fitter]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Northamptonshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> 1942-12-15]]> 1945-08]]>
GB Blacklock]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending text-based transcription]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Skipton]]> Scotland--Bedrule]]> England--Northumberland]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--London]]> England--Appleby-in-Westmorland]]> Egypt--Alexandria]]> Egypt--Aboukir Bay]]> England--Chester]]> England--Newmarket (Suffolk)]]> Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Guernsey]]> France--Marseille]]> Northern Ireland]]> Scotland--Montrose]]> Germany--Wilhelmshaven]]> Germany--Hannover]]> Germany--Bremen]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Germany--Helgoland]]> Germany--Wangerooge Island]]> Germany--Bremen]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> Germany--Borkum]]> England--Wisbeach]]> England--Weybridge]]> Norway--Bergen]]> Norway--Stavanger]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Netherlands--Rotterdam]]> France--Givet]]> Belgium]]> France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)]]> France--Hazebrouck]]> France--Dunkerque]]> France--Socx]]> Germany--Duisburg]]> Germany--Karlsruhe]]> France--Salon-de-Provence]]> Italy--Genoa]]> Germany--Essen]]> Germany--Lünen]]> Wales--Hawarden]]> Germany--Baden-Baden]]> England--Eastleigh]]> Scotland--Stranraer]]> England--Doncaster]]> France--Brest]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Cologne]]> Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)]]> Germany--Lingen (Lower Saxony)]]> Germany--Düsseldorf]]> Germany--Magdeburg]]> France--La Pallice]]> Germany--Karlsruhe]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Middle East--Palestine]]> 1947-02]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Physical object]]> Physical object. Decoration]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]>
The reverse has short messages and a pasted-on list of 35 unrelated personnel arranged in four rows. Back row, Lamb, Campbell, Bentley, Grumbaum, Cousins, Hobart, Mc'Culloch, Green, Gledhill. 2nd row, 351 Hewitt, Butcher, Savage, Jaffa, Eustace, Radford, Rands, Bustard, Bryant, Hibbard, 3rd row Lane, Cross, Davies, Sergeant Rose, Staff Officer Bayldon, Corporal Taylor, Frank Major. Front row, Carpenter, Dermont, Tulip, 325 Hewitt, Todd, Manáge, Shepherd, Miller.]]>
Ivor E Lewis]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending text-based transcription]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> Wales--Glamorgan]]> Wales--Penarth]]> 1943]]>
Great Britain. Royal Air Force]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Physical object]]> Physical object. Clothing]]> Royal Air Force]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Navy]]> Great Britain]]> England--Kent]]> England--West Malling]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--Leamington]]> 1948]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Kent]]> England--West Malling]]>