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Women's Auxiliary Air Force

April 30, 2023

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (/ˈwæfs/), was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak strength in 1943, (15.7% of the RAF)[1] with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.

Poster

History

A Women's Royal Air Force had existed from 1918 to 1920, but had been disbanded in the wake of the end of the First World War, alongside the Women's Army Auxiliary Corp (1917-1921) and the first iteration of the Women's Royal Naval Service (1917-1919).[1]

Second World War

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force was created on 28 June 1939, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the British Auxiliary Territorial Service which had existed since 1938, following the Munich Agreement.[2] Conscription of women did not begin until after December 1941 when the British Government passed the National Service Act (No. 2), which was issued by Royal Proclamation on 10 January 1942. It only applied to those between 20 and 30 years of age and they had the choice of the military auxiliary services, the civilian Women's Land Army or factory work in support of the war effort.[1]

Training

 
The first WAAF nursing orderlies selected to fly on air-ambulance duties to France, 1944

Women recruited into the WAAF were given basic training at one of five sites, though not all of the sites ran training simultaneously. The five sites were at West Drayton, Harrogate, Bridgnorth, Innsworth and Wilmslow.[3] All WAAF basic recruit training was located at Wilmslow from 1943.[4]

Roles in the WAAF

WAAFs did not serve as aircrew. (The use of women pilots was limited to the Air Transport Auxiliary, which was civilian, but 30 WAAFs did transfer to serve as pilots in the ATA).[1] Although WAAFs did not participate in active combat, they were exposed to the same dangers as any on the "home front" working at military installations. They were active in parachute packing and the crewing of barrage balloons in addition to performing catering, meteorology, radar, aircraft maintenance, transport, communications duties including wireless telephonic and telegraphic operation. They worked with codes and ciphers, analysed reconnaissance photographs, and performed intelligence operations. WAAFs were a vital presence in the control of aircraft, both in radar stations and iconically as plotters in operation rooms, most notably during the Battle of Britain. These operation rooms directed fighter aircraft against the Luftwaffe, mapping both home and enemy aircraft positions.[5]

Air Force nurses belonged to Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service instead. Female medical and dental officers were commissioned into the Royal Air Force and held RAF ranks.

WAAFs were paid two-thirds of the pay of male counterparts in RAF ranks.

By the end of World War II, WAAF enrolment had declined and the effect of demobilisation was to take the vast majority out of the service. The remainder, now only several hundred strong, was renamed the Women's Royal Air Force on 1 February 1949.

Directors

 
WAAF Recruitment poster

On 1 July 1939, Jane Trefusis Forbes was made Director of WAAF, with the rank of Senior Controller, later, Air Commandant. On 1 January 1943 she was appointed to the rank of Air Chief Commandant with its creation. On 4 October 1943, while Forbes toured Canada, assessing the Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division, she was relieved by Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who had been head of the WAAF since 1939, again with the rank of Senior Controller, then, Air Commandant, being gazetted to Air Chief Commandant on 22 March 1943. Forbes retired in August 1944, and the post of director was given to Mary Welsh, who was appointed Air Chief Commandant. After the war, the rank of Air Chief Commandant was suspended and in December 1946, the final director of WAAF, Felicity Hanbury, was appointed.

Ranks

Initially, the WAAF used the ATS ranking system, although the director held the rank of senior controller (equivalent to brigadier in the British Army and air commodore in the RAF) instead of chief controller (equivalent to major-general or air vice-marshal) as in the ATS. However, in December 1939 the title was changed to air commandant, when the ranks were renamed and reorganised. Other ranks now held identical ranks to male RAF personnel, but officers continued to have a separate rank system, although now different from that of the ATS. From February 1940 it was no longer possible to enter directly as an officer; from that time all officers were appointed from the other ranks. From July 1941 WAAF officers held full commissions. On 1 January 1943, the rank of air chief commandant (equivalent to air vice-marshal) was created with the director's appointment to that rank.

Officers

Air officers Field officers Junior officers
  Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(1939-1940)
              
Senior Controller Controller Chief Commandant Senior Commandant Company Commander Deputy Company Commander Company Assistant


  Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(1940-1949)[6]
                
Air Chief Commandant[note 1] Air Commandant Group Officer Wing Officer Squadron Officer Flight Officer Section Officer Assistant Section Officer


  Royal Air Force[7]
                        
Marshal of the RAF Air chief marshal Air marshal Air vice-marshal Air commodore Group captain Wing commander Squadron leader Flight lieutenant Flying officer Pilot officer
/acting pilot officer 		Officer cadet


NATO code OF-10 OF-9 OF-8 OF-7 OF-6 OF-5 OF-4 OF-3 OF-2 OF-1 OF(D) Student officer

Other ranks

WAAFs serving with SOE

Several members of the WAAF served with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.

Flying Nightingales

Nursing Orderlies of the WAAF flew on RAF transport planes to evacuate the wounded from the Normandy battlefields. They were dubbed Flying Nightingales by the press.[9] The RAF Air Ambulance Unit flew under 46 Group Transport Command from RAF Down Ampney, RAF Broadwell, and RAF Blakehill Farm. RAF Dakota aircraft carried military supplies and ammunition so could not display the Red Cross.

Training for air ambulance nursing duties included instruction in the use of oxygen, injections, learning how to deal with certain types of injuries such as broken bones, missing limb cases, head injuries, burns and colostomies; and to learn the effects of air travel and altitude.[10]

In October 2008 the seven nurses still living were presented with lifetime achievement awards by the Duchess of Cornwall.[citation needed]

Gallery

See also

Notes[12]

  1. ^ created 1943 with first appointment.
  2. ^ also called Under Officer
  3. ^ also called Senior Sergeant

References

  1. ^ a b c d MILLER, SARAH-LOUISE (2023). WOMEN BEHIND THE FEW : the women's auxiliary air force and british intelligence during the... second world war. [S.l.]: BITEBACK PUBLISHING. ISBN 1-78590-785-9. OCLC 1349452266.
  2. ^ Narracot, A.H. (1941). "9 - Woman in Blue". How The R A F Works. Frederick Muller Limited. pp. 108 (n115). Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  3. ^ Escott, Beryl E. (1989). Women in air force blue : the story of women in the Royal Air Force from 1918 to the present day. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 131. ISBN 9781852600662.
  4. ^ Pitchfork, Graham (2008). The Royal Air Force day by day. Stroud: Sutton. p. 258. ISBN 9780750943093.
  5. ^ Eileen Younghusband. One Woman's War. Cardiff. Candy Jar Books. 2011. ISBN 978-0-9566826-2-8
  6. ^ Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1943). Ranks and Badges in the Navy, Army, RAF and Auxiliaries (PDF). London: George Philip & Son, Ltd. p. 31.
  7. ^ "RAF Ranks". raf.mod.uk/. Royal Air Force. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  8. ^ "No. 38578". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 April 1949. p. 1703.
  9. ^ "The Flying Nightingales". RAF Broadwell website. Retrieved 24 October 2008.[dead link]
  10. ^ "The Flying Nightingales". Hampshire the County Magazine. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  11. ^ "WW11 RAF Casualties buried in Ireland".
  12. ^ Air Ministry, Women's Auxiliary Air Force: Notes for the Information of Candidates, 5th edition, 1941.

Further reading

  • Escott, Beryl, Women in Air Force Blue, Patrick Stephens, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-066-7
  • Escott, Beryl, Our Wartime Days, The WAAF in World War II, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1995. ISBN 0-7509-0638-3
  • Escott, Beryl, The WAAF : A History of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, Shire Publications, 2003. ISBN 0-7478-0572-5 (also quoted at [1][dead link] in context of Czech WAAFs)
  • Gane Pushman, Muriel, We All Wore Blue: Experiences in the WAAF, Tempus, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7524-4130-6
  • Halsall, Christine, Women of Intelligence. Winning the Second World War with Air Photos, The History Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-7524-6477-0
  • Manning, Mick & Granström, Brita: Taff in the WAAF (English Association Award Winner), Janetta Otter-Barry Books (Frances Lincoln), 2010. ISBN 978-1-84780-093-0
  • Rice, Joan, Sand In My Shoes: Coming of Age in the Second World War: Wartime Diaries of a WAAF, Harperpress, 2006. ISBN 0-00-722820-1
  • Settle, Mary Lee, All the Brave Promises: The Memories of Aircraft Woman 2nd Class 2146391 (1966)
  • Stone, Tessa. "Creating A (Gendered?) Military Identity: The Women's Auxiliary Air Force in Great Britain in the Second World War", Women's History Review, October 1999, Vol. 8, Issue 4, pp. 605–624, scholarly study
  • Turner, John Frayn (2011). The WAAF at War. Barnsley, Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Aviation.
  • Watkins, Elizabeth, Cypher Officer, Pen Press Publications, Brighton, 2008. ISBN 978-1-906206-27-7 A first-hand account by a young WAAF cypher officer on active duty in the Egypt, Kenya, the Seychelles and Italy in World War II.
  • Wyndham J., Love is Blue, Heinemann, 1986. ISBN 0-00-654201-8
  • Younghusband, Eileen, Not an Ordinary Life. How Changing Times Brought Historical Events into my Life, Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning, Cardiff, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9561156-9-0 (Pages 36–70, 251–55 and 265–67 describe the experiences of a WAAF radar Filterer in World War II.)
  • Younghusband, Eileen, One Woman's War, Candy Jar Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9566826-2-8

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
  • —Royal Air Force official website
  • WAAF Association
  • by Howard Goodall: the website includes research material
  • Early Radar Memories; Sgt. Jean (Sally) Semple, one of Britain’s pioneer Radar Operators 12 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved: 22 June 2008
  • One Woman's War. Website of former WAAF Officer Eileen Younghusband's latest book 'One Woman's War'.
  • Women's Auxiliary Air Force from the IBCC Digital Archive at the University of Lincoln.

April 30, 2023
women, auxiliary, force, waaf, whose, members, were, referred, waafs, female, auxiliary, british, royal, force, during, world, established, 1939, waaf, numbers, exceeded, peak, strength, 1943, with, over, women, enlisting, week, poster, contents, history, seco. The Women s Auxiliary Air Force WAAF whose members were referred to as WAAFs ˈ w ae f s was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during World War II Established in 1939 WAAF numbers exceeded 181 000 at its peak strength in 1943 15 7 of the RAF 1 with over 2 000 women enlisting per week Poster Contents 1 History 2 Second World War 3 Training 4 Roles in the WAAF 5 Directors 6 Ranks 6 1 Officers 6 2 Other ranks 7 WAAFs serving with SOE 8 Flying Nightingales 9 Gallery 10 See also 11 Notes 12 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksHistory EditA Women s Royal Air Force had existed from 1918 to 1920 but had been disbanded in the wake of the end of the First World War alongside the Women s Army Auxiliary Corp 1917 1921 and the first iteration of the Women s Royal Naval Service 1917 1919 1 Second World War EditThe Women s Auxiliary Air Force was created on 28 June 1939 absorbing the forty eight RAF companies of the British Auxiliary Territorial Service which had existed since 1938 following the Munich Agreement 2 Conscription of women did not begin until after December 1941 when the British Government passed the National Service Act No 2 which was issued by Royal Proclamation on 10 January 1942 It only applied to those between 20 and 30 years of age and they had the choice of the military auxiliary services the civilian Women s Land Army or factory work in support of the war effort 1 Training Edit The first WAAF nursing orderlies selected to fly on air ambulance duties to France 1944 Women recruited into the WAAF were given basic training at one of five sites though not all of the sites ran training simultaneously The five sites were at West Drayton Harrogate Bridgnorth Innsworth and Wilmslow 3 All WAAF basic recruit training was located at Wilmslow from 1943 4 Roles in the WAAF EditWAAFs did not serve as aircrew The use of women pilots was limited to the Air Transport Auxiliary which was civilian but 30 WAAFs did transfer to serve as pilots in the ATA 1 Although WAAFs did not participate in active combat they were exposed to the same dangers as any on the home front working at military installations They were active in parachute packing and the crewing of barrage balloons in addition to performing catering meteorology radar aircraft maintenance transport communications duties including wireless telephonic and telegraphic operation They worked with codes and ciphers analysed reconnaissance photographs and performed intelligence operations WAAFs were a vital presence in the control of aircraft both in radar stations and iconically as plotters in operation rooms most notably during the Battle of Britain These operation rooms directed fighter aircraft against the Luftwaffe mapping both home and enemy aircraft positions 5 Air Force nurses belonged to Princess Mary s Royal Air Force Nursing Service instead Female medical and dental officers were commissioned into the Royal Air Force and held RAF ranks WAAFs were paid two thirds of the pay of male counterparts in RAF ranks By the end of World War II WAAF enrolment had declined and the effect of demobilisation was to take the vast majority out of the service The remainder now only several hundred strong was renamed the Women s Royal Air Force on 1 February 1949 Directors Edit WAAF Recruitment poster On 1 July 1939 Jane Trefusis Forbes was made Director of WAAF with the rank of Senior Controller later Air Commandant On 1 January 1943 she was appointed to the rank of Air Chief Commandant with its creation On 4 October 1943 while Forbes toured Canada assessing the Royal Canadian Air Force Women s Division she was relieved by Princess Alice Duchess of Gloucester who had been head of the WAAF since 1939 again with the rank of Senior Controller then Air Commandant being gazetted to Air Chief Commandant on 22 March 1943 Forbes retired in August 1944 and the post of director was given to Mary Welsh who was appointed Air Chief Commandant After the war the rank of Air Chief Commandant was suspended and in December 1946 the final director of WAAF Felicity Hanbury was appointed Air Chief Commandant Dame Jane Trefusis Forbes June 1939 4 October 1943 Air Chief Commandant Princess Alice Duchess of Gloucester 4 October 1943 August 1944 Air Chief Commandant Dame Mary Welsh August 1944 November 1946 Air Commandant Dame Felicity Hanbury December 1946 January 1949Ranks EditInitially the WAAF used the ATS ranking system although the director held the rank of senior controller equivalent to brigadier in the British Army and air commodore in the RAF instead of chief controller equivalent to major general or air vice marshal as in the ATS However in December 1939 the title was changed to air commandant when the ranks were renamed and reorganised Other ranks now held identical ranks to male RAF personnel but officers continued to have a separate rank system although now different from that of the ATS From February 1940 it was no longer possible to enter directly as an officer from that time all officers were appointed from the other ranks From July 1941 WAAF officers held full commissions On 1 January 1943 the rank of air chief commandant equivalent to air vice marshal was created with the director s appointment to that rank Officers Edit Air officers Field officers Junior officers Women s Auxiliary Air Force 1939 1940 vte Senior Controller Controller Chief Commandant Senior Commandant Company Commander Deputy Company Commander Company Assistant Women s Auxiliary Air Force 1940 1949 6 vte Air Chief Commandant note 1 Air Commandant Group Officer Wing Officer Squadron Officer Flight Officer Section Officer Assistant Section Officer Royal Air Force 7 vte Marshal of the RAF Air chief marshal Air marshal Air vice marshal Air commodore Group captain Wing commander Squadron leader Flight lieutenant Flying officer Pilot officer acting pilot officer Officer cadetNATO code OF 10 OF 9 OF 8 OF 7 OF 6 OF 5 OF 4 OF 3 OF 2 OF 1 OF D Student officerOther ranks Edit Rank group Senior NCOs Junior NCOs Enlisted Women s Auxiliary Air Force 1939 1940 vte No insignia No insigniaSenior Section Leader Section Leader Assistant Section Leader Aircraftwoman 1st Class Aircraftwoman 2nd Class Women s Auxiliary Air Force 1940 1949 vte No insignia No insigniaWarrant officer note 2 Flight Sergeant note 3 Sergeant Corporal Leading Aircraftwoman Aircraftwoman 1st Class Aircraftwoman 2nd Class Royal Air Force 1939 1950 No insignia No insigniaWarrant officer Flight sergeant Sergeant Corporal Leading Aircraftman Aircraftman 1st Class Aircraftman 2nd ClassNATO code OR 9 OR 8 OR 7 OR 6 OR 5 OR 4 OR 3 OR 2 OR 1WAAFs serving with SOE EditSeveral members of the WAAF served with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat Khan 9901 posthumously Mentioned in Dispatches and awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Gold Star and the George Cross Britain s highest award for gallantry not in the face of the enemy 8 Section Officer Yvonne Baseden Section Officer Yolande Beekman posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre Assistant Section Officer Sonya Butt 9910 Section Officer Muriel Byck Flight Officer Yvonne Cormeau awarded the MBE the Legion d honneur Croix de Guerre and Medaille combattant volontaire de la Resistance Flight Officer Alix D Unienville Flight Officer Krystyna Skarbek aka Christine Granville awarded the OBE George Medal and Croix de Guerre Section Officer Mary Katherine Herbert Section Officer Phyllis Latour Section Officer Cecily Lefort posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre Section Officer Patricia O Sullivan Sergeant Haviva Reik aka Ada Robinson Assistant Section Officer Lilian Rolfe posthumously awarded the MBE and the Croix de Guerre Section Officer Diana Rowden posthumously awarded the MBE and the Croix de Guerre Section Officer Anne Marie Walters awarded the MBE Flying Nightingales EditNursing Orderlies of the WAAF flew on RAF transport planes to evacuate the wounded from the Normandy battlefields They were dubbed Flying Nightingales by the press 9 The RAF Air Ambulance Unit flew under 46 Group Transport Command from RAF Down Ampney RAF Broadwell and RAF Blakehill Farm RAF Dakota aircraft carried military supplies and ammunition so could not display the Red Cross Training for air ambulance nursing duties included instruction in the use of oxygen injections learning how to deal with certain types of injuries such as broken bones missing limb cases head injuries burns and colostomies and to learn the effects of air travel and altitude 10 In October 2008 the seven nurses still living were presented with lifetime achievement awards by the Duchess of Cornwall citation needed Gallery Edit The Operations Room at RAF Fighter Command s No 10 Group Headquarters Rudloe Manor RAF Box Wiltshire showing WAAF plotters and duty officers at work 1943 Noor Inayat Khan WAAF Operation Corona Radio Operators Princess Alice Duchess of Gloucester Commandant of the WAAF WAAF Barrage Balloon crews at RAF Cardington Members of the WAAF repair and pack parachutes for use by airborne troops during the Normandy invasion 31 May 1944 Grave of an Irish WAAF Clonmacnoise Cpl Bridget White was serving with the No3 Pilots Advanced Flying Unit based at RAF South Cerney when she died in a road accident 11 W A A F s working on an aircraft fuselage at Ultimo Technical College Sydney 1943See also EditAir Transport Auxiliary Auxiliary Territorial Service National Association of Training Corps for Girls Women Airforce Service Pilots US Women s Army Corps US Women s Auxiliary Australian Air Force Women s Royal Naval Service Military ranks of women s services in WWIINotes 12 Edit created 1943 with first appointment also called Under Officer also called Senior SergeantReferences Edit a b c d MILLER SARAH LOUISE 2023 WOMEN BEHIND THE FEW the women s auxiliary air force and british intelligence during the second world war S l BITEBACK PUBLISHING ISBN 1 78590 785 9 OCLC 1349452266 Narracot A H 1941 9 Woman in Blue How The R A F Works Frederick Muller Limited pp 108 n115 Retrieved 30 July 2009 Escott Beryl E 1989 Women in air force blue the story of women in the Royal Air Force from 1918 to the present day Wellingborough Patrick Stephens Ltd p 131 ISBN 9781852600662 Pitchfork Graham 2008 The Royal Air Force day by day Stroud Sutton p 258 ISBN 9780750943093 Eileen Younghusband One Woman s War Cardiff Candy Jar Books 2011 ISBN 978 0 9566826 2 8 Talbot Booth E C 1943 Ranks and Badges in the Navy Army RAF and Auxiliaries PDF London George Philip amp Son Ltd p 31 RAF Ranks raf mod uk Royal Air Force Retrieved 21 September 2021 No 38578 The London Gazette Supplement 5 April 1949 p 1703 The Flying Nightingales RAF Broadwell website Retrieved 24 October 2008 dead link The Flying Nightingales Hampshire the County Magazine Retrieved 24 October 2008 WW11 RAF Casualties buried in Ireland Air Ministry Women s Auxiliary Air Force Notes for the Information of Candidates 5th edition 1941 Further reading EditEscott Beryl Women in Air Force Blue Patrick Stephens 1989 ISBN 1 85260 066 7 Escott Beryl Our Wartime Days The WAAF in World War II Sutton Publishing Ltd 1995 ISBN 0 7509 0638 3 Escott Beryl The WAAF A History of the Women s Auxiliary Air Force Shire Publications 2003 ISBN 0 7478 0572 5 also quoted at 1 dead link in context of Czech WAAFs Gane Pushman Muriel We All Wore Blue Experiences in the WAAF Tempus 2006 ISBN 978 0 7524 4130 6 Halsall Christine Women of Intelligence Winning the Second World War with Air Photos The History Press 2012 ISBN 978 0 7524 6477 0 Manning Mick amp Granstrom Brita Taff in the WAAF English Association Award Winner Janetta Otter Barry Books Frances Lincoln 2010 ISBN 978 1 84780 093 0 Rice Joan Sand In My Shoes Coming of Age in the Second World War Wartime Diaries of a WAAF Harperpress 2006 ISBN 0 00 722820 1 Settle Mary Lee All the Brave Promises The Memories of Aircraft Woman 2nd Class 2146391 1966 Stone Tessa Creating A Gendered Military Identity The Women s Auxiliary Air Force in Great Britain in the Second World War Women s History Review October 1999 Vol 8 Issue 4 pp 605 624 scholarly study Turner John Frayn 2011 The WAAF at War Barnsley Yorkshire Pen and Sword Aviation Watkins Elizabeth Cypher Officer Pen Press Publications Brighton 2008 ISBN 978 1 906206 27 7 A first hand account by a young WAAF cypher officer on active duty in the Egypt Kenya the Seychelles and Italy in World War II Wyndham J Love is Blue Heinemann 1986 ISBN 0 00 654201 8 Younghusband Eileen Not an Ordinary Life How Changing Times Brought Historical Events into my Life Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning Cardiff 2009 ISBN 978 0 9561156 9 0 Pages 36 70 251 55 and 265 67 describe the experiences of a WAAF radar Filterer in World War II Younghusband Eileen One Woman s War Candy Jar Books 2011 ISBN 978 0 9566826 2 8External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women s Auxiliary Air Force The WRAF Women in the Blue Working through the Second War years Royal Air Force official website The Work of Women in the Women s Auxiliary Air Force The Second World War Experience Centre Leeds UK Women as Ground Crews reproduced from The Aeroplane No 1686 17 September 1943 WAAF Association Girlfriends a musical about WAAFs by Howard Goodall the website includes research material Early Radar Memories Sgt Jean Sally Semple one of Britain s pioneer Radar Operators Archived 12 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 22 June 2008 One Woman s War Website of former WAAF Officer Eileen Younghusband s latest book One Woman s War Women s Auxiliary Air Force from the IBCC Digital Archive at the University of Lincoln Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Women 27s Auxiliary Air Force amp oldid 1149826472, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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