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The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs (pronounced /ˈwæfs/), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.
A Women's Royal Air Force had existed from 1918 to 1920. The WAAF was created in June 1939, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the Auxiliary Territorial Service which had been formed since 1938. Conscription of women did not begin until 1941. It only applied to those between 20 and 30 years of age and they had the choice of the auxiliary services or factory work.
WAAFs did not serve as aircrew. The use of women pilots was limited to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which was civilian. Neither did they participate in active combat, though 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 manning of barrage balloons in addition to performing catering, meteorology, radar, transport, telephonic and telegraphic duties. They worked with codes and ciphers, analysed reconnaissance photographs, and performed intelligence operations. WAAFs were a vital presence in the control of aircraft, both the radar stations and iconically as plotters in the operation rooms, most notably during the Battle of Britain. These operation rooms directed fighter aircraft against the Luftwaffe, mapping both home and enemy positions.
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 enrollment had declined and the effect of demobilisation was to take thousands out of the service. The remainder, now only several hundred strong, was renamed the Women's Royal Air Force on 1 February 1949.
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Ranks
Initially, the WAAF used the ATS ranking system, although the Director held the rank of "Senior Controller" (equivalent to Air Commodore) instead of "Chief Controller". However, in December 1939 this was changed, other ranks now held almost 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.
| WAAF Pattern 1 | WAAF Pattern 2 | Equivalent RAF rank |
| Aircraftwoman 2nd Class | Aircraftwoman 2nd Class | Aircraftman 2nd Class |
| Aircraftwoman 1st Class | Aircraftwoman 1st Class | Aircraftman 1st Class |
| Leading Aircraftwoman | Leading Aircraftman | |
| Assistant Section Leader | Corporal | Corporal |
| Section Leader | Sergeant | Sergeant |
| Senior Section Leader | Flight Sergeant1 | Flight Sergeant |
| Under Officer2 | Warrant Officer | |
| Company Assistant | Assistant Section Officer | Pilot Officer |
| Deputy Company Commander | Section Officer | Flying Officer |
| Company Commander | Flight Officer | Flight Lieutenant |
| Senior Commandant | Squadron Officer | Squadron Leader |
| Chief Commandant | Wing Officer | Wing Commander |
| Controller | Group Officer | Group Captain |
| Senior Controller | Air Commandant | Air Commodore |
| Air Chief Commandant3 | Air Vice-Marshal |
Directors
- Air Chief Commandant Dame Jane Trefusis Forbes, June 1939–October 1943
- Air Chief Commandant Dame Mary Welsh, October 1943–November 1946
- Air Commandant Dame Felicity Hanbury, December 1946–January 1949
WAAFs serving with SOE
Several members of the WAAF served with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
- Assistant Section Officer Nora INAYAT-KHAN (9901), posthumously awarded a British Mention in Dispatches, French Croix de Guerre with Gold Star and the George Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry not on the battle field4.
- Section Officer Yvonne Baseden
- Yolande Beekman posthumously awarded a French Croix de Guerre.
- Assistant Section Officer Sonya Butt (9910)
- Section Officer Muriel Byck
- Flight Officer Yvonne Cormeau after the war was awarded an MBE, and decorated with the Légion d'honneur, Croix de Guerre and Médaille combattant volontaire de la Résistance.
- Flight Officer Alix D'Unienville
- Flight Officer Krystyna Skarbek (aka: Christine Granville), after the war she received an OBE, George Medal and Croix de Guerre.
- Mary Katherine Herbert
- Section Officer Phyliss Latour
- Cecily Lefort posthumously awarded a French Croix de Guerre.
- Section Officer Patricia O'Sullivan
- Haviva Reik (aka (ACW2 2992503) Ada Robinson)
- Assistant Section Officer Lilian Rolfe posthumously awarded MBE and the Croix de Guerre.
- Section Officer Diana Rowden posthumously awarded MBE and the Croix de Guerre.
- Anne-Marie Walters awarded MBE.
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.5 The RAF Air Ambulance Unit flew under 46 Group Transport Command from Down Ampney, Broadwell, and 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. 6
In October 2008 the seven nurses still living were presented with lifetime achievement awards by the Duchess of Cornwall. 7
Pictures
 Nora Khan |
 WAAF Operation Corona Radio Operators |
 HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester Commandant of the WAAF |
 WAAF Barrage Balloon crews at RAF Cardington. |
Notes
- ^ Called Senior Sergeant until at least July 1941. Air Ministry, Women's Auxiliary Air Force: Notes for the Information of Candidates, 5th edition, 1941.
- ^ Not used at first, but introduced by July 1941. Air Ministry, Women's Auxiliary Air Force: Notes for the Information of Candidates, 5th edition, 1941. Renamed Warrant Officer by 1948. Ministry of Defence, Pay, Retired Pay, Service Pensions and Gratuities for Members of the Women's Services, 1948.
- ^ Created in 1943. The only people to hold the rank were Dame Jane Trefusis Forbes (1 January 1943), Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (22 March 1943; she had been an honorary Air Commandant since 1940) and Dame Mary Welsh (August 1944).
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38578, page 1703, 5 April 1949. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- ^ "The Flying Nightingales". RAF Broadwell website. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ^ "The Flying Nightingales". Hampshire the County Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ^ "Honour at last for the 'Flying Nightingales' who treated 100,000 Second World War troops aboard planes". MailOnline. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
See also
- Women's Royal Naval Service
- Women in the United States Air Force (WAF) (1948-1976)
- Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force
Further reading
- Escott, Beryl (2003) The WAAF, Shire Publications ISBN 0-7478-0572-5 (also quoted at [1] in context of Czech WAAFs)
- Watkins, Elizabeth (2008) Cypher Officer, Pen Press Publications, Brighton ISBN 13:978-1-906206-27-7 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.
External links
- 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, September 17, 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 OperatorsRetrieved: 22 June 2008
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- This page was last modified on 24 October 2008, at 21:52.
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