In 1941, at the height
of the Second World War, Britain faced a drastic
shortage of manpower.
In order to free
up men for overseas duties, a massive conscription
of single women aged twenty to thirty was enacted.
A large number of these women, and others who were
later
included by a more extensive draft in 1942, found
themselves assigned to the ranks of the Royal Air
Force’s Radio Direction Finding (RDF) division.
Replacing male radar operators who were needed
overseas, members of the Women’s
Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) completely dominated
the English coastal radar stations by 1943. Teams
of women took turns working eight-hour shifts manning
the tubes, recording the
positions of planes, and deciding the number of
Allied fighters required to intercept the invading
enemy. |
WAAF
(Women’s Auxiliary Air Force)
NCO
(non-commissioned officer) graduating
class. |
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Jan
Bates (front row, left) and WAAF colleagues. |
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Desperately
needed during air raids, these women bravely
remained at their posts, tracking the enemy intruders
and directing British fighter pilots while bombs
dropped around them. Those working the Cat and
Mouse stations of the Oboe system guided Mosquito
bombers to their targets and instructed them
when to drop their loads, while others scanned
the skies and seas for low-flying aircraft and
U-Boats. Radar veteran Edna Simpson recalls a
memorable evening at her Chain Home station on
the southern coast of England in early June of
1944:
“I was there the night
before D-Day... and that night we plotted mass
plots of shipping, which were going across to
the coast of France. When I came off duty – I’ll
never forget it – seven o’clock in
the morning and I looked across at the skyline...
The whole skyline was covered with ships, just
a complete line of shipping going across... We
knew the invasion was coming because we had armed
guards on our trucks going back and forth to
our lodgings, because they were very much afraid
that the Germans would try to bomb the radar
stations, or drop people by U-Boat to disarm
them... So we knew that there was something happening,
and all leave was canceled, but that morning
I knew: this is the day it’s happened.” |
Plotting
Room. Information from one or more stations
would be
mapped
out physically on the large
table-sized maps shown here. |
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Secured telephone
and teletype communications were used
to keep stations in constant contact.
Regular communication was crucial to
the success of many RCAF interception
raids, as German bombers would fly through
several stations’ monitoring zones
on the way to their targets. |
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With
little control over where they were sent, and
often sleeping in homes commandeered by the
army or quantum huts heated by stoves that
did not prevent their inhabitants’ shoes from
freezing to the floor, female radar operators
defended their country for wages that veteran
Jan Bates recalls was only “enough to
get by on, and buy shampoo and tooth paste.” Other
trials included the requirement to work swing
shifts, as well as being presented with a new
technology for which they often received little
upfront training. A lack of qualified male
instructors meant that WAAF operators were
often put straight onto duty at a station with
no prior experience at all.
The
Canadian Connection
During
the war, many of the WAAF operators worked
closely together with Canadian radar mechanics.
As a result, relationships were formed, resulting
in many of these women choosing to emigrate
to Canada as war brides. At the same time,
however, many Canadian women were utilized
in similar roles on Canadian radar stations
as part of the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary
Airforce. Specialized training programs were
set up in Ottawa and other locations to train
women as radar operators similar to their
WAAF counterparts in Britain.
Together,
these Canadian and British women were tremendous
contributors to the radar war.
Past
Exhibits:
K.R. Patrick |
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