Women's Auxiliary Air Force

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Poster

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.

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

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.[7]

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)[8]
Air Chief Commandant[note 1]
Air Commandant
Group Officer
Wing Officer
Squadron Officer
Flight Officer
Section Officer
Assistant Section Officer


 Royal Air Force[9]
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

Rank group Senior NCOs Junior NCOs Enlisted
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(1939-1940)
 No insignia No insignia
Senior Section Leader
 Section Leader Assistant Section Leader Aircraftwoman 1st Class Aircraftwoman 2nd Class


Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(1940-1949)
 No insignia No insignia
Warrant officer[note 2]
Flight Sergeant[note 3]
 Sergeant Corporal
Leading Aircraftwoman
 Aircraftwoman 1st Class Aircraftwoman 2nd Class
United Kingdom Royal Air Force
(1939–1950)
No insignia No insignia
Warrant officer Flight sergeant Sergeant Corporal
Leading Aircraftman
 Aircraftman 1st Class Aircraftman 2nd Class
NATO code OR-9 OR-8 OR-7 OR-6 OR-5 OR-4 OR-3 OR-2 OR-1

WAAFs serving with SOE

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

Other notable WAAFs

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.[11] 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.[12]

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[14]

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

References

  1. ^
    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. ISBN 9781852600662
    .
  4. ISBN 9780750943093
    .
  5. ^ "Ex-London Police Woman Trains W.A.A.F. Police", Imperial War Museum
  6. ^ "Ex-London Police Woman Trains W.A.A.F. Police", Imperial War Museum
  7. ISBN 978-0-9566826-2-8
  8. ^ Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1943). Ranks and Badges in the Navy, Army, RAF and Auxiliaries (PDF). London: George Philip & Son, Ltd. p. 31.
  9. ^ "RAF Ranks". raf.mod.uk/. Royal Air Force. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  10. ^ "No. 38578". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 April 1949. p. 1703.
  11. ^ "The Flying Nightingales". RAF Broadwell website. Retrieved 24 October 2008. [dead link]
  12. ^ "The Flying Nightingales". Hampshire the County Magazine. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  13. ^ "WW11 RAF Casualties buried in Ireland".
  14. ^ Air Ministry, Women's Auxiliary Air Force: Notes for the Information of Candidates, 5th edition, 1941.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Women%27s_Auxiliary_Air_Force&oldid=1208106426"