Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force
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Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve and by the Chief of the Air Staff who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service overseas. The WAAAF was the first and largest of the World War II Australian Women's Services. It was disbanded in December 1947.
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[edit] History
Not long after World War 2 was declared in 1939, the Royal Australian Air Force had an urgent need for more skilled and semi-skilled signals and maintenance personnel to fulfil its wartime commitments to the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) for local defence in Australia.
On 4 February 1941, the formation of an air force women's auxiliary was approved by the War Cabinet. It had taken 14 months of difficult discussion and opposition to achieve this final outcome.
The formation of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) set a precedent for the formation of other women's service organisations such as The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) and the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS).
Approximately 27,000 women enlisted in the WAAAF between 15 March 1941 and 24 August 1945. In June 1941, Squadron Officer Clare Grant Stevenson was appointed Director of the WAAAF.
The first 20 WAAAFs were posted to Townsville between 28 October 1941 and 7 February 1942 to work at the North-Eastern Area Headquarters in Sturt Street.
They were urgently required to fill the roles of teleprinter operators and general clerks. This initial intake of WAAAFs in the area were living in various homes or flats in Townsville. The Officer-in-Charge of WAAAFs in the Townsville area, Assistant Section Officer Yvonne Rentoul established the new WAAAF Barracks in St Anne's Church of England School in Townsville. It was a difficult task as Townsville was rapidly filling with American and Australian military units. This influx lead to a shortage of equipment and a demanding role in protecting the well-being of the fresh new female recruits.
[edit] First Operational role
On 1 June 1944, 34 Squadron RAAF became the first RAAF Operational Squadron to have WAAAF's posted to it. It received 1 Officer and 20 Airwomen at Parafield in South Australia.
By April 1942, the Fifth Air Force, USAAC was rapidly establishing itself in Townsville which was becoming a major repair, maintenance and supply base for the Americans.
A number of Senior American officers were posted to Townsville. As there were not enough American service personnel in the area to act as drivers, Section Officer Rentoul received an instruction from the Air Officer Commanding North-Eastern Area to conduct a WAAAF recruit course using local enlistments. This had the prime purpose of providing 12 drivers for the US Forces in the Townsville area.
[edit] 1st Townsville recruit course
Lorna Mittelheuser [1] was one of the recruits for this WAAAF Recruit course in Townsville.
Early 1942 I submitted an application to join the Air Force and within a very short space of time I had been to Townsville for interviews, medical check etc and called up to join a small group (about 15, I think) of north Queensland women who had also volunteered. St. Anne's Church of England School was to be our home and we were trained there for a week in Air Force procedure and drill on the tennis court. One photo shows some of us being inspected one morning but others were on duty and not present. Our officer in charge was F/O Rintoul who was followed later by S/O Stark.
Some of the girls became D.M.T.'s and the remainder were to become signal or cypher clerks. The Chief Signals Officer at that time, (I think it was W/Cdr. Eric Read & others were Minchin, Gronow, Cunningham - most were permanent Air Force men) wanted an office secretary and as I could type and take shorthand, that became my appointment. In those days (Coral Sea Battle time) NEAHQ was the northernmost command and included New Guinea. The C.S.O. was a Wing Commander and had a number of officers responsible for different signals area - ground installations, radar, equipment in aircraft etc - in offices of the Headquarters building. Later when the Americans came, each officer, including the C.S.O. had an equivalent American officer, but I had only to work with the Australians. I was on day shift except for once a month when I had to do all night duty to help handle urgent signals.
During 1942 many more WAAAF arrived in Townsville & the Academy of the Little Flower on The Strand was opened up for WAAAF occupation. I was, by then an acting Corporal and was asked to go down there with some of the new arrivals. Each morning I had to march the day shift up from The Strand to the Headquarters building. One very pleasant advantage of this move was a room to myself at the top of the stairs and a view across The Strand to the waters of the bay.
A significant change occurred about February, 1943, when No. 12 Signals Unit was formed & signals personnel were transferred to it. However the C.S.O. and immediate staff still worked at NEA Headquarters building. I think about October 1943 a new officer was appointed to take charge of 12 Signals Unit and the C.S.O. and a few of his office staff, including myself, returned to the NEAHQ establishment and became part of Air Operations. This meant a change of work environment as rooms had been dug out into the back of Castle Hill with a camouflaged entrance. One of my photos shows office staff on the top of part of this camouflage and another one shows us waiting for transport. By this time too I had returned to live at St. Anne's.
Whenever possible I would go to Magnetic Island on my days off as boats left the wharf in Ross River not far from the centre of town & within walking distance of St. Anne's & the Strand Barracks. The Air Force at Garbutt & other units around Townsville held dances & welcomed the WAAAF, arriving in open-sided vehicles. Many Army men were trained in areas around Townsville, especially the Bohle River. It was quite common for a WAAAF to know a member of one of the services in transit and there would be group meetings of some half a dozen of her friends with half a dozen of his. We'd enjoy each others company knowing full well we'd probably never meet again. When the Americans arrived they too held dances & as they had more money than our boys, the girls were far from reluctant to accept their hospitality. I became a Sergeant in 1943 and a small Sergeant's Mess was set up at St. Anne's in a room adjoining the tennis court. We were allowed to wear civilian dress on occasions.
One officer on being transferred to Signals Research at Air Force Headquarters, St. Kilda Road, told me if I had to be transferred from Townsville and would like to go to Melbourne, to get the C.S.O. to let him know. By this time I was familiar with most of the technical terms sometimes used. He meant it too because in the middle of 1944 the word came that I had to leave the tropics. After some leave at home I reported to Sandgate and sure enough I was to go to Signals Research at Air Force Headquarters. It was winter & I only had khaki uniforms. All I got was a greatcoat until I reached Melbourne.
I guess I should mention I was in Townsville when the Japanese planes came over & dropped bombs. There were slit trenches, not too stable, in the street outside St. Anne's & at that stage not so many WAAAF there, so we all got into them & watched the searchlights piercing the darkness & not knowing what was happening. Eventually the all clear sounded & we were allowed to return to out wire stretchers with hay filled sacks on them.
I'm sure now that where we worked was Sidney St, West End & sometimes the term Air Command as well as Air Operations was used. Inside the heavy doors we were expected to keep to our own rooms & knew little of what else was there & security was stressed. I think the walls & floors were concrete with some sort of floor covering & there was a large operations room with maps on walls & tables, marked with coded pins. I have no recollection of a member of other Services being there on a regular basis. A couple of my friends were draughtsmen & spent their time drawing maps & charts but I never saw where they worked.
[edit] Units where WAAAF's were deployed
- Air Defence Headquarters (Townsville)
- Australian Chemical Warfare Research Experimental Section (Innisfail)
- Australian Field Experimental Station (Proserpine)
- Central Sick Quarters, renamed to No. 20 Medical Clearing Station (Townsville)
- Chemical Research Unit Detachment (Bowen & Cairns)
- No. 1 Base Personnel Staff Office (Townsville)
- No. 1 Flying Boat Maintenance Unit (Bowen)
- No. 1 Reserve Personnel Pool (Townsville)
- No. 1 Wireless Unit Rear Detachment (Stuart, Townsville)
- No. 2 Radio Installation and Maintenance Unit (Townsville)
- No. 3 Divisional Works Office (Townsville)
- No. 3 Shipping and Stores Unit (Townsville)
- No. 3 Fighters Sector Headquarters, renamed 103 Fighter Control Unit (Townsville)
- No. 4 Voluntary Air Air Observers Corps (Townsville)
- No. 5 Base Personnel Staff Office (Townsville)
- No. 5 Medical Receiving Station (Townsville)
- No. 6 Transportation and Movement Office (Townsville)
- No. 8 Stores Depot (Townsville and Macrossan)
- No. 11 Stores Depot (Townsville)
- No. 12 Repair and Salvage Unit (Charters Towers)
- No. 22 (Base) Wing (Townsville)
- No. 23 Operational Base Unit (Townsville)
- No. 35 Operational Base Unit (Cairns)
- No. 42 Radar Wing (Townsville)
- No. 55 Radar Station (Bowen)
- No. 58 Radar Station (Paluma)
- No. 211 Radar Station (Home Hill)
- Northern Area Headquarters (North-Eastern Area HQ) (Townsville)
- RAAF Postal Unit (Townsville)
- RAAF Service Police Unit
- RAAF Station Garbutt (Townsville)
- W/T Station Townsville, renamed No. 12 Signals Unit (Townsville)
- W/T Station Charters Towers (Charters Towers)
[edit] See also
- Australian Women's Land Army
- Australian Women's Army Service
- Women's Royal Australian Naval Service
- Female roles in the World Wars
[edit] References
- ^ Lorna Crosswell (nee Mittelheuser) 2004 http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/waaaf/tvillewaaafcourse.htm
