Women's Auxiliary Air Force

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) with over 2,000 women enlisting per week. 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). 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. 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. 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. All WAAF basic recruit training was located at Wilmslow from 1943. 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). 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, policing, communications duties including wireless telephonic and telegraphic operation.