Military/Spies

The George Cross for bravery

Three women from the special operations executive (SOE) were given this medal during the Second World War. Violette Szabo was born in Paris. In 1944,  she co-ordinated the local people in sabotaging German communication. She was sent to a concentration camp in 1944. She was executed in February 5 1945.

by Rory

The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)

The WAAF was first made in 1938 when the threat of war began to seem more than just a possibility. In the early days of the war all the women who joined were volunteers, keen to play their part in the war. It was not until April 1941 that the WAAF increased in size. By the late 1943′s it was counted and about 183,000 women had joined!

The women were taught to be pilots so they could fly planes from the factories to the air fields. They flew everything from small fighters to heavy bombers (the women)!

Other work in the WAAF included operating radars to tell everyone there were approaching enemy aircrafts. Women worked as electricians and as fitters sometimes the most skilled job in the RAF. They sometimes got the job of forecasting the weather. They were involved in finding photographs of enemy targets before a bombing raid, and in interviewing the crews when they returned from a bombing.
Lucy & Abbie