Winifred's RAF Service in Gibraltar
Creators: name: Project Team, Their Finest Hour
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 430304
subject: British history
classificationCode: 430308
subject: European history (excl. British, classical Greek and Roman)
classificationCode: 430316
subject: International history

description: First story about contributor: The photos of the contributor were taken at Henderson House, the old Scottish Fire Service Training School at Gullane. During WW2 this had been a marine hotel occupied by Polish troops and officers. One day, while training, the contributor got called: there were two elderly gentlemen who were asking to look at the radio room. They said they knew where it was and led the contributor! They opened a door along the corridor, to a janitor's house, and saw lots of WW2 objects thrown into it. The two gentlemen had been on wireless watch in WW2 as they were expecting invasion to happen in Scotland via Norway and Finland. The men said they would be on watch shifts for 12 hours on, 12 hours off with a bit of overlap to chat to each other. Second story about contributor: LACW - leading aircraft woman. The contributor's mother, Winifred Bruce (nee Pace), was responsible for posting people at RAF Kirkham. Winifred was supposed to be posting people to different RAF stations, and eventually, to the North Africa campaign. The contributor's mother was posted to Gibraltar. Winifred was told that forces were moving up into North Africa and she had to go to Gibraltar (this was where back-up crew and supplies were). Winifred wrote to the contributor's father to tell him that she was going, and he replied, 'What! Tell em you can't go. Tell em we're getting married'. The contributor's father had just done training for the RAF as wireless operator air gunner on a Lancaster and was on furlough, so was going back to Aberdeen (where he's from). The RAF said that Winifred could stay in the UK if she sent somebody else. The ship that Winifred was supposed to be on was torpedoed, with her replacement on board. The contributor's father initially trained on Tiger Moths planes, but after the Battle of Britain, shifted to the offensive side and learnt to fly Lancaster bombers. Father and mother had been to one or two dances, and they were already an 'item'. An engagement was on the cards, but things got pushed along a bit faster! Seephoto of the contributor's parents' wedding party in 1944. The contributor's father was demobbed in 1947. The contributor's grandfather was a medic in WW1 but had a First Aid book from WW2. He went down the West coast of Africa towards South Africa and became missionary in Angola, and so did Winifred. The contributor also mentioned that they had an uncle who was in Burma, one of the Forgotten Army (the Fourteenth Army). He refused to speak about his experiences. Another uncle became part of the diplomatic service and was Assistant High Commissioner in India after the War. This uncle was in the Nigerian Camel Corps (a Non-Combatted Corps) during war because of his religious beliefs. Sometimes, the family would discuss memories of the War and reminisce (apart from the uncle who was in Burma - the contributor said that his experiences were too horrific). The contributor learnt Morse Code from his father, and joined the air cadets, eventually becoming a volunteer reserve officer in the RAF. "The RAF has been in the family quite a bit."