Evening star., 1942-05-03
w. A. A. F.. Plays Vital Role
In Britoin's Air War Effort
Thousands of Girls
Replace Men in
81 Different Posts

Special Cable to The Star and North
| American Newspaper Alliance.
LONDON, May "A year ago the
story of Britain's w. A. A. F.
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
seemed to be a sequence Of heroic
incidents.
There was Dorothy Pearson drag
ging young pilot from his blazing
machine and f1inging herself be-
tween him and the explosions that
followed when the flames reached
his bomb-load; there was Joan
Mortimer calmly emerging from the
destruction of the station armory
to start pegging out the sites where
unexploded bombs lay buried on the
airfield; there was Flight Sergt.
Garfield lying with a broken back
laughing and joking with the girls
who were trapped with her in a
trench.
w. A. A. F.'s were decorated by the
King for gallantry, and their names
appeared on the list of those who
had lost their lives on active service.
The w. A. A. F. today has just
as good a story. 1t is a story OF
expansion and solid achievement.
In the two and one-half years OF
the war, the w. A. A. F. has grown
to more than the size of the whole
R. A. F. at Munich time, and by the
end of last year it had become the
largest women's service in the world.
This astounding expansion has been
achieved entirely by voluntary en-
listment; conscription has had no
place in it. For security reasons,
the exact number of the w. A. A. F.
is a secret, but months ago it was
admitted to exceed 100000.
Service of Specialists.
The expansion of the women's air
service is more than a question OF
numbers The R. A. F. is largely
service of specialists and so are the
airwomen. To much greater
degree than any other OF the
women's services, airwomen are
actually substituting for men and
releasing more squadrons to take
the air.
In the early days there were only
five trades" open to w. A. A. F.
they could be just cooks, clerks,
orderlies, storekeepers or drivers.
Now they have opened 81 trades"
including such vital jobs as radio
location, bomb plotting. balloon
operation, meteorology, intelligence
reporting, fabric working, para
chute packing, Photographic inter-
probation, coding and cyphering, in
strumcnt repairing, fight mechanics
and armament inspection.
The w. A. A. F. have just won its
latest victory! w. A. A. F. flight
mechanics in charge Of the repair
of planes are to be allowed to 60
on test flights to prove they have
done a good job. The experiment OF
training women for work on en-
gines and bodies was started only
recently. but it has proved so sue
cessful that it is to be continued
on much bigger scale.
You might roughly divide the
w. A. A F. into 'good-timers" and
Others" All of them have the
liveliest interest in clothes. They
take an immense pride in their uni
forms, especially in the fact that
it is so much like the R. A. F.'s.
Uniforms Are Identical.
During the first fortnight of her
training each w. A. A. F. gets some
lectures on the psychology OF
clothes. but this encouragement is
really not needed. w. A. A. F.'s
clean their buttons diligently, press
their shirts regularly, grumble II
their skirts are issued too long.
Deliberately, so that the close
connection between the w. A. A. F.
and the R. A. F. might be empha-
sized, the badges Of rank and the
color and style of the uniform In
the two services are identical.
A typical w. A. A. F. is Sergt.
Molly Parsons. Mollys jacket and
skirt are man-tailored of the same
slate-blue cloth as the uniform OF
the r. A. F. free issue includes two
Jackets and two skirts. The skirt
is worn 16 inches off the ground.
It used to be IA inches, but cloth
economy and convenience Topped 2
inches off that. Skirts are straight
and slim almost to the point Of in
convenience. Shirts are slightly
lighter shade of blue, man-tallored
again (three free with six collars, (,
ties black, buckles and buttons brass,
buttons engraved with the alba
tross and crown of the r. A. F.
Stockings are blue-gray Isle thread
(three pairs free. Shoes are black
calf and loW-heeled-"sensible" (two
pairs free).
w. A. A. F.. and the R. A. F. have
a special affection for their great
coats which they consider more
dashing and luxurious than those
of the other services. They are
heavy blue-gray pilot cloth-offlcers'
belted, rankers' wasted and un-
belted. The cap is cloth with black
cellulose peak and worn with the
Air Force badge.
Take Pride in Appearance.
Slung over Molly's shoulder is her
kit bag part of her free issue, and
it contains some of the other So
articles that form the w. A. A. F.
official equipment. This includes a
rubber cape which serves double
duty as a ground sheet, cap COM
forter, canvas shoes, cup and saucer,
knife and fork, ration bag, eye
shields, first aid outfit and even a
button stick and housewife Com
pact darning and mending OUTFIT
Round her neck Molly will be wear
ing her two identity discs, one proof
against the water and the other
against fire.
w. A. A. F's take tremendous
pride in appearance. Hair styles
tend to the simple because con-
tinual hat doffing disarranges intri-
cate hair styles. The good w. A.
A. F." cuts her hair short. Collar
length" is the regulation, but some
stations allow a pretty generous in
terpretation. Makeup for the good
/ w. A. A F" is with discretion. F"
Nail polish should be only natural or