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The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (/ ˈ w æ f s /), was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak strength in 1943, (15.7% of the RAF) [ 1 ] with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.
On 1 February 1949, the name of the First World War organisation was revived when the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, which had been founded in 1939, was re-established on a regular footing as the Women's Royal Air Force. The WRAF and the RAF grew closer over the following decades, with increasing numbers of trades opened to women, and the two ...
The Women's RAF Volunteer Reserve (WRAFVR) was a military reserve force for the Royal Air Force. It was for women and the first pilot to receive wings was the Air Transport Auxiliary veteran, Veronica Volkersz .
The Military ranks of Women's Services in WWII are the military insignia used by the various all female military services and units during World War II. Germany
Several hundred thousand women served in combat roles, especially in anti-aircraft units. The Soviet Union integrated women directly into their army units; approximately one million served in the Red Army, including about at least 50,000 on the frontlines; Bob Moore noted that "the Soviet Union was the only major power to use women in front-line roles," [2]: 358, 485 The United States, by ...
Joan Daphne Mary Pearson, GC (25 May 1911 – 25 July 2000) was a Women's Auxiliary Air Force officer during the Second World War and one of only thirteen female recipients of the George Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry not in the face of an enemy that can, or could, be awarded to a citizen of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth.
In 1949 she was commissioned into the Women's RAF Volunteer Reserve (WRAFVR), as a Pilot Officer. During her 5-year commission, Willis trained to become a RAF-qualified pilot and was duly awarded the RAF pilot's flying badge, or 'Wings', on 18 August 1953. [6] [7] She and her husband retired to Bembridge, Isle of Wight. Charles Willis died in ...
The foundations of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force were laid by the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) which was formed early in 1918, but, although plans were formulated for the continual employment of women with the RAF in peacetime, they had to be abandoned on account of the drastic post-war economy and by April 1920, the disbandment of the WRAF ...