Eileen Younghusband (WAAF airwoman)

This article is about the WAAF airwoman. For the social worker, see Eileen Younghusband.

Eileen Muriel Younghusband, BEM (née Le Croissette; born in London 4 July 1921) served as an officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II.[1] She received the coded message “Big Ben”, alerting Allied forces to the first V-2 rocket launched against London.[2]

Younghusband, adept at French and German, also had a talent for maths. This was used to effect during her time in the Filter Rooms of Fighter Command during the war in which, with fellow WAAF officers, she was responsible for assessing the information gleaned from Radar’s Chain Home (CH) coastal stations, estimating position, height and number of enemy forces in the air - essential for establishing Britain's defence network and giving air raid warnings.[3]

These teams had a matter of seconds to calculate accurately the whereabouts of both friendly and enemy aircraft. This information was essential since at the time of the Battle of Britain, the RAF had a limited number of fighter aircraft and trained pilots, and limited supplies of fuel.[3]

Wartime service

Eileen Le Croissette joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1941 at the age of 19, was commissioned as an assistant section officer in November 1941,[4] and promoted to section officer in October 1942.[5] She had completed her initial training at RAF Innsworth, near Gloucester, and later at RAF Leighton Buzzard. She was posted to 10 Group Fighter Command at RAF Rudloe Manor, Corsham, near Bath, where she proved to be fast and accurate enough to be deployed as a filter officer. After training at RAF Bawdsey, she went first to 9 Group, RAF Barton Hall, and finally to the Fighter Command headquarters at RAF Bentley Priory, Stanmore.[6]

Six weeks after her marriage in 1944, Younghusband was posted to 33 Wing, RAF Second Tactical Air Force at Malines, Belgium, on detection of the launchers of the V-2 rockets aimed at the vital port of Antwerp. She remained there until June 1945. Following VE Day she was seconded to the Breendonk concentration camp, where she acted as a guide and interpreter, relaying to RAF personnel the realities of war.[7] She resigned her commission on 14 December 1945.[8]

Family

She married Peter Younghusband, a PT (physical training) instructor based at RAF Northolt, in 1944, shortly before her move to Belgium in the latter stages of the conflict. They had one child, Clive (born 1946).[9]

Autobiographies

As she had signed the Official Secrets Act her story remained unheard for thirty years, though she has since written two autobiographies, Not an Ordinary Life (2009) and One Woman's War (2011), dealing more specifically with her wartime experience.

Recognition

Eileen Younghusband graduated from the Open University at the age of 87, and continues to campaign on health and education issues. She lives in Wales, and was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to lifelong learning.[10]

Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nathan Wyburn created a portrait of Younghusband from wartime images of her to commemorate her World War II work.[11]

Works

References

  1. ↑ David Irving, The Mare's Nest (1964), London: William Kimber and Co, p. 17.
  2. ↑ One Woman's War, p. 204
  3. 1 2 Not an Ordinary Life
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 35350. p. 6654. 18 November 1941.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 35773. p. 4817. 3 November 1942.
  6. ↑ One Woman's War, p. 158
  7. ↑ "V2 rocket code woman's life story". BBC News: Wales. 5 July 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 37393. p. 6153. 14 December 1945.
  9. ↑ One Woman's War, p. 265
  10. ↑ "Eileen Younghusband, 91, honoured with BEM for education campaign". BBC News: Wales. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Wightwick, Abbie (20 August 2014). "Simon Cowell Marmite artist Nathan Wyburn turns his attention to Welsh war veteran Eileen Younghusband". WalesOnline. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

External links

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