The Lives and Emotions of Erks and Waafs of RAF Bomber Command 1939 -1945
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/73976 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. The Many Behind the Few: The Lives and Emotions of Erks and WAAFs of RAF Bomber Command 1939 -1945. By Dan Ellin 1161835 Department of History Thesis submitted for February 2015 the degree of PhD in History at the University of Warwick. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 5 Abstract 7 List of Figures 9 Abbreviations. 11 Introduction 14 1: RAF Culture and Cultural Representations of RAF Ground Personnel 39 Cultural representations 41 RAF Culture 44 Hierarchy of Trades 47 The Erk 53 Race and Class 64 Gender and WAAF ‘Dilution’ 68 Conclusion 90 2: Recruitment, Selection and Training 92 Recruitment and Conscription: Volunteers and the National Service Act 96 Recruitment and Initial Training Centres 101 Initial training 115 Health and Hygiene: ‘FFI’s, Lectures and Inoculations 120 2 ‘GVK’ Tests and Psychological Profiling 125 Trade Training 134 Conclusion 142 3: Living and Working Conditions 145 Living Conditions 149 Bomber stations as Total Institutions 157 Hierarchy of Trades 167 Working Conditions: Mechanics, Fitters and Riggers on ‘the Flights’ 172 Armourers and ‘Gash Trades’ 179 Those ‘Beyond the Perimeter Track’ 180 Dangers and Risks: RAF Health and Safety and Traumatic Events 185 Conclusion 195 4: The Lives and Emotions of Ground Personnel 198 Emotions 200 Fear and Anxiety 202 Loss and Grief 214 Loss of Aircraft 217 Guilt 219 Boredom 223 Emotional Norms and Emotional Communities 224 Identity 232 Coping 238 3 Conclusion 241 5: The Medical Officer's Role in RAF Bomber Command 245 The ‘Typical’ Medical Officer 247 The Social Construction of Mental Health 257 Mental Health in the RAF 267 Neuropsychiatric ground Personnel 274 WAAFs 278 Identifying Malingering 283 Conclusion 296 6: The Treatment of ground personnel in NYDN centres 299 The Scale of the Problem 305 Diagnosis 313 Treatment 322 Disposal 329 Pensions 337 Conclusion 343 Conclusion 346 Appendices 358 A. Map of Bomber Command Stations 1940 - 1945 358 B. RAF Trades, Volunteers and National Service Act Recruits 359 C. WAAF Trades, Volunteers and National Service Act Recruits 362 D. Trades and Pay Groups 366 E. Daily rates of pay for ground personnel and air NCO air crew 369 Bibliography 370 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When nearing the end of my thesis I opened a word document I had previously created labelled ‘Conclusion.’ I found I had written: ‘PhDs take at least three years and alienate you from your friends and family. ’I would like to thank my wife, Nisey, for her support and understanding, and for working in undesirable jobs to make ends meet. To all my ‘ankle-biters’ who are now (nearly) all adults, I have to apologise for times when I was frightening and grumpy, and special thanks must go to Beth for adding commas. Thanks to Mum and Dad, for their support of all kinds, and John Clark and Lizzie Wilson for helping in my decision that academia was an adventure I should undertake. I thank my supervisor, Mathew Thomson, and Anne Law, curator at the RAF Wickenby Memorial Collection. Special thanks must go to Heather Hughes, and others from Lincoln’s International Bomber Command Centre, for enabling me to fly in ‘Vera’ the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Lancaster during her tour of the UK in the summer of 2014. Thank you to the Economic and Social Research Council and the University of Warwick Doctoral Training Centre for my funding and enabling me to give conference papers at exotic places in Europe and North America. Thanks go to my fellow PhD students at Warwick, to Lynsey Shaw at Oxford for being friendly and helpful competition, and people at the University of Lincoln, for originally inspiring me as a mature student and encouraging me to continue my studies. Thanks especially Alan Kissane for doing it all before me and enabling me to profit from lessons he learned the hard way. I would also like to say that without the 5 works of Spike Milligan, Vivian Stanshall and Alan Alda, I would probably never have started, and if I had I would never have got anywhere near finishing. DECLARATION This thesis is the author’s own work and has not been submitted for a degree at another university. 6 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the lives and emotions of male and female ground personnel who served in Bomber Command during the Second World War. Histories of Bomber Command usually focus on the flyers, or on the strategy of the bombing campaign. The experiences of four fifths of the service, the ground personnel, are often neglected. They are frequently reduced to two dimensional stereotypes, as the ‘Erk’ who serviced the aircraft, or the WAAF ‘chop girl’ whose sexual promiscuity presaged death. The RAF assigned personnel to different trades ranging from the most technical to the most mundane. The central theme of this thesis is the gendered hierarchy of trades within Bomber Command. It was constructed in part by widespread beliefs about fear, heroism and stoicism, the interconnected discourses of class and gender, and specific quirks of RAF culture. These included its trade selection process, dialect, pay scale, and trades’ perceived importance to the raison d’être of Bomber Command. The hierarchy is important in explaining the experiences of ground personnel, as some personnel were overstretched while others felt that they were not ‘doing their bit.’ Bomber Command servicemen and women were part of a community that experienced high rates of air crew loss. This thesis also discusses their emotional responses to service life and the treatment by the RAF medical services of those who suffered breakdowns. In examining non-combatant military personnel who served on operational stations but were also part of the home front, my thesis will inform and bring together different areas of study. It gives a voice to an important but previously underrepresented group and in doing so, 7 contributes to the histories of the RAF, emotions, military medicine and psychiatry, as well as understandings of the wartime experience, work and citizenship. 8 FIGURES 0.1 The air and ground crews responsible for a Short Stirling 33 1.1 The Erk: AC2 Joe Soap 55 1.2 Recruit 1425371 62 1.3 Off with the old on with the new 83 1.4 serve in WAAF with the men who fly 84 2.1 Recruiting for the Royal Air Force 3rd September 1939 to 2nd 98 September 1944 2.2 Initial Training at West Kirby September 1940 116 2.3 Bayonet practice at West Kirby 118 2.4 Trade test board 138 2.5 Standard efficiency tests 139 3.1 Map of RAF Wickenby 146 3.2 Flight Mechanic (engine) 173 3.3 Ground crew work on a Halifax 175 3.4 Ground crew Shelter at Wickenby 177 3.5 Injuries as an average percentage of total personnel 187 9 3.6 Causes of fatalities and injuries 188 4.1 Ad Astras at Wickenby 239 4.2 RAF Wickenby Maintenance Wing Group Cup Final Football 239 Team 1944-45 5.1 The medical officer 254 5.2 Crashed Mosquito 275 5.3 Lead Swinging 284 6.1 Attendance of new neuropsychiatric out-patients at NYDN 306 centres during 1942 6.2 Diagnosis of 250 psychiatric consecutive male and female cases 311 6.3 Diagnosis of 200 consecutive cases of psychological disorders at 317 Rauceby 6.4 Diagnosis of RAF patients 1 September 1940 to 31 August 1941 317 at Matlock 6.5 Psychological disorders of invalided patients 335 6.6 Neuropsychiatric male and female patients invalided as a 336 percentage of total medical discharges 10 ABBREVIATIONS In the 1940s, it was common to use a full-stop in between the letters of acronyms, (R.A.F. for example). Following modern practice however, I have omitted them, except where they are included in direct quotations. A/C Aircraft ACH Aircrafthand AC1 Aircraftsman first Class AC2 Aircraftsman Second Class ACW2 Aircraftswoman Second Class AM Air Ministry AMO Air Ministry Order AMCO Air Ministry Confidential Order ARP Air Raid Precautions ATS Auxiliary Territorial Service AWL Absent Without Leave BCATP British Commonwealth Air Training Plan BMJ British Medical Journal CO Commanding Officer CTTB Central Trade test Board DAH Disordered Action of the Heart DGMS Director General Medical Services DI Daily Inspection 11 DRO Daily Routine Orders DWAAF Director Women’s Auxiliary Air Force EMS Emergency Medical Services ENSA Entertainments National Service Association FFI Free From Infection FPRC Flying Personnel Research Committee GD General Duties or Ground Defence HCU Heavy Conversion Unit IWM Imperial War Museum LAC Leading Aircraftsman LACW Leading Aircraftswoman LMF Lack of Moral Fibre HMSO His Majesty’s Stationary Office MOA Mass-Observation Archive MO Medical Officer MOI Ministry of Information MRC Modern Records Centre University of Warwick MSU Mobile Signals Unit MT Motor Transport NAAFI Navy Army and Air Force Institute NCO Non Commissioned Officer NSA National Service Act NYDN Not Yet Diagnosed Neuropsychiatric ORB Operational Record Book 12 OTU Operational Training Unit PNB Pilot, Navigator, Bomb Aimer PT Physical Training RAF Royal Air Force RAFVR Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve RAFMH Royal Air Force Museum Hendon RAMC Royal Army Medical Corps RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force RDF Radio Direction Finding (Radar) RT Radio Telephone SD Special Duties SSQ Station Sick Quarters TNA The National Archives USAAF United States Army Air Force VE Day Victory in Europe Day (8 May 1945) WAAF Women's Auxiliary Air Force WL Wellcome Library WMC RAF Wickenby Memorial Collection WOM Wireless Operator/ Mechanic WOP Wireless Operator WReN Women's Royal Naval Service WT Wireless Telephone YMCA Young men’s Christian Association 13 INTRODUCTION Eric Sykes ‘Ode to the Erk’ (1942) Wherever you walk, you will hear people talk, Of the men who go up in the air.