www.voicesofwar.co.uk
In the last days of August 1940, there were six heavy raids over a three
day period. Elspeth was on duty in the operations room, with the task of
maintaining the vital contact between the aireld operations staff and the
controllers at Fighter Command headquarters, Uxbridge.
On 30th August, nine Junkers 88 bombers delivered a devastating attack
on the aireld. An air raid shelter was completely taken out, and a number
of WAAFs sheltering in an adjacent slit trench were amongst the 39 people
killed. Others were buried in the rubble, and Elspeth was one of the rst to
come to their rescue, digging them out.
After spending the night in makeshift accommodation, Elspeth and the other
WAAF’s were back on duty as the Luftwaffe attacked again. With bombs
bursting on the aireld. Elspeth kept the communication lines open. The ops
room took a direct hit that afternoon, and the blast knocked Elspeth off her
feet. She dusted herself off and continued her work, later stating: “There
was nothing much else we could do, anyway,”. After this, a re broke out,
meaning the staff were forced to take shelter. With her commanding ofcer
and the rest of the staff, Elspeth ran out of the ery ops room, launching
herself through a broken window as more bombs exploded. Her warrant
ofcer shouted at her to move - she was leaning against an unexploded
bomb. Another WAAF, Sergeant Helen Turner, remained at her post in
the adjacent emergency telephone exchange
until she had to be dragged away to safety.
More attacks followed the next day, but the
squadrons remained operational, continuing
to take off from the bomb-damaged runways.
Opposite: Elspeth
(centre) with Sergeants
Helen Turner and
Elizabeth Mortimer who
were also awarded the
MM, walking through the
damage at Biggin Hill