Wings Over Wick
1939 - 1945
Women At War

Mr & Mrs R Conner, Thornliebank, Glasgow
My husband Bob and I met in Wick RAF camp towards the end of the war and we have many happy memories of your little town and the RAF station.

I was a wireless operator and I remember the building was a mushroom shape, heavily sandbagged and we worked in shifts, I think it was three days on duty and the fourth day was free. We sent and received messages from the aeroplanes that were sent out from Wick.

I remember sledging down a hill in the town with some local youngsters (at 19 I felt I was still a youngster). The hill led down to the harbour and if we hadn't taken a right turn we would have gone straight in. There was also a place we could go to when we were off duty and we played table tennis etc. There was also another place in your main street where we received our sweet ration.

We wireless operators were billeted in houses, sort of semi-detached, which were actually in the RAF station and it was very cold as the coal ration was meagre. Three of us were in bunk beds in the living room and there were cooks in bunks upstairs. I shouldn't tell you this, but we were glad to get a wee bit extra rations from the cooks.

My husband Bob was posted to Wick in 1944 after serving in North Africa for 3 years with the Eighth Army Air Force. He remembers it was Skitten he went to, to join 519 squadron and after a few months the squadron went to Wick. He played football for the station team. We both remember the celebration in the station on VE night when the NAAFI ran out of beer, Bob was instrumental in having extra beer diverted from the Officers' Mess so that the airmen could celebrate. We WAAFs drank mainly cider. My late mother was horrified when she knew 1 liked a glass of cider. I still do.