Memories of RAF and WAAF
Alfred Taylor was a sergeant in the RAF. On one occasion, returning from leave, from Gibraltar to Ripley in Derby, he brought home a banana and an orange. The family did not know what they were. On one occasion, he returned and could not divulge what he had been working on. He worked on ciphers and coding in the pre-Enigma days.
Sybil Mary Cope was a cook at the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). One day, while washing up at Church Broughton, RAF, she was an eyewitness to the Fauld Armaments Depot Explosion on 11.11.1944. She was saved from injury by an Australian pilot who knocked her onto the floor, thereby avoiding glass injury. In the early 1970s, she met the brother of a farmer whose farm completely disappeared in the explosion. This was at Barrow-on-Trent.
History
Item list and details
1. Air transportation authority - travel from Gibraltar 2. ID certificate for Spain - issued in Great Britain 3. Story of Fauld munitions explosion 4. WAAF's catering staff - RAF Church BroughtonPerson the story/items relate to
Alfred Taylor Sybil Mary CopePerson who shared the story/items
Peter DixonRelationship between the subject of the story and its contributor
They are the contributor's parents.Type of submission
Shared at National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire on 17 February 2024.Record ID
117082 | NMA012Usage metrics
