259134 Sgt. Margaret Alfreda Wynne MiD.Womens Auxiliary Air Force from:London Peggy Wynne served as a WAAF, most notably at Elvington Airfield.
She met her husband, Flight Lt. Glyn Burchill whilst at Elvington, a meeting that was not so much a romantic one, but a stark reminder of the time.
Glyn was manning the control tower, trying his best to land a Lancaster Bomber on a very foggy night. His instructions to the bomber were to keep flying around the base until the fog cleared enough for them to see the runway. Meanwhile he got to work setting fire to oil drums along the landing strip in an attempt to make it more visible.
Unfortunately, this was no help and the bomber radioed in that they were very low on fuel and had to land. As a last ditch attempt to guide them in as safely as he could, he went out onto the balcony of the control room and waved flares. All of a sudden the bomber emerged from the fog dead ahead of Glyn and meters from him, he could see into the cockpit and the expressions on the men's faces, the bomber was headed straight for him and Tower. On seeing him the bomber quickly diverted, up and over the back of the tower, tragically, crashing on the other side.
Glyn quickly ran down the stairs and out to the back, only to find a truly gruesome sight. None of the men had survived, leaving limbs scattered through trees and around the crash site. He slowly walked back into the tower in a state of shock and disbelief, Peggy caught a glimpse of him and sat him down and got him a cup of tea. She recounted later, that she had never seen someone turn green with nausea, and thought it a myth, until that day.
Peggy went on to be mentioned in dispatches and receive a medal that was personally awarded to her by the president of France, the following is an article written in the Daily Mail 2nd Oct 1947 about this achievement:
France offers award to former WAAF interpreter
The French Government have been in touch with the British Air Ministry with a view to offering a high decoration to a former WAAF, Mrs Burchill, of Wood Green, London, for her work as liaison officer at a French bomber group airfield in Elvington, Yorkshire, during the war.
Because she could speak French, she was asked to stay on at the airfield when it was handed over by the RAF to the French. It was her job to translate the messages that came through from RAF HQ to the bomber pilots.
A great deal depended on her accurate translations, questions of bombing routes and targets, rendezvous with escorts, bomb and petrol loads and all the detailed work passed through her hands. She often was given very little time to convey the information to the French. Mrs Burchill told me yesterday that she treasured many memories of the French pilots who were under the command of Colonel Bailley.
Casualties were heavy and the squadrons were occasionally being replaced by other French pilots from an RAF feeding centre. All together she spent 18 months with them. Before the RAF handed over, however, she had met her future husband. Flight-Lieut Glyn Burchill, who was stationed on the airfield. They are married and have one child.
|