Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 6th October 2025

Time: 17.45

Venue: University of Lincoln

Description: For every member of aircrew who flew a bomber aircraft in RAF Bomber Command there were up to ten men and women who served in supporting roles. Their diverse trades included aircraft fitters and mechanics, WAAF clerks, parachute packers and drivers, and the lowly AC2 who emptied the latrines and drove the sanitary truck. ‘Penguins’, as flightless ground personnel were sometimes called, were marginalised in the RAF, and the women of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), were frequently reduced to sexual objects. Women who had dated an airman who failed to return were shunned as bad omens or ‘chop girls.’ However, without the effort of all these personnel, the bombing campaigns would not have got off the ground. Using published and unpublished testimonies including oral histories recorded for the IBCC Digital Archive, Dan examines the lives of ground personnel on operational bomber stations.

How to book: Book via the following link: https://tinyurl.com/583zzx44

Price: 4.00

Email: jwood@lincoln.ac.uk

Website: https://cityoflincolnbranchha.wordpress.com/

Organiser: Jamie Wood

Lecturer: Dan Ellin

Region: East Midlands

Branch: Lincoln