Description

Notable for its good-humoured charm, this candid personal memoir serves as an interesting chronicle of wartime activities at Bawdsey Manor, situated on the River Deben near Felixstowe in Suffolk. This is the very place where Robert Watson-Watt developed his ground-breaking Radio Direction Finding (RDF) technology, which later became known as Radar. It was also the first and most vital radar base that protected British shores during World War Two.

Gwen Arnold takes readers on an engaging journey from her childhood in the coastal town of Bournemouth in Dorsetshire to her role as a WAAF radar operator, where she monitored aircraft and shipping movements across the North Sea.

Throughout her narrative, readers will enjoy numerous humorous and insightful anecdotes that illuminate her family life, early job experiences in her hometown, youthful romantic escapades, her enlistment in the armed forces, and her interactions with colleagues at Bawdsey, both on and off duty.

All of these moments are shared with remarkable honesty and humility, creating a captivating and historically accurate depiction of what it was like to grow up in the 1930s and serve in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during wartime, contributing to a technology that played a crucial role in turning the tide of war in Britain’s favour.