WOMEN AND THE WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 23 September 1941, Page 6

WOMEN AND THE WAR

HOME TAKES SECOND PLACE London, Aug. 12 Increasing responsibility in the war effort is being undertaken by the women of Britain as the months go by. Thousands of them have now left home* and offices to undertake work which they never imagined in peacetime they would be called upon to do. In London there is now a balloon barrage company composed chiefly of girls. Soon there will be a wireless station run by women with a staff of 200 Auxiliary Territorial Service girls. Cadet corps are being formed in girls' schools to train personnel in the women’s services on similar lines to the A.T.C. and cadet corps in boys’ schools. Women can also be aircraft inspectors to-day at a salary of £240. The arrival in London of the first balloon barrage company staffed by girls was an innovation. They settled down to their job of flying a barrage balloon within 48 hours. Their average is about 20, and their height about sft 4in. They are required to be physically fit. but they do not require great strength, as the handling of a balloon is much simpler than when the war first started. They have called their charge ••Romeo.” and the only duty performed by men is delivery by trailer of cylinders of gas for inflating Romeo. In one Royal Artillery garrison girls of the A.T.S. are training with men. They are the first women of the A.T.S. to be trained and treated as soldiers on an equal footing with the men behind the guns. At this camp there are 400 girls aged between 18 and 20. living as soldiers They parade with the men and have their meals in the same dining hall. These girls are in charge of instruments which arc the eyes, oars, and brains of the batteries, the predicters. height finders, aeroplane spotters and radio locators. The aeronautical department of the Ministry of Aircraft Production is offering women positions as inspectors. After three months’ training they can qualify as examiners with the responsibility of passing aircraft, parachutes, balloons and other air equipment. They will be doing work which hitherto has been done by trained men engineers. The Junior Air Corps is now training girls from the age of 14. The scheme is a counterpart to the Air Training Corps which is giving pre-entry training lor the Royal Air Force to 200.000 boys. Women’s place in wartime is anywhere bu- • • ■ 1 'ii'".