AIR MINISTRY / HAMMERTON, Sir John, editor. The Book of the W.A.A.F.: A Practical Guide to the Women’s Branch of the R.A.F. London: The Amalgamated Press Ltd., 1942.
First edition. A specially bound wartime copy in blue leather-grain boards, gilt RAF badge to the upper cover, gilt title, and original pictorial wrapper bound in. With four colour plates, 84 photographs and 20 tables of reference, including the striking colour chart of equivalent ranks across the W.A.A.F., R.A.F., W.R.N.S., Royal Navy, A.T.S. and Army.
This practical guide was issued at a moment when the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force had become indispensable to the war in the air. The editorial note explains that the W.A.A.F. could no longer be treated only briefly within ABC of the RAF, whose circulation had exceeded 350,000 copies; the speed and importance of women’s wartime service made a separate handbook an urgent necessity. Contemporary scholarship quotes the same note, describing the book as compiled for those already serving and for the many thousands of women considering joining the service.
The volume is made especially powerful by its paired forewords. Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff, calls the W.A.A.F. “an essential part of the Royal Air Force,” praising the service of airwomen during the Battle of Britain and commending the book to serving members, recruits and the public. The second foreword is by Air Commandant Katherine Jane Trefusis Forbes, Director of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, who describes the W.A.A.F. as women replacing, wherever possible, officers and airmen of the RAF, and serving alongside them in the same dangers, with the exception of actual aircrew.
A vivid wartime handbook, covering the story of the W.R.A.F. and W.A.A.F., recruitment, daily life, training, signals, transport, meteorology, equipment, ranks, welfare and the RAF Benevolent Fund. The final appeal notes that the sale of every copy would benefit the Fund, supporting men and women of the service.
A very good, specially bound copy, with bright gilt, clean contents, light age-toning and minor handling only. A highly attractive wartime W.A.A.F. survival with direct Portal relevance through his foreword and RAF high-command context.
