Carleton Scientific
2007/05/11
How My Sister Won the War & Pacified the Middle East
— with the help of some friends
by Alan Rimmer
ISBN 978-1-894145-22-0
108 pages, 8½ × 11 inches
52 photographs
$28.00 / £13.00
Lyn Rimmer joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in Preston, England, at the age of sixteen in 1941 and spent the next four years of World War II as a barrage balloon operator in and around London. Immediately after the war, she was transferred to Egypt, where she performed a number of clerical services for the British armed forces at a time of increasing unrest and reaction to the British presence in the Middle East.
During WW II, the Royal Air Force used balloon barrages as a defence against enemy aircraft attacking Britain. These barrages consisted of hydrogen-filled pilotless balloons attached by a steel cable to a winch on the ground. The ground crews, almost entirely women, raised the balloons to a height that reduced the accuracy and effectiveness of bombing raids. The physically demanding work of handling a balloon normally required crews of sixteen to twenty women, but the shortage of personnel as the war progressed meant that sometimes fewer than ten women had to do the job.
In the late 1990s, Lyn's brother Alan convinced her to record her experiences, even though it took some effort to convince her of the importance of her wartime memories. Alan transcribed the tapes and researched the background to her stories, especially those relating to the handling of barrage balloons. To his surprise, he found very little information and almost no photographs of this part of the war effort. Fortunately, Lyn still had snapshots of many of her wartime friends and colleagues and Alan was able to acquire material that gives a clearer picture of the significance of balloon barrages to the defence of Britain.
This book presents Lyn's narrative of her time in the armed forces — the physical efforts required for getting the balloons airborne, and the sometimes even greater efforts to get them back down safely, as well as her contrasting adventures on leave in war-besieged England and post-war — but not docile — Egypt. She bluntly describes the sometimes fractious relations between officers and the rank-and-file military personnel. Her recounting of her often humorous adventures with friends shows the extent to which camaraderie fostered the most important of her memories of the World War II era — a formative time not only in her own life but also in the lives of many people of her generation.