Mary Mackie - Wards in the Sky: The RAFs Remarkable Nursing Service

For all the women and men who have so faithfully served, in war and in peace, as members of the Princess Marys Royal Air Force Nursing Service.

Contents

Twelve years after publication of the original version of this book I was delighted to have the opportunity to update the text. My thanks to everyone who co-operated in the preparation of three new chapters and updating of details and lists, including current DNS Gp Capt Phil Spragg, who kindly checked the new material; also Wg Cdr Mike Priestley, CO of Tactical Medical Wing, for correcting some errors concerning his unit. Special gratitude goes to WO Debbie Meikle, who arranged for me to interview a variety of RAF nurses, senior and junior, female and male, at MDHU Peterborough (and kept me supplied with coffee and moral support), with the help and permission of the units then CO, Wg Cdr K C Mackie (now Rtd), who also acted as initial editor. Thanks, too, to the current PMs who generously spared me their time and shared their experience. It was a privilege and honour to meet you all.

Finally, to Chris, my long-suffering husband and unpaid assistant, for help too varied to detail, for being a strong shoulder when the going got tough and a supportive cook and bottle washer over many months when my computer screen saw more of me than he did!

Thank you, all.

Acknowledgements to first edition, 2001

This book could not have been written without the contributions of many people. My gratitude and appreciation extend to all of them: in particular to Air Cdre Robert H Williams (Rtd), who as Director of Defence Nursing Services and first male MiC of the PMRAFNS determined to have a history of his Service brought to print, for allowing me the privilege of being the one to write it and for his unfailing support and assistance.

To Wg Cdr Annie Reid OBE ARRC (Rtd); to my tireless ally Wg Cdr (Rtd) Angela Scofield; to Air Cdre (Rtd) Valerie Hand, for her own stories and her eagle eye for factual and grammatical accuracy; and, not least, to Mrs Marion Donaldson (PMRAFNS Rtd) for her personal support and encouragement and, in her role as editor of the PMs Magazine , source of invaluable information and assistance.

To all members of the PMRAFNS, past and present, who allowed us into their homes where they recounted their own amazing stories. Special thanks to Gp Capt (Rtd) Liz Sandison, RRC, for being such a wonderful hostess over two days when a squadron of PMs gathered at her home to share their experiences with us.

To the many, many other PMs, their husbands and families, to RAF doctors, patients, WAAFs and medics who responded to my appeals for information and bombarded me with photos, cartoons, maps, menus and wonderful stories that made me laugh out loud or brought a lump to my throat. Sometimes both. Lack of space has forced me to leave out much that I had hoped to include. However, all the material has been added to the official archive.

To all at the RAF Museum at Hendon; to Jean Buckberry, College Librarian at RAF Cranwell; Sandy Gilbert-Wykes, CRO at RAF Coningsby; Mr Stankus at the Royal Signals Museum, Blandford; to all at Air Historical Branch, London, and Personnel Records, Innsworth; and to the staff of the Imperial War Museum and the Public Record Office (PRO). My work at the latter was immensely aided by a list of relevant files compiled by Enid Zaig, and Jean Holmes generously shared her research into the youngest VC, RAF Sergeant John Hannah.

A history of the Princess Marys Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS, or the PMs) was first envisioned in 1930, when the first matron-in-chief began to gather anecdotal material. Her rough jottings, and letters with stories from early sisters, waited in the archive like diamonds for me to bring to light. Other researchers, over the years, had gathered bits and pieces of material, which I inherited and gratefully incorporated in this book. Meanwhile, time has been galloping on and every year has added yet more stories to be told.

As I discovered to my dismay and disbelief, even in books which purport to cover the whole RAF, little or no mention is made of the PMRAFNS. Huge and busy hospitals fail to merit so much as a footnote in tomes giving minute details of airfields and squadrons, and even the History of the RAF Medical Service for World War Two , in three huge volumes, spared the PMs only ten pages. One history of RAF Halton, whose hospital is regarded as the wellspring of both the Medical Service and the PMRAFNS, adds insult to injury by mentioning the hospital in passing but getting its name wrong: Queen Marys RAF Hospital instead of Princess Marys an entirely different lady!

I was, therefore, delighted to be asked to set matters right and produce a book telling the story of the RAFS own nursing service, not as a dry and dusty record of facts and figures but as a human tale with plenty of personal anecdotes. I confess that when I accepted the task I was not fully aware of the mountain I had to climb; despite the hard work and moments of hair tearing, however, it has been a journey of discovery, full of interest, excitement and fascination. It has also made me aware of the courage of the thousands of women and, latterly, men who, for nearly a century, have been proud to call themselves PMs. I hope that the result will please all members retired, serving or prospective and perhaps provide a good read for anyone interested in nursing, or in the air force, or simply in a true story of human beings with all their virtues, faults and foibles and a wonderful sense of humour.

Writing for a wide audience, I have tried to avoid nursing or service jargon. A fainting fit, for instance, is understood by all, whereas vasovagal attack would send most people rushing for a dictionary. In most cases Ive settled for plain English.

Contributors other than PMs are fully identified within the text: Jimmy Brown, RAF Sgt or Corporal WAAF Polly Perkins or patient Mrs Johnson speak for themselves. Any name without such explanation is, or has been, a serving member of the PMRAFNS. To avoid complications caused by changes of rank and, in the case of the ladies, by maiden and married names, Ive settled for the simple approach, referring to nearly every lady by her maiden surname, adding her married name, as appropriate, in brackets. So someone identified as Joan Smith (Mrs Bloggs) will mostly remain Joan Smith, or simply Joan, during the rest of that segment. If we meet her again in a later chapter she will be re-identified as Joan Smith (Mrs Bloggs) for clarity. The men, too, youll generally find as Sam Jones or simply Sam, whether they were Aircraftman or Group Captain. Occasionally, for variety and flavour, Ive slipped in a Sister Joan Smith or PM Sally Spigot or Flight Lieutenant Sam Jones. For anyone interested in discovering more about these contributors when they served, what rank they held and where I gleaned their stories an Appendix list details all PMs actually quoted in the text. I have not included awards and honours against these names, there being no time to check every single one; rather than risk making a mistake and causing offence, Ive compromised by leaving them out. In fact, very many PMs have been awarded honours such as the Royal Red Cross or the Order of St John of Jerusalem, as is made clear in the main text.

Another problem in a book of this kind is the preponderance of acronyms, which can make a page unreadable to the layman. Everyone knows what RAF stands for but other terms such as NBC or MDHU are less familiar and may have different meanings in different contexts. Ive endeavoured to keep them to a minimum or, where necessary, to write the words in full; if anyone gets really lost, an alphabetical list of acronyms appears in the Appendix section.