Memories of an Uxbridge WAAF - Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain Film -

Memories of an

Uxbridge WAAF

Wartime stories of a Battle of Britain heroine

“It mustn’t be thought that male members of Fighter Command were the only ones who took part in this battle. The WAAF supplied most of the personnel for plotting and cipher duties in Fighter Command Headquarters at our Group and at our station operations rooms.”

Sir Keith Park, Memories of the Battle of Britain, 1955

At the age of 18, Hazel Gregory volunteered to join the Women's Auxiliary Airforce in June 1940. Stationed as a plotter at Uxbridge control room, the nerve centre of the Battle of Britain, a month before the air fight which set the course for the rest of World War 2:

Hazel and the other Uxbridge WAAFs were central to every instruction for the 11 Group Fighter pilots to scramble. At the end of each day plotting the enemy raids on the mapping table, Hazel was hand picked by Air Officer Commanding Keith Park, to type up each days battle results.

Battle of Britain TV first met with Hazel at the Unveiling of the statue for her former boss, Sir Keith Park, in Trafalgar Square, London:

"He was the man responsible for it all and I’ve always felt very strongly that it was so unfair that he had no recognition for it. I was very pleased when this campaign was mounted successfully......"

Hazel first met with Winston Churchill on the day now known as 'Battle of Britain day', 15th September 1940

At the end of the fiercest sky battle the world had ever seen, Churchill gathered Hazel and the other WAAFS together, and in Shakespearian tones remnant of Henry V's speech gave his words of praise, and promised that 'one day they would tell their Grandchildren...' of the role they played on 'this... momentous day'.

Winston Churchill Pictures, Images and Photos

Hazel went on to become a code breaker, in Hut 6 of Bletchley Park (immortalised in 'Enigma'), and later rejoined Winston Churchill in the secretive War Rooms, where she again documented plans and Battle results for the major events to come. In the war rooms, Hazel worked with Field Marshal Montgomery and General Dwight Eisenhower, taking minutes for the planning of the pivotal campaigns of the war, up to the D-Day landings. . .