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At the age of seventeen and a half Margaret Smith from Northern Ireland was sent to ‘Square Bashing’ in England to train in the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF). There she learnt how to make a bed ‘RAF style’, set out her kit and how to clean her brass buttons and hat badge. She also learnt how to polish shoes and march in accordance with the RAF. “This was supposed to help with discipline,” she told me. After eight days she was to be trained as a plotter. After training had been completed she was sent to various locations throughout Britain. Her first posting was in Inverness near Cullodun moor in Scotland. Soon after she was sent to Peter head, Essex and then Suffolk station. Acting as a plotter in each posting.

When the war was declared over Margaret among with her friends hitchhiked to London for the D-day celebrations. Her time in the RAF was over but it was an experience she would never forget and neither should we.

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