LETTERS: Correspondence.
[Women's Auxiliary Air Force.] Five Autograph Letters Signed from Josephine Pipon to her father Captain H. C. B. Pipon, describing WAAF life.
WITH
Typed Letter Signed from Group Captain H. H. Down, informing Mrs Pipon of her daughter's death.
Josephine Pipon's five letters dating from between 12 November [1939] and 25 August [1940], from RAF West Drayton and other locations. Down's letter: Central Flying School, Royal Air Force, Upavon, Wiltshire. 8 July 1941. A small but vivid and poignant collection. The six items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Pipon's five letters totalling 4pp., 4to; and 22pp., 12mo. ONE: 12 November [1939]. 'ACW.2. Pipon | W.A.A.F. Reception Depot | Royal Air Force | West Drayton | Middx'. 6pp., 12mo. The letter begins: 'Darling Daddy | Pam & I were called up on Wednesday noon & caught the 8 o'clock train to London with twelve others arriving here at about teatime. | There are lots of other women here too. We sleep in huts of 22 & lead a thorough "barack life" - lights out at 10.30, very hard beds & reveille at 6.30am - Pam & I & some others are only here for a fortnight merely to learn about the R.A.F., know what an airwoman's life in barracks is like & also to be disciplined. Afterwards we hope to be put on deciphering training, after which if one passes the test one automatically becomes an officer I believe. | We are drilled severely every morning by a sergeant (male) & he has a wonderful corporal who demonstrates exactly like a mechanical toy & omits fearful things from a cavernous mouth as he does them! We are drilled roughly 1 1/2 hrs a day.' Other topics discussed are food, leave, a trip to the London theatre ('The Lion has Wings'). She reports a meeting with her mother and ends by telling him that she is sending 'two petrol ration leaflets'. TWO: 23 November [1939]. 'Hut 67 | W.A.A.F. Reception | West Drayton | Middlesex'. She begins with references to going to a show ('Under Your Hat') with her father, and a meeting 'Esmi' and visit to her flat. Turning to her training, she writes: 'On Tuesday we all went before a board so that it could be decided who of us plotters (106 in all) will be chosen to go to learn plotting. At present, they only want 58. There is a lot of controversy going on as to who is chosen & who not. [...] To-day we all went through a chamber full of tear gas. Very amusing, but how one's eyes do smart when you take off the mask.' The women have had a 'march past' the 'W.A.A.F directoress', 'to the accomaniment of drums - in the rain! Last time she came it rained too & we've really had very good weather while we've been here.' That night they will have 'an entertainment of sorts produced by Harold Holt (whoever he is) in the Hangar'. She ends the letter with teh news that she has 'just heard that I have been chosen to go to Leighton Buzzard with the plotters', adding 'isn't it thrilling [last word underlined three times]'. THREE: 28 November [1939]. 'W.A.A.F. Hostel | Heath & Reach | Leighton Buzzard | Bedfordshire', on RAF letterhead. 'Darling Dad | Here I am but only until next Friday when I go to Newcastle evidently for good. Pam & I are together in this - providing we pass the final test, which is really only a matter of being watched while working. [...] This place isn't bad - quite luxury from West Drayton. No more polishing floors, coping with stoves, hard drilling or P.T., no more marching to meals laden with eating implements and no more queuing for baths in a washhouse'. Despite this she misses West Drayton: 'we left a lot of decent people behind & we enjoyed ourselves there a lot. There aren't a bad crowd here - most of us are West Drayton.' She tells him she would like a uniform for Christmas: 'it would cost #6 or #7 & of course I'd pay half, but do you think it's a good idea? I don't think there's any chance of my being an Officer (for one thing I'm too young) so I might as well get an N.C.O.'s uniform as soon as possible; I hate our burberrys.' FOUR: 10 July [1940]. '9 The Rise | Kenton Estate | N[ew]/C[astle]'. 'Minding the air raids? We haven't really had any yet, so far they've been very tame. I hope it'll take far more than those to make me jittery. Every time the warning goes we're off duty & in bed. We are lugged out into a draughty shelter to sit for hours in pitch darkness & not a plane within miles!' She has seen 'the Junker 88 that dropped two bombs on Newcastle (one on Spillers disused ware house). I saw it for a second between the clouds before it dropped the bombs & before the siren went.' FIVE: 25 August 1940. 2pp., 12mo. Unsigned (first leaf only?). 'I've got my commission and must now be addressed as A.S.O. Pipon (Assistant Section Officer!) | This evening I go to Reading for an officer's disciplinary course where I shall be for one week before being posted to a station.' SIX: TLS from Down to Mrs Pipon. 1p., 4to. 8 July 1941; Central Flying School, | Royal Air Force, | Upavon, | Wilts', on government letterhead. 'It was with the deepest regret and shock that I learned this morning of the death of your daughter Josephine. She left here yesterday and went to Southampton to stay a couple of nights with friends of hers, who live at "Rohais" Warwick Road - I believe it was a christening party of her godchild. | We had a telegram this morning from the Chief Constable, Southampton, informing us that she was killed last night by an enemy bomb. I telephoned the Chief Constable's Office and they told me that the whole lot who were at "Rohais" - eight altogether - went into a Shelter in the garden when the bombing commenced. The Shelter received a direct hit and all were killed.' He ends by expressing sympathy, and describing Pipon's popularity.
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