‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’1 Winston Churchill’s famous words appear on the plaque at Yale College, Wrexham, commemorating one of its most honoured and extraordinary pupils – Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Rosier. A Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Second World War, Rosier destroyed a Messerschmitt 109 and damaged another on 18 May 1940, shortly before being shot down himself. He escaped his burning Hurricane, receiving facial burns and other injuries which he would recover from in hospital. The group of Messerschmitts had appeared in force and without warning, as he, along with his weary and depleted squadron, had taken off from an airfield in northern France. Speaking later of his experience, he blamed the lack of intelligence for what had happened. Had they had any reliable information on how, when and where the enemy would appear, he argued, the RAF pilots might have stood a chance. Instead, they were caught at a major disadvantage and the already battered force sustained further damage and loss.
This lack of intelligence, and the feelings of isolation and helplessness which it induced in RAF pilots, would not last long. Developments in technology would greatly increase the ability of the military services to collect, analyse and disseminate intelligence that was so badly needed if the numerically inferior RAF was to be able to continue, and perhaps even win, its fight against the Luftwaffe.
In his August 1940 speech, Churchill attributed the smaller number of casualties in the second of the twentieth-century world wars in part to the ‘Few’ – the courageous pilots of the Royal Air Force. He also acknowledged that improved strategy, organisation, technical apparatus, science and mechanics were playing a vital role in keeping the RAF flying. Indeed, the planes and weapons used by the British armed forces, and the ability of the aircrew who so famously and gallantly flew in the Battle of Britain, were critically important to any potential British victory. There were, however, more secret developments in technology, as well as a number of personnel who were highly trained in using new machines and systems as they were developed and commissioned for duty. While the dogfights took place in the skies above Britain, RAF personnel laboured behind closed doors, using this new technology to collect, process, analyse and disseminate the vital intelligence that would keep the RAF functioning and ensure that Britain remained in the war.
Among these personnel were many women – women who, like Aileen Clayton, were members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Air Chief Marshal Rosier worked closely with Aileen, who was the first WAAF member to be commissioned for intelligence duties when she was promoted to officer rank in July 1940. She worked in the Y Service, an organisation tasked with the monitoring and interpretation of enemy radio transmissions. Rosier considered her an extremely important member of the Y Service, acknowledging that she was a ‘woman in a man’s world’.2 Aileen and her colleagues passed RAF Fighter Command warnings of impending enemy raids, their targets, their identities and other vital intelligence which made it possible for attacks to be successfully countered. Technical developments, Rosier admits, contributed greatly to British
