Interview with Paulina Dorothea Nichol

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Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
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Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
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Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
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Description

Object description

British ordinary wren and officer served as meteorologist with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1941-1946

Content description

REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1921-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as student with University of Oxford, GB, 1939-1941: student life; reasons for leaving University of Oxford and volunteering for Women's Royal Naval Service; volunteering for students land scheme; farm work, pay and conditions; attitude towards war; problems caused by German family connections. Aspects of enlistment and training with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1941: enlistment; recruitment procedure; basic training at Royal Naval College, Greenwich; training for meteorological work. Recollections of period as meteorologist with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB and Northern Ireland, 1942-1946: posting as ordinary wren to Royal Naval Air Station Worthy Down; meeting Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. REEL 2 Continues: uniform and kit; rules regarding hairstyles and uniform; etiquette training at Stoke Poges; officer's uniform; further meteorological training at Royal Naval College, Greenwich; drafting to Belfast, Northern Ireland; daily routine and duties in meteorological office; making an inaccurate weather forecast; making flights with pilots to gauge weather conditions; trip to Southern Ireland; description of HMS Gadwell Royal Naval Air Station Sydenham, near Belfast, Northern Ireland; alcohol consumption; sexual relations; rules regarding pregnancy; question of threat from Irish Republican Army (IRA). REEL 3 Continues: hierarchy with Women's Royal Naval Service; question of rank; attending mixed sex meteorological training; arrival of American troops; attitude towards American troops; encounter with Black American troops after hitching lift during blackout; attending American dance; occasion when she was strafed by German Air Force aircraft whilst on leave in Caterham; work relating to projected weather of D-Day in London, 1944; experiences of bombing in Caterham whilst on leave; attitude towards death of friends and relatives; sight of man being decapitated by propeller of Fleet Air Arm Fairey Swordfish aircraft. REEL 4 Continues: memories of Jimmy and his 'Glee Club'; incident of forgetting uniform; Very Important Person (VIP) visits; sight of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crashing; manning of meteorological office; need to take pollution into account when making forecasts; links between meteorological offices; use of observation boxes; contrast between wartime meteorological and 2002; demobilisation; return to civilian life; attitude towards women in Royal Navy, 2002; impact of experiences in Women's Royal Naval Service.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Smith, Lyn E (Recorder)
Nichol, Paulina Dorothea (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2002-05-13
Dimensions: whole: Duration 120, Number Of Items 4
Catalogue number: 23180

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Interview with Paulina Dorothea Nichol

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