Susan Aris(1923-2015)

  • Named Maisie but didn’t like it so changed it to Susan
  • Born London August 1923
  • Served 1941-46 as a radio Mechanic and only joined because elder brother joined the RAF and she didn’t want to be at home with her parents on her own!
  • As she was only 17, she had to get her parents’ approval. Mum said no, dad said yes but only if mum agreed, so it was agreed by parents because they both thought the other one had given permission!
  • Susan joined up in time to join new category as a Radio Mechanic which meant repairing and testing radios on airplanes such as Swordfish, Tiger Moths, Ansons, Wellingtons and Oxfords.
  • She served at 14 different air stations with the Fleet Air Arm during her 51/2yearsservice.
  • Her basic training was in Golders Green at GoldsmithCollege then she went straight onto Lee on Solent.
  • Apart from repairing the radios, Susan had to fly in the aircraft with the crew when required to test the radio.. Whilst flying in a Tiger Moth she was given a sick bag (just in case) but this wasn’t needed.
  • One time Susan was stationed at Shrivenham where there were 5 females to approx 5,000 airmen – happy days.
  • Susan was engaged to a childhood sweetheart but he was unfortunately killed, co-incidentally exactly one year later (same day) Susan’s brother was killed.
  • A pilot always carried out a daily inspection of the radio andone daythe pilotinformed Susan that it wasn’t working, having checked everything. She checked to find out that the pilot hadn’t plugged the radio in! (One up for the female mechanic!)
  • On another occasion, the aircraft was taken up to do something called “circuits and bumps”. Unfortunately something went drastically wrong, the kite split open and the pilot was killed. The Swordfish aeroplane was only fabric skinned.
  • Another time, a pilot (who lived on the edge of the airfield with his wife and family) over flew the house so his wife could wave to him. This time, his undercarriage caught the telephone wires and he crashed in front of his wife.
  • Susan’s happy recollections of the WRNS include dancing to the Glenn Miller orchestra, getting engaged 3 times to a Canadian, an American and a RAF airman. None of the engagements came to anything.
  • After Susan advanced to PO Wren, she had to take a division of Wrens on the parade ground. Unfortunately she wasn’t very good with her left and right directions and said this to the girls “If I say left then go right and vice versa”. This left the division of Wrens going in different directions, causing much amusement to the watching sailors.
  • Susan also remembers cycling home from the pub with a pint of beer in her hand. She had been challenged by a Pongo to a bet that she couldn’t drink a pint of beer in one go. What she didn’t tell him was that her parents kept a pub and she was used to drink! She didn’t take his money but advised him not to bet against a wren again!
  • Susan also had a couple of lucky escapes during her service career.
  • One time she changed duty with another wren who went up in a Swordfish which unfortunately crashed killing all on board.
  • Another time she was checking and testing a radio which happened to be in the tail section of the aircraft. She was suddenly aware that there was no noise in the hanger. Everyone had left without realising Susan was still in the aircraft. She managed to get the attention of someone locking the hanger door by banging on the fuselage as hard as she could thus avoiding spending the night in the deserted aircraft hanger.
  • Susan stayed in the WRNS for another year after the end of the war, still doing the same job and maintaining the aircraft. She was discharged as a PO Wren; awarded 2 medals for her service and still has her uniform and hat.

She remembers her time in the WRNS as being happy times.