Pam Ayres Women at War: 100 Years of Service

It's 100 years since the first pioneering women

joined the British Armed Forces.

Today, women serve alongside men,

together in combat, on the front line.

If you can do it and you want to do it, you should be able to.

To see how much things have changed...

-Love it!

-How do I look?

..five well-known faces revisit either their own...

-Morning, ma'am, I'm the captain of...

-You called me ma'am, how sweet!

..or a family member's military past.

They just got stuck in.

It was exciting.

Always intense.

From defending land...

-..sea...

-I don't want to go that way.

..and air, these are the extraordinary stories of a century

of women at war.

Today, 52 years after joining the Women's Royal Air Force,

poet and entertainer Pam Ayres discovers if she's still got

the skills to tackle aerial intelligence...

Why do I feel a sense of creeping dread, Mike?

..as she revisits a career that took her to the Far East

and ignited her passion for performing.

Oh, my!

Pam will meet one of the first women to fly a military plane...

I flew all single-seater fighters and what they called light twins.

What was your favourite aircraft to fly?

Oh, the Spit, obviously.

..and see how much has changed for those serving today...

I just think if you can do it and you want to do it,

you should be able to.

..before experiencing first-hand the thrill and the fear

faced by the aircrew who take to the skies.

I'm not as brave as I used to be.

I used to be bold, I was up for anything,

and now I'm a bit more cautious.

What if it all goes wrong?

It was 1975 when opportunity knocked on the door of comic poet Pam Ayres.

Her witty prose and songs struck a chord with the nation

and she was catapulted into the world of showbiz.

# Like a Cheshire cat I'm good with a grin. #

But before Pam discovered the career that made her a household name,

she served for four years in the Women's Royal Air Force

in the late 1960s.

Lie down and rolly over.

Good dog! Good doggie, yeah! What a star!

Now, regular walks with her dog around the airstrip at a disused RAF base

near her home offers time to reflect on the force in which she served.

Well, without sounding melodramatic,

I feel the weight of the sadness of this place when I'm here

that so many young men in the prime of life went down these runways

and never came back. That's what I feel.

But I like being here as well because I was in the WRAF

and it reminds me of happy times that I had as well.

When I was in Singapore,

I used to have to ride my bike every morning over to work and,

I don't know, I just sort of like runways.

It's lovely and fresh and there's a great big sky and it's a soothing

sort of place. I've got a very happy dog when I'm here as well.

Lots of things to sniff.

Pam was born just after the Second World War

and was the youngest of six children.

During the war, her father served in the Grenadier Guards, but like many,

he rarely spoke of his experiences, which included fighting at one of

the conflict's most decisive battles.

He was always very proud of the Grenadier Guards.

Whenever he saw them on the telly when he was older,

he'd say, "Oh, there's some smart old boys,

"look at them smart old boys."

But he didn't actually go into much detail about what he did.

I know he was at the Falaise Gap.

I know he said the stench was terrible

because they were trapped there, weren't they?

Horses and men and there was a great deal of death there

and Dad said you had to hold your breath there.

He just said little things like that that made you think the experiences

had been ghastly.

It was during the 1950s, when Pam watched her brothers leave for

National Service, that her eyes were first opened to the positive

opportunities that came with a life in the military.

They got a lot out of it.

They travelled at no cost to themselves,

they made a lot of friends, they had good experiences.

They'd go off looking like my brothers and they would come back

carrying a kitbag with a shaven head.

I waited until the contents of the kitbag were unpacked because they

always brought you a present, you know?

They were like something from paradise, really,

they were so exotic.

Exotic as it was, it seemed off-limits to girls.

It was just something that the boys did, you know,

all the men went off and did National Service.

I didn't ever think about doing something like that myself

until I was considerably older

and bored out of my skull with the job I was doing.

Luckily, times were changing.

When the '60s hit,

so did the liberation of women from domestic life.

And like many girls of her generation, Pam was ready to grab

any opportunity on offer with both hands.

One day I saw an advert for the Women's Royal Air Force.

And it was very persuasive and it said, you know, "Life of excitement,

"join the Women's Royal Air Force."

I hoped for cheap travel, well, free travel, let's not mince words,

and I hoped to see the world and meet different people

and break out and do the things that young people wanted to do.

At the age of 18, Pam visited the local RAF recruitment office

and was swiftly accepted for the Women's Royal Air Force.

My dad was horrified when I talked to him about it.

Mum was lovely. She said, "You do what you want, my gal," she said,

because she would always let you do what you wanted to do.

But my dad was horrified.

My dad said, "You'll be throwing away the best years of your life."

I'll never forget what he said.

But anyway, they didn't feel like the best years of my life, they didn't.

As it did for Pam, the military offered a gateway into a life

of adventure and real purpose for many young women.

But over the years, not every parent

has shared their daughter's enthusiasm for joining up.

My father was absolutely livid.

I won't tell you what he said but he was very angry.

It took him a while to speak to me after that.

My father was in the First World War

and he understood perfectly why I wanted to join up.

They didn't want me to be a balloon operator

because they thought that you needed muscles

and they didn't want their daughter with big muscles.

I won't tell you what exactly my father said

because it was probably quite rude.

But the others were fine, because my stepmother was in the WAAF

during the Second World War as well.

Initially my parents were a little bit concerned,

but fully supportive all the way through my career.

I wouldn't have been where I am now if it wasn't for their support.

Against the backdrop of the Cold War,

Pam joined the Women's Royal Air Force in 1965,

a time when Britain's military were involved in conflicts

and decolonisation throughout Africa and Asia.

But before Pam could play her part,

she had to get through basic training.

When I joined, you had six weeks stomping around RAF Spitalgate

and being shouted at because you hadn't laid out your clothes

properly on the bed and put your belt here

and, oh, I don't know, it seemed like nonsense to me.

So I was a bit appalled by the power they had over you and how they could

make your life even more miserable than it was.

Then this woman came in with this

awful pair of black, lace-up,

austere, ugly shoes and she said,

"Now I'm going to show you how to clean your shoes in the way that

"they have to be cleaned." And she hoiked up a great gob of spit

and spat at the shoe and then she got a dollop of polish on the cloth

and went round and round in little circles and she did it

for a long time until it came up to this mirror-like shine

and she showed us and said,

"All right, that's what I want you to do all over your shoes -

"the whole of the shoe has to look like this."

My jaw dropped and I thought, why?

Pam survived her basic training

and went on to specialise in aerial intelligence.

Her job was to analyse and plot the photographs taken by

RAF surveillance planes.

You would have to identify where it was and the scale of it.

That was very hard.

Pam was known as a plotter. The base where she trained

is no longer operational, so she's on her way to

RAF Marham in Norfolk to see how

the role she didn't always relish has changed.

I'm not particularly looking forward to seeing all that equipment again

and all that stuff that made me so miserable.

I dare say it will be much more modern now but oh, God, I hated it.

Marham is home to the RAF's Tornado GR4 Force and one of

the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance wings.

Before Pam gets down to business,

a Flight Lieutenant at the base wants to show her the type of plane

that was crucial to the work she did during her time in the forces.

This is the Canberra. This is in the photographic role,

the PR9, and the bomb bay under there with the camera pods.

With all the cameras mounted.

When I went to Bassingbourn to do the course to become a plotter,

I was thrilled to bits because there were Canberra aircraft,

they were going over all the time,

they were going around on exciting curves and the noise and the pilots,

it felt like the real thing.

-Proper Air Force?

-Yeah, absolutely, yeah, the proper Air Force.

That's how it felt.

But it was a time when women were limited to ground-support roles,

and this is the first time Pam has been up close to the aircraft

that produced the photographs she plotted.

Can you show me where the cameras were mounted, please?

Yes, literally they were down just at the back here.

Where exactly were they?

-OK, the cameras were mounted in here in this bay here.

-Yeah.

And effectively, you've got the different aperture entrance here.

Oh, I see, so there was a camera on every facet, was there?

I'm not quite sure how the cameras worked

but you could go to the oblique shot

this way or vertical.

Yeah, I see.

This is where it all started then, and they ended up with me!

LAUGHTER

-NEWS ARCHIVE:

-Pilots are off on a photographic reconnaissance raid over Germany.

If you flew with them as a photographer,

these are the sort of shots you would get.

Women have played a significant role in interpreting aerial intelligence

since they were first recruited during World War I.

Alongside the men, their work provided key turning points

in the outcome of both world wars.

Assisting the so-called "spies in the sky",

they were able to research locations,

spot targets and track enemy movements.

And in 1944, the intelligence gathered was crucial to the success

of Operation Crossbow.

It provided Allied forces with the details needed to carry out accurate

bombing of German missile bases, saving countless British lives.

Retired RAF Wing Commander Mike Mockford

plotted air photography from 1952 to 1989

and was responsible for training service men and women like Pam.

These stereoscopes, which you have produced,

are entirely familiar to me because I used to use these

when I was a plotter, but the amazing thing and rather daunting

thing is that they are now a museum piece.

They are, very much, yes.

I remember the first time I looked down through one of those,

it took my breath away.

-Yeah.

-And it's such a simple-looking device.

-It is.

That goes back to World War I, that's called a Type D.

-Right.

-That was invented by a man called Hamshaw-Thomas in 1916 in Palestine.

-Gosh!

-I thought you might like to try some.

-Oh, the thing was, I couldn't do it, Mike.

-Couldn't you?

-I was so hopeless.

-Oh, was you?

I was hopeless as a plotter.

I should never have been anywhere near that drawing office.

The only reason I was in a drawing office

was because I went into the recruiting office in Reading

and the Sergeant, Sergeant Cooper,

who I've been looking for ever since with a bread knife...

-Yes!

-..said to me, "What do you like doing?" he said.

I said, "I like drawing."

He said, "With your test results,

"you could work in a drawing office" and I was so naive,

I didn't realise there was such a vast difference between this sort of

drawing and drawing a nice picture of a field with cows and trees.

-Well, it really isn't that difficult.

-Isn't it?

I've brought a plotting square along and I thought you might like to have

-a little look at a plot.

-Right.

Why do I feel a sense of creeping dread, Mike?

Well, there's a map of Singapore.

Oh, Singapore, of course, yeah.

Remember Singapore? You may remember in the good old days,

-you would have had a plotting square.

-Yeah.

And you had to match the square to the photograph.

-Yes.

-You had to find...

-Where the photograph was.

-Well, there's a bit of...

Yeah, that's right. That little knobbly bit there

-is probably that little knobbly bit there.

-That's right.

It's about a quarter of the way down. I'll shuffle it round a bit.

When you hear a gasp, you'll know I've got it.

Oh, yeah, OK, I got it.

Oh, I've got it, I've got it.

Oh, look.

You're looking at the Singapore waterfront.

-Yeah, I am. Boogie Street and all that, Mike.

-That's it, yeah.

Yeah, I can still do it after all these years.

So, you haven't lost the touch?

I haven't lost my touch.

-They're recruiting.

-LAUGHTER

Do you think an old bird like me'd get in?

-I don't think so.

-Probably same problem I've got!

Two years into her military career,

Pam was posted to Singapore, where she plotted photographs of

the thousands of miles of jungle in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The data collected allowed the RAF to closely monitor communist forces

that were active in the region.

I think lots of people probably never appreciated how much

plotting air photography was just a part of a very important operation.

That's what you were doing. Very important,

it's a key part of the reconnaissance cycle, if you like,

and that was true for there or for JARIC UK,

where you were doing the same thing on a worldwide basis.

You were helping to record and catalogue and retain for future use

the photography that was being flown.

I feel much better about my contribution now, I do, yes.

It's a very important part of it.

-It's sort of reassuring to know that I was part of something that was...

-Oh, you were.

-..doing something important.

-Without a doubt, yes.

Everyone who worked at JARIC did a very important job,

even if they didn't know they did.

Oh, that's really nice.

52 years after joining the Women's Royal Air Force,

Mike has finally given Pam a sense of her own place

in the history of women in service.

I thought I was a real duffer who didn't contribute anything but Mike

was consoling about that and made me feel

perhaps that wasn't so much the case.

Maybe I did contribute something in my own way.

Since the 1960s, technology has improved the capabilities

of the RAF's intelligence teams.

-Red on.

-Red on.

-Green on.

-Green on.

Right on, right up.

-Roger that.

-Roger.

Today, analysts receive three-dimensional images

taken by remote-controlled aircraft within minutes of it being shot.

Like Pam, these women currently serving in the RAF

also trained at Brampton.

And Pam's keen to check out their footwear.

The first thing I'm going to observe is your shoes,

because they're very nice, elegant shoes.

When I was in the WRAF, we had to wear

these horrible, black, lace-up shoes and you flapped along in them

like Minnie Mouse and I absolutely hated them.

We get those ones as well.

Do you? Are they still around?

Yeah, but we also get these.

-They are nice.

-A little bit more feminine.

You were at Brampton.

We've both been based at Brampton as well.

-Were you at Brampton at JARIC?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah, I was.

They've knocked it down now?

They have, yes.

I was always hoping they'd put a blue plaque on it, saying,

"The terrific air photography plotter Pam Ayres worked here,"

but sadly, not to be.

-It's probably very different to when you were here...

-I'm sure.

-I hope it is.

-..and there's a lot of different jobs that we can do now

and they're all very interesting. I think it does use your skills that

you're trained to do, yeah.

When I joined, it was the Women's Royal Air Force,

which of course it's not today,

is it just the RAF and it doesn't matter what gender you are?

Yeah, exactly that.

The only time you're separated is in your accommodation, that's it,

so obviously the females are in a different block to all the males

but other than that, you do all your training together.

Do you? When you trained, when you first joined up,

did you have to go and march around on parade squares and suchlike?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, with the boys as well.

-With the boys?

-Yeah, yeah.

We did everything together.

I'm not being nasty, but didn't it look a bit odd?

If you've got a big tall man

and then a petite lady, does that matter?

-They kind of size you off.

-Oh, do they?

-Yeah.

-You're graded according to size?

-I'm always the smallest!

These analysts are two of almost 5,000 women

serving in the RAF today,

each one tasked with a vital defence role.

And like Pam, anyone serving in the intelligence arm of the force

has signed the Official Secrets Act.

So access to their work is strictly limited.

Now this all looks a little more sophisticated

than the kind of equipment I was dealing with in the '60s

when I had a pen and a bottle of etching ink

and a sheet of acetate, basically.

If I'd only had all this stuff.

Now, what's this? What are these for? They look really serious.

They will turn the imagery 3-D so you'll be able to see it in stereo.

Can I put these on? Does it matter which ones?

-No, no.

-OK. Right.

Oh, wow, look at this.

You see, you feel as though you're in an aircraft.

You feel as though you're looking down out of an aircraft vertically

and the tops of the trees seem so close

and the aircraft seems so far away.

Now, I mean, this is all so much more sophisticated than

the work I was doing.

I was just trying to record what photography we had,

whereas you're looking to see what's in it, aren't you?

We're looking at an airfield here.

-Yeah.

-And we could get asked a number of questions as to whether

the airfield is serviceable, as to what aircraft are at the airfield

and then we would just look around

the airfield to see if there was anything of note.

Today, the RAF are supporting missions in the Middle East, and in

recent years, they have provided aerial surveillance in Afghanistan,

Iraq and Libya.

This is so interesting for me, really.

There's something tremendously optimistic about it

because I'm enjoying looking at this.

I just like wearing glasses because I feel cool!

Today, every role in the RAF is open to women.

100 years ago, it was a very different picture.

It was only when the First World War intensified, and increasing numbers

of men were called to the front line, that women were recruited to

fill the jobs they vacated.

Women took to their roles with gusto and turned their hands to over 50

trades, including welding, engineering and rigging aircraft.

When the country faced a second war,

the skills of women were called upon again.

Here's some WAAFs, look.

The farewell parade of the WAAF at Marham, 1941.

They look very much like I looked, really.

And here at RAF Marham, their contributions have been preserved.

I think it's absolutely marvellous that a place like this exists where

you can come in and you can be immersed in their lives,

in the lives of the women and indeed, of course, the men,

and just appreciate what previous generations went through to give us

the nice, safe life that we have.

I hope that they had good camaraderie and they enjoyed

each other's company. I'm sure they did,

I'm sure there was that great feeling of fellowship,

but they must have had such a hard and frightening time

because all around them, people were being killed.

All the young men they knew and their loved ones were being killed

and they must have always been in fear that their loved ones were not going to come home.

"You must hope on for a month but at the end of that time, you must

"accept the fact that I have handed my task over to the extremely

"capable hands of my comrades of the RAF, as so many splendid fellows

"have already done."

He didn't come home.

On 2nd September 1945, the Second World War finally ended.

Almost 400,000 British lives were lost,

but the legacy of their contribution lives on,

as will the memories and stories of the women who served.

The job we were doing, which definitely helped the defence

of the country, did make us feel we were trailblazers in a way.

We were very keen to be able to take action and win the war.

I feel lucky to have lived through that and I always am so,

so glad that I decided to do it,

because I wouldn't have been called up, the job I was doing,

so I've always been pleased that I did.

King George VI came down to Portsmouth

and there was a big march-past and...

..he thanked us all for our...

..dedication.

The wartime atmosphere was that you did your bit,

if you see what I mean,

and that's what you went in to do here.

Over 640,000 women served during the conflict,

every one of them paving the way for

the next generation of servicewomen like Pam.

She's on her way to meet Joy Lofthouse,

who played an astonishing part in the conflict.

-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

-I'm so pleased to meet you.

It should be the other way about.

No, not at all.

I feel a complete fraud because I was in the air force

as an air photography plotter,

but you were the real McCoy, you were a pilot.

Throughout the war, women in the WAF were restricted from aircraft duty.

It was deemed unacceptable by the RAF.

But that changed, thanks in part to

the stand commercial pilot Pauline Gower made

when she formed the Air Transport Auxiliary.

Miss Pauline Gower, our Commandant, had a hard fight to wear down

the prejudices against women flying in wartime.

Joy was one of the women for whom Pauline paved the way.

What qualifications did you need to apply?

Well, they liked it very much that I'd been sporty.

-Oh, yes.

-Because they knew that if you had been sporty,

you had good coordination.

So I applied and I got in.

Joy, could you tell us what the ATA was, actually,

and what was your role in it?

Well, it was called the Air Transport Auxiliary, all right?

-Yeah.

-And we did all the non-operational flying

to allow the air force to do the operational work.

I flew all single-seater fighters and what they called light twins.

I wasn't allowed to fly anything fast like a Mosquito or anything,

but what you call light twins,

which is an Oxford and Anson and things like that.

What was your favourite aircraft to fly?

Oh, the Spit, obviously.

It was still in everyone's mind as having won the Battle of Britain.

Were they hard to fly? Are the controls difficult?

You only have to know the take-off speed and the landing speed, really.

-Really?

-Yes.

And the cruising speed, if you like, because ATA had a very modest

cruising speed because we were trying to save petrol.

-Oh, I see.

-Every gallon of petrol had to come cross the Atlantic

in those dreadful convoys.

U-boats were sinking them the whole time.

You seem very modest about what you did, Joy.

I'm sure most people would think you're absolutely heroic to go up

and deliver these aircraft on your own,

but you seem quite modest and self-effacing about it.

Well, all women did something and a lot of the women, you know,

in the Battle of Britain, they got bombed and everything, you know,

so it was dangerous just to be around.

I suppose so.

It didn't really matter if one was in a more or less dangerous job,

and you were young, nothing was ever going to happen to you!

-I know, you feel invincible then, don't you?

-Absolutely.

Joy, do you think World War II gave opportunities to women that they

wouldn't otherwise have had?

It was the first foot in the door, if you like.

Yeah, I think it probably was.

It was probably the first foot in the door, otherwise it was back to

-the kitchen sink.

-Yeah.

And what happened at the end of the war, Joy, what did you do?

Did you go on flying?

No. It was a wartime thing, and hard to believe it nowadays,

but if you weren't married by the time you were 30,

you were practically on the shelf.

Yeah, I know.

So, really, I think one thought, well, wartime was wartime.

It's time to marry and settle down.

-Oh, right.

-Which most of us did.

Joy was one of only 166 females

in non-combat flying roles during the war.

Alongside their male colleagues, the ATA delivered

over 300,000 planes to airfields across the country.

What she did in the '40s and what women like her did

was to take on these ground-breaking jobs

and that began the process whereby today all those things

are now open to modern women,

and I think you can trace it back to women like Joy in her Spitfire.

The war ended, and with it, the ATA became redundant and was disbanded.

Some women did get to fly as volunteers for the WRAF after that,

but it wasn't until 1989 that the opportunity to fly military aircraft

was reopened to women.

And when Pam was in the WRAF in the 1960s,

the only flights servicewomen took

were as passengers to reach their postings overseas.

For Pam, that meant a flight to the Far East and Singapore.

Her prayers for excitement and new experiences were being answered.

And it was thanks, in part,

to a role she played outside of the plotting office.

Oh, my God! Oh, my!

This gives me a really strange feeling.

This theatre, or a theatre so much like this up the road at Brampton,

made such a massive difference to me.

This was a life-changer and, I don't say that lightly.

This theatre at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire

is home to one of the force's many amateur dramatic groups.

Back in the late 1960s,

a curious Pam Ayres went to watch a rehearsal and was swiftly asked to

fill in for an absent cast member.

That night, a hidden talent was discovered.

Now, this is a play called Haul For The Shore

and it's written by Jean McConnell

and I'll just read you a little bit of it.

I mean, it ain't Shakespeare, it's a bit of fun,

it's a bit of light sort of froth and this is a bit from my part.

I played Polly.

We won't hear another word, uncle.

Mrs Trout may have her faults, but think how kind it was of her

to bring me them mushrooms.

Pam's delivery was perfect.

She was given the part and stole the show.

-I'm having 'em for breakfast.

-LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

It was just magic.

I think because of my accent,

the audience responded very well to me and they laughed and laughed

and I was playing to the audience and I was in my element.

On the second night, which was for the officers, to my surprise,

I got shoved out on the stage right at the end

and the Air Squadron Leader

came out here and he said, "Ladies and gentlemen,

"I'd like you all to know that Miss Ayres stepped into the part

"at a mere ten days' notice

"and I think she deserves a jolly good round of applause."

Also in the audience was Pam's Group Captain,

who called her into his office later that week.

I went shuffling in and he got up and he said,

"I have never laughed so much in my whole life."

Then he said, "What's your ambition in the Air Force?"

I said, "I want to go to Singapore.

"That's what I'd love to do."

Now, cut forward a month, six weeks or so,

and I'm walking down the corridor and somebody says to me,

"Oh, here comes Seletar Jane."

I didn't know what they were talking about, because Seletar was the RAF station in Singapore.

I said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "You've got a posting."

Pam's ambition to travel with the force was finally being fulfilled.

Singapore was a colony of the British Empire

until it gained independence in 1965.

However, it was only 1976

when the last of the British forces left the island.

Pam arrived in 1967

and joined around 30 other women to be stationed there.

One of them was Avril Oxley, who worked in the supply store.

We were so white when we went out there,

and that was at the swimming baths.

Of course by the time we left, we had beautiful tans,

but when we first got there...

When you first got there and all the blokes,

all the soldiers, used to shout, "Moony!"

-Didn't they?

-Yeah, I married one of those in the end!

-Yeah!

-One from the block opposite.

Yeah, we were white.

There's me, obviously.

Oh, yeah. You've still got the same hairdo.

I know, I know.

I said that, yeah.

That's one thing that's never changed.

I'll show you a couple of mine.

This is the one I'm proud of.

When I look at myself now, a substantial person that I am,

I like looking at that.

That's me doing an impersonation of Horatio Nelson

on a gunning placement,

but when I look at my waspy waist...

Yeah, look at that!

-What happened?

-Mmm, yeah!

Oh, it's so sad.

I know - if only we could go back for another run.

-This is me at JARIC where I worked at the end of the runway.

-Oh, right.

You've got your main dress hat on there whereas in my job,

I always used to have to wear the beret.

Well, it may have been for the photo.

I liked that hat, though, that was my favourite.

I didn't like that stupid beret.

It was like a great chamberpot on your head, wasn't it?

A bit, yeah. We've both got exactly the same memories of the place.

I know. It was a real high spot for me, as it was for you.

Yeah, lovely.

Avril, did you like it there, were you happy there?

-I loved it.

-So did I.

-The best year of my life.

Absolutely loved it.

I felt that as well.

Pam spent almost 18 months in Singapore.

It was the highlight of her time in the forces.

And while she still worked as a plotter,

she joined the Seletar amateur dramatic society, which put on

weekly productions at the base.

She threw herself into a variety of roles, contributing to a long,

morale-boosting history of entertaining the troops.

The roots of such performances lie with the Entertainment's National

Service Association, or ENSA, which was established

to provide entertainment during the Second World War.

Today, the need to keep up spirits is as strong as ever

and James Blunt, a former British soldier himself,

and Katherine Jenkins,

have recently performed for those based in Afghanistan.

And the plays that Pam so enjoyed being a part of remain a feature of

Forces life, especially here at RAF Henley.

I've got ladies to see.

Other ladies?

The idea!

To be back here now like this is sort of like coming

a full circle, really.

I know what it did for me.

It was an absolute life-changer and if it's not that, it's great fun.

It's great fun to get out there and be somebody else.

However dastardly.

50 years since her first part as Poppy,

Pam can't resist treading the RAF's boards.

I still haven't given up hope, you know.

I still await the day When my true romantic hero

Comes to carry me away.

Well, I've been married 30 years.

Some people find that long,

But my husband's just a stopgap Till the real one comes along!

Then, like Lawrence of Arabia, Across the burning sand,

I see him ride towards me And I take his outstretched hand.

I see his pearly teeth, The flash of sunlight on enamel,

And if love cannot sustain us...

..We shall have to eat the camel.

LAUGHTER

Thank you, everybody.

Pam served for four years in the Women's Royal Air Force,

leaving in March 1969.

It wasn't until 1994 that it was fully integrated with the RAF.

A time that also marked another significant step forward for women.

This morning, the Service's first woman trained to fly combat missions

took to the air. As part of 617 Dambusters Squadron,

Flight Lieutenant Jo Salter set off from RAF Lossiemouth in a Tornado.

I think it's very important that children who are going through

school, especially girls, have the opportunity

to see that everything is open in this day and age.

Station Commander of RAF Benson, Hamish Cormack,

remembers this landmark time for the force.

What I do clearly remember is going through flying training

roughly at the time that the first female aircrew

went through flying training.

We saw pilots and navigators in the cockpit.

That was a difficult transition for some amongst the old and bold,

I must admit, but I think probably

most people would say that much more rapidly than expected,

everybody was treating everybody in the same way,

regardless of gender. That's absolutely what I see today.

It's not about gender at all,

it really is about whether you're good at doing your job.

That is the bottom line.

Since that time, many women have been trained to fly

every type of aircraft, from Tornadoes to Typhoons.

The aircrew at RAF Benson undergo

intense training to respond to a variety of missions

and were recently called upon to provide relief following

the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

We're constantly preparing to support several operations

we're required on and they are in a spectrum from low-level conflict

through to what the public would see as full war fighting.

But also, responding to disaster relief operations around the world.

Over the last 100 years,

the RAF, coming up for its 100th birthday next year,

has been involved in over 50 countries,

delivering relief aid after

volcanoes, earthquakes, typhoons, cyclones,

so it's not always what the public necessarily associate

with our primary role.

Qualifying as a pilot in March,

this Flight Lieutenant is now undergoing training that will

enable her to offer front-line support in the Puma helicopter.

What is it that attracts you,

why did you want to fly that particular aircraft?

I love flying helicopters

so I'd always wanted to go and end up flying helicopters.

I like that you're flying at low level a lot of the time

so I like that you're in amongst it

and doing something that's very involved with people

-on the ground.

-It's such a contrast.

I was in the Women's Royal Air Force from '65 to '69, and really,

people, women were expected to do clerical jobs.

-Yeah.

-By and large, that was the impression I got.

Now, the idea of a female pilot was far off into the future.

-Yeah.

-It was unheard of.

It's still unusual, but there are no barriers to it

so I think if you want to do it, you can do it,

and I think that's how it should be.

-Indeed, yeah.

-So rather than saying

you have to have half women and half men and forcing it,

I just think if you can do it and you want to do it,

-you should be able to.

-Yeah.

I'm so glad it's changed from how it was.

I'm glad, too. That these things are open to everybody...

-Absolutely.

-..who is prepared to devote themselves

to getting into it, that you would be able to succeed in it.

To get a chance to experience a job that was never on offer

during her time in the service,

Pam has been asked to join the Puma team

as they practice landing in confined spaces.

I have heard an awful rumour.

I'm going up in a Puma helicopter, so that should be very interesting.

I'm not as brave as I used to be.

I used to be bold.

I was up for anything and now I'm an old girl,

I'm sort of a bit more cautious and I think, "Oh, what if, what if?

"What if it all goes wrong?"

As the Flight Lieutenant is still training,

Pam is entrusting herself to the all-male crew.

How do I look?

This aircrew is trained to operate the Puma in inhospitable areas.

It can carry 12 fully-equipped troops.

The wind in your face, it feels like the real thing.

You feel like a real pioneer.

I think it would have been a lot more exciting

to have been a pilot than a plotter.

They are serious people, aren't they?

They're doing a dangerous job and I'm full of admiration.

100 years since women first joined the military

and over 50 years since her own experiences in the WRAF,

Pam has had a taste of what life is like for today's servicewomen.

As long as you embrace the life and get it by the scruff of the neck

and shake out of it what you can for yourself,

you can really enrich your life, and I feel it did enrich my life.

We were cosseted,

we were kept in a safe environment,

but these women are out on the front line

and I feel a tremendous admiration for them

and I'm glad that all these jobs now are available to them

if they are brave enough and have the courage and the resolve

to go out there and do it.

Now they can, and I think that's a fine thing.