Women of Intelligence: Winning the Second World War with Air Photos

by Halsall, Christine

  Sarah Churchill, the Prime Minister’s second daughter, was a plotter before training as a photographic interpreter.

  Although commissioned later, Sarah started in the ranks as an ACW2 clerk (special duties) and worked as a plotter at RAF Medmenham before training as a PI. She was respected as a hard-working, generous person who never used her illustrious parentage to ‘pull rank’.

  Elspeth Macalister had read archaeology at Cambridge University, including the use of air photography, and her tutor, Dorothy Garrod, suggested that she apply to the Air Ministry to be a PI. Elspeth was duly interviewed, soon heard that she was accepted and in July 1942 met up with three other Cambridge graduates, Sophie, Ena and Lou, to travel to RAF Bridgnorth for ‘kitting out’. After getting their uniform they were herded into a large hall to complete an IQ test with rows of numbers and odd shapes to match, which Elspeth found extraordinary:

  Next day were the interviews to help us find our niche in the war machine. I was interviewed by Theresa Spens – we had been in the same form at school and never liked each other. She showed no sign of recognition. She asked me if I could cook. ‘No’. Then she said, ‘We don’t know quite where to place you. Your IQ is very low – educationally subnormal’. I had just achieved a good Cambridge degree and muttered something about PI. I was ignored, obviously I was useless.

  On the last day the postings went up. I was to go to RAF Duxford; having joined the WAAF to see the world I would be six miles from home! My work as an unskilled clerk in Sickquarters was to write out, in longhand, a list of the kit of aircrew lost on bombing missions – a sad job.22

  Women came to PI from widely diverse backgrounds and experience. Some were not long out of school, such as Pat Donald who volunteered for the WAAF in London with a friend, just before their eighteenth birthdays. They were sent initially to RAF Gloucester where they were so homesick that they would have left after four weeks (as they were entitled to do) but stuck it out as the inevitable ‘I told you so’ comments at home would have been even more unbearable.23

  Pat Donald was just 18 years old when she joined the WAAF.

  Many younger women were looking for adventure, while others had put their chosen careers on hold for the duration of the war, and several, including Dorothy Garrod and Charlotte Bonham Carter, were of an age that would have exempted them from conscription. By various routes all these entrants to the women’s services came to serve at RAF Medmenham, where a new era in photographic interpretation had begun.

  Notes

  1. Muir Warden, Tom, a Canadian wartime PI at Bomber Command, interview with Constance Babington Smith, 1956/7 (Medmenham Collection).

  2. Lawton (née Laws), Millicent, conversation with the author, 2010.

  3. Chadsey (née Thompson), Mollie, correspondence.

  4. Holiday, Eve, interview with Constance Babington Smith, 1956/7 (Medmenham Collection).

  5. Palmer (née Ogle), Stella, written memoirs, 1990s.

  6. Morgan (née Morrison), Suzie, audio recording for the Medmenham Collection in 2002, and correspondence with the author, 2011.

  7. Westwood (née Bruce), Lavender, conversation with the author, 2010.

  8. Scott, Hazel, Peace and War (Beacon Books, 2006), pp.47–8. By permission of Hazel Scott. Also in conversation with the author 2010–11.

  9. Rice, Joan, Sand in my Shoes (HarperCollins, 2006), pp.3–4.

  10. IWM 8516 99/44/1 The papers of Section Officer Dorothy Colles, held by the Department of Documents a the Imperial War Museum and printed with their permisison.

  11. Benjamin (née Bendon), Susan, written memoirs, 2006.

  12. Collyer (née Murden), Myra, recorded memoirs, also conversation with author 2010–11.

  13. Hyne, Peggy, recorded memoirs, 2010.

  14. Benjamin (née Bendon), Susan, memoirs.

  15. Duncan, Jane, Letter from Reachfar (Macmillan London Ltd, 1975), pp.18–9. Reprinted by permission of the author’s family.

  16. IWM 4483 82/33/1 The papers of Sgt Joan ‘Panda’ Carter, held by the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum, and printed by permission of her daughter.

  17. Mottershead (née Rugg), Barbara, recorded memoirs, 2007.

  18. Sowry (née Adams), Jeanne, written memoirs held by the RAF Museum, Hendon, and printed with their permission, also conversation with the author, 2009–10.

  19. Churchill, Sarah, Keep on Dancing (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1981), p.58. Reprinted by permission of Lady Mary Soames.

  20. IWM 4782 86/25/1 The papers of Air Commodore Felicity Hill, held by the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum, by permission of Dame Felicity Hill.

  21. Churchill, Sarah, Keep on Dancing, pp.58–9.

  22. Horne (née Macalister), Elspeth, written memoirs, undated, and conversation with her daughter, 2011.

  23. Muszynski (née Donald), Pat, conversation with author, 2010–11.

  LEARNING THE ART

  When the RAF took over the Aircraft Operating Company at Wembley in January 1940 to become the centre for photographic interpretation, it also assumed the responsibility for training the increasing numbers of new interpreters that were urgently required. Instruction was undertaken by a number of the PIs already working at the newly named Photographic Interpretation Unit (PIU), most of whom had acquired their specialised knowledge of military targets by applying and adapting their previous civilian knowledge of air survey. Squadron Leader Alfred ‘Steve’ Stephenson was put in charge of organising all PI training courses for the RAF from the early days at Wembley until the end of the war. He was well qualified for the post, being one of the first geographers to use aerial survey on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions in the 1930s, with a wide knowledge and experience of the photogrammetric and optical machines associated with survey and PI. In Antarctica, a colleague had said that Stephenson was the ideal companion in difficult conditions: equable, efficient and with great organising ability. He had infinite patience with students, a quality he shared with Douglas Kendall, another pre-war air surveyor and mathematician, who would later be responsible for all PI carried out at Medmenham. Soon, RAF selection boards were identifying suitable candidates who showed the attributes required for interpretation training. From the middle of 1940, these included WAAFs who had by then served their regulation first six months in the ranks; Mollie Thompson was one of the earliest candidates to join a PI course at Wembley.

  Finding enough space for courses to be run became a problem after bombing raids had damaged the PIU main building and damaged or destroyed many houses in the Wembley neighbourhood. Ann McKnight-Kauffer and Constance Babington Smith met on their PI course in December 1940, held in the upstairs room of a small terraced house opposite the PIU. It was bitterly cold and as the gas fire only operated intermittently, they wore their thick woollen WAAF greatcoats all day. Fortunately there was a canteen on the premises where they could warm up with tea and stodgy buns, or sausages known as ‘bread in battledress’. Their group of RAF and WAAF students learnt the skills of interpretation using recent photography taken over Germany and France, identifying ships in Kiel Harbour and analysing a dump of tangled French aircraft on an airfield at Bordeaux. In her final oral exam Ann was asked a catch question: were there more armoured divisions or horse-drawn ones in the German army? She fell into the trap and guessed ‘armoured’, which was wrong, but it taught her the basic principle of never making an assumption or a guess.

  PIs were instructed that, if less than totally convinced of the identification of an object, they were to use the terms ‘possible’ and ‘probable’. For instance, they might be positive that what they were looking at was a tank and almost sure, but not quite, that it was a German Tiger. So they would describe it in their report as a ‘probable Tiger tank’. On the other hand, with the tank wreathed in smoke and impossible to clearly distinguish, they would describe it as ‘a possible tank’.

  Ann was impressed, above all, by Kendall’s kindness and even temper to all the students on the cou
rse, and this was a feature of teachers found by prospective PIs on subsequent courses. The support, encouragement and patience of instructors were essential for students to gain self-confidence in their own knowledge and decision making. They would soon be writing reports on photography that they had interpreted, which could result in an immediate tactical response or affect future planning; in either case, loss of life was possible if action was undertaken based on an inaccurate report. Much could be gained by students from senior colleagues’ experience and specialist knowledge, with each individual adding their own particular skills to the team. PI was an art that could not be learnt by rote or by following a set of instructions; that would be merely recognition of what is present and visible. Interpretation was about defining the unknown, and asking not only what and where objects could be seen but, all importantly, why they were there and the meaning that could be deduced from that knowledge.

  With the move of the PIU to RAF Medmenham in April 1941, the School of Photographic Interpretation was established in the main building of Danesfield House. Joan Bawden arrived at Marlow, the nearest railway station, in May to attend the first course to be held there. Transported to Medmenham with her luggage in the unit’s motorcycle and sidecar, her first impression of Danesfield House, in common with most other newcomers, was one of amazement at the size of the place and its resemblance to a castle or an abbey. Initially Joan, Helga O’Brien and two other WAAFs shared a small, bleak room above the stables, but within a week they were moved into more salubrious accommodation in the main building, a room with lattice windows, window seats and a view over one of the courtyards.

  By the following year, Medmenham had grown to such an extent that, despite the rows of Nissen huts erected in the gardens, the space taken up by the PI school was needed for working sections. The school made two temporary moves before settling into its final wartime home at RAF Nuneham Park, just south of Oxford and a few miles from Benson and Medmenham. Nuneham Park was a handsome Palladian-style villa built for the 1st Earl Harcourt in 1756, surrounded by a park landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown. After being requisitioned and designated RAF Nuneham Park, it housed the model-making school, part of the Photogrammetry Section and the School of Photographic Interpretation. As with Danesfield House, accommodation huts and temporary buildings, including a theatre, sprouted in the grounds and the Thameside mansion became another Allied Joint Service establishment. PIs drawn from all three services of the Allied forces were trained here, although as the need for PIs increased, army and ATS personnel attended similar courses at the School of Military Intelligence in Matlock, Derbyshire.

  American personnel in the PI School at RAF Nuneham Park.

  Diana Byron had grown up in Newlyn, Cornwall where she enjoyed living near the sea and watching the movements of ships. After training as a teacher at the Froebel Institute, she took a post teaching art at a boy’s preparatory school, where she was the first woman to be appointed to the teaching staff. With the declaration of war Diana joined the WAAF and trained for radar work at RAF Cranwell. Postings to two Chain Home radar stations in Kent followed; her work was to pass the details of incoming German aircraft (‘bandits’) to the appropriate group operations room, where WAAFs plotted them on to a central display table. The Chain Home ring of coastal stations formed the first area radar intercept system for the protection of Britain throughout 1940, when the country was threatened with invasion, and beyond. Later on, Diana was selected for PI training and attended the first course to be held at RAF Nuneham Park in 1942, where she and her fellow WAAFs were joined by WRNS, RAF officers and USAAF personnel. Diana said: ‘The course covered everything you could imagine, from silhouettes of shipping and aircraft and information about Europe. It was not only about aerodromes but also everything to do with harbours, seas, the whole lot – it was fascinating. What makes a good interpreter? Curiosity in the unusual.’1

  In the selection process for PI training, the candidate’s personal qualities were considered more important than paper qualifications. Visual memory, an ability to sketch and an attention to detail headed the list of necessary qualities, together with an enquiring mind and a sense of the significance of events and objects. Women were noted for their dogged pursuit of a particular subject over a period of time, while men often had scientific knowledge about a specialised subject. Under Stephenson’s guidance, his staff taught the principles and practice of photographic reconnaissance and interpretation and inspired the students to become ‘curious in the unusual’.

  The first lecture of each course was an explanation of the three phases of interpretation, which was at the core of the efficient organisation of the examination of air photographs. From the early days at Wembley, where the system was devised, to the end of the war and beyond, it provided an effective means of prioritising the examination of an ever-increasing volume of photographs. Urgent prints were dealt with immediately, while those used for monitoring purposes were available within 12 hours, leaving others to be dealt with on a longer timescale. This deceptively simple system ensured that photography was analysed and reported on in a time frame dependent on its priority, and was used in Allied interpretation units all around the world.

  First-Phase interpretation took place on the reconnaissance base that the photographic sortie was flown from, with the PIs living close to the airfield to ensure 24-hour cover. Photographs of high-priority targets were selected and analysed as swiftly as possible, or within a maximum of 2 hours of the aircraft landing. An immediate report was then signalled to the relevant command, which could trigger an instant tactical response if, for example, the PIs had sighted a concentration of enemy tanks or the departure of an enemy battleship from its anchorage.

  RAF Medmenham was the home of Second-Phase interpretation, keeping an up-to-date record of all enemy movements, activities and new constructions relating to land, sea and air forces. This formed a most detailed, comprehensive record of what the enemy was engaged in from day to day. With this knowledge, it was possible not just to predict, but to know for certain what the next enemy move would be, giving an opportunity for an Allied countermeasure to be put into operation. The Third-Phase sections, around thirty in total and specialist in nature, were also housed at RAF Medmenham. Each was designated by a letter of the alphabet and concerned with one specific aspect of enemy activity.

  Comparing photographs of an area or activity with others taken on previous cover was the only way of establishing if any changes had taken place. Comparative cover was one of the most useful tools the PI could use, for without comparison over time there was no way of knowing what was, or was not, normal. An air photograph of an enemy airfield might show a single track leading to a runway for light passenger aircraft. One month later the track could have become a well-surfaced road with several heavy transport planes visible among different types of aircraft, indicating that something was happening: comparative cover would show the change in use and purpose. It was then the responsibility of the PI to find the answers to the questions and report on them. Captain Dirk Bogarde summed up the fascination that PIs had for their work:

  You needed observation, an eye for detail and memory. I loved the detail, the intense concentration, the working out of problems, the searching for clues, and above all, the memorising.2

  Intervals between flying photographic sorties could range from a matter of hours in a rapidly changing situation, to a regular ‘watching brief’ of days or weeks. When an operation was being planned, one of the first orders would be for a significant increase in photographic cover of the area concerned, which would form a major part of the intelligence gathering and influence the planning and decision-making process. Even when intelligence came from other sources, for instance by electronic or human means, it invariably had to be verified with photographic cover. The plans for virtually every wartime operation included the words: ‘The photographs show …’

  Maps and charts are fundamental to every armed force activity on land, sea or air, an
d constitute one of the earliest forms of intelligence. This part of the course put the mathematical skills of the students to the test. Dorothy Colles passed her PI course in 1941 despite a few doubts:

  On the last course all the WAAFs and half the RAFs failed. I have looked at all the manuals and am overwhelmed - not that one does it in a few weeks, but that one does it at all! I can see some most involved mathematical calculations ahead of me!3

  By the afternoon of Diana Byron’s first day, the students were immersed in learning the standard procedures of basic scaling, recognition, identification and measurement that all PIs follow when looking at an air photograph. On each desk was set out the ‘tools of the trade’: a simple, pocket-sized stereoscope, which looked like a pair of spectacles mounted on a fold-up stand, a magnifier with graticules for measuring, photogrammetric tables and sets of trigonometry tables, a slide rule and an anglepoise lamp to provide a strong and adjustable source of light.

  The scale of an air photograph had to be determined in order to identify objects correctly by size and recognition. The process involved the accurate measurement of the size of an object relative to its size on the ground; sometimes the object was little more than a speck seen on a photograph taken at a height of 30,000ft. Before the invention of the pocket calculator, the slide rule was the most commonly used calculation tool in science and engineering. Looking like an overlarge folded-up ruler, it was used to multiply and divide and calculate functions such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry. Hazel Furney and Sarah Churchill were together on their course at Nuneham: