Product Description

In 1939, a strangely assorted group of young women - barmaids mixing with secretaries and debutantes - bump along the road to RAF Colston in the back of a three-ton lorry. This story tells how, as the war progressed, these first WAAFs supported their pilots with courage, loyalty, and often love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #260950 in Books
• Published on: 1993-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

From the Back Cover
1939 - And in the back of a three-ton lorry, a strangely assorted group of young women bumped over the road to RAF Colston. They were the first of the Waafs.

Barmaids mixed with secretaries and debutantes. They had appalling living quarters and no uniforms. And, worst of all, the Station Commander, David Palmer, didn't want them. They were a nuisance, unable to do the work of men, and undoubtedly they would collapse and panic if the station was bombed.

Felicity Newman, the officer in charge of the girls, took the scathing criticism with a red face and in angry silence, then began to try and mould the ragtag bunch of girls into a disciplined fighting unit.

There was Anne Cunningham, who knew how to dance and have fun, but found herself peeling vegetables and skinning rabbits in the station kitchens. Winnie Briggs from a Suffolk farm - who longed to work on the aeroplanes themselves but met rigid rejection at every turn. And Virginia Stratton, who saw the Waaf as an escape from a miserable home, wanting to build a new life for herself.

As the war progressed, so the girls showed their worth - behaving heroically under fire, supporting the pilots with their steadfast strength, loyalty, and often their love - a love that was sometimes tragic, sometimes passionate, but always courageous.

About the Author
Margaret Mayhew
Margaret Mayhew was born in London and her earliest childhood memories were of the London Blitz. She began writing in her mid-thirties and had her first novel published in 1976. She is married to American aviation author, Philip Kaplan, and lives on the borders of Wales. She is the author of Bluebirds, The Crew, The Little Ship, Our Yanks and The Pathfinder, all published by Corgi.

Customer Reviews

Another Mayhew book I could not put down!
Bluebirds is the second Margaret Mayhew book that I have read and it makes me want to read all of them. Her stories are riveting, her characters so real that they almost jump off the page and become part of your life. The story draws you in, so that you feel that you are really living in wartime England. Last Tues. I was reading Bluebirds during the time when the monthly test of the tornado warning siren went off. I instantly jumped up and had to suddenly remind myself that if was okay, this was not the blitz.

The women whose stories are followed in the book grow and learn. Everyone tasted the bitterness of the horrific battle deaths. But they persevere and in the end look back on those times as among the happiest in their lives.

Each woman, Felicity, Virginia, Winnie and Anne, all experience love. Some are lucky enough to have their love endure to the end, surviving the odds of bombing missions and V-2 rockets. Anne and Virginia are at looser ends, but even though there is not yet one special person there for them, they have the self confidence to know that things will still be okay for them.

Looking around at 70 or 80 something women today whenever I visit the UK, I wonder how many untold stories there are. How many hours could I listen to them tell about their lives then.

This book could stand alone as a history of what happened during those dark years from 1939 to 1945.

A wonderfully accurate depiction of the WAAF during WW2.
Having served for 37 years in the RAF, joining in 1948 and marrying an ex WAAF from the same period, I was lost in nostalgia and enjoyed the way the threads of the lives of the girls were woven together. The depiction of life in the RAF/WAAF was more accurate than one expects from authors writing at this distance. I could not put the book down and read it at every opportunity until I had finished it. Margaret Mayhew has either a wonderful memory of those times or access to excellent researchers or both. Her writing style brings it all to life and makes one actually feel for the characters.

very moving and compelling account of women in the war
I am a fan of Margaret Mayhew and have read all her war books this one is the best she has written. It transports the reader right back to the war and takes them on a journey that is both factually stimulating and emotionally compelling.Margaret Mayhew successfully entwines the lives of the women who worked in the forces and the experiences they had whilst managing to keep the stories seperate.I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romantic historic books that are easy to read.