WORRALS OF THE W.A.A.F
First Published in September 1941 - 220 pages
This book introduces us to Flight
Officer Joan Worralson known to her personal friends as "Worrals" and
her friend Betty Lovell, nicknamed "Frecks" due to her freckled
complexion. Johns describes Worrals as follows - "Not even her friends
could truthfully call Worrals pretty, although her features were regular
enough". Worrals and Frecks are both in the Woman's Auxiliary Air Force.
Worrals is 18 and a pilot, whereas Frecks is only 17 and hasn't yet qualified
as a pilot because of this. Worrals' job is to ferry aircraft back to the
makers for reconditioning. However, her friend Bill Ashton has once allowed her
to pilot a Reliant Fighter and also to try out firing the guns. The story starts
with both Bill and Worrals being severely reprimanded for this by their
Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader McNavish. However, an emergency causes the
C.O. to have to eat humble pie and ask Worrals to pilot the Reliant Fighter to
another aerodrome where it is urgently needed. Taking Frecks with her, Worrals
hears over the radio that a mysterious aircraft has been seen and "must be
stopped at all costs". Worrals has just seen the plane and goes after it,
managing to shoot it down - much to the astonishment of her male colleagues,
when she eventually lands. Worrals had seen the unknown plane swoop down over
an old abandoned golf course and appear to drop something. When she returns to
her base, she and Frecks decide to use their weekend leave passes to investigate
various suspicions they have. Driving down to the old golf course, which is by
a Rectory, they find a system of lights in bunkers, which are being used to
signal to enemy aircraft. Worrals is captured but Frecks escapes. Worrals is
imprisoned in a room in the rectory after meeting a man called 'Corton'.
Frecks, after some initial problems, manages to help Worrals escape out of her
barred window by obtaining a hacksaw for her. The two girls hide in the back of
a large car, which is then driven by a pair of villains to a rendezvous. Our
heroes are able to overhear the plans of villains who are obviously German
spies. Arriving at a farmhouse, the villains go inside, to leave Worrals and
Frecks to decide how best to foil the plans they have overheard. Worrals
realises that they must get to the telephone in the farmhouse to put the RAF on
immediate notice. This they do, but they are interrupted and have to make a
hasty escape in the car. Chased, they are captured by a ruse and returned to
the Rectory. This time they are locked in a room in the cellar, but by using a
nail file and after many hours' hard work, they file through the lock and get
out. There appears to be no way out of the actual cellar, until Worrals finds a
secret passage that runs to the Church. Here they climb to the top of the
Church tower and find an ideal vantage point for spying, as well as signalling
equipment. Things go wrong and they are spotted by the villains in the Rectory
and have to use all their wits and courage to escape. Going back through the
tunnel, the girls hide in a large chest in the Rectory. They overhear Corton's
plans to return to Germany in an aircraft he has hidden and to blow the Rectory
up. Worrals resolves to foil these plans, come what may. Finding the "real"
Corton a prisoner in the house, they release him in the nick of time. Then
Worrals and Frecks make a desperate attempt to take control of the fake
Corton's aircraft. Worrals jumps into the pilot's seat and tries to take off,
whilst Frecks tries to buy her time. Once the aircraft is moving at speed, it
is difficult for the villains to overpower Worrals without endangering them
all, due to her extremely low flying. Spitfires arrive and attempt to shoot the
German plane down. Worrals is forced to land only to find that a hail of
bullets has hit the fake Corton and his cronies. The Spitfire lands and the
pilot is revealed to be Bill Ashton, who is astonished to see Worrals in the
plane. He had managed to trace Worrals' phone call from the farmhouse and make
arrangements for all the remaining spies to be arrested.
Worrals of the W.A.A.F.
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - published by Lutterworth Press