08-05-2025
Gwen Thomas obituary: WAAF signals operator with elite RAF Pathfinders
Gwen Thomas had just turned 18 when in September 1942 she volunteered for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She did not want to go into the army and 'liked the uniform' of the WAAF, a view held by many young women who found the RAF blue more flattering than the army khaki.
Having trained as a teleprinter operator, she was posted in June 1943 to the signals section of the Pathfinders, an elite unit established the previous August to help Bomber Command to find targets in the dark. They flew ahead of the main force, mainly in Lancaster bombers and more nimble Mosquitoes, dropping coloured flares to mark targets in Nazi Germany that would later be bombed from the air.
Thomas was based at
