Eileen Younghusband (WAAF airwoman)

Eileen Younghusband, BEM (née Le Croissette; born in London 4 July 1921) served in the WAAF during World War II in 1944. and received the initial coded message “Big Ben”, alerting allied forces to the first V-2 rocket launched against London.

Younghusband, adept at French and German, also had a talent for maths. This was used to great effect during her time in the Filter Rooms of Fighter Command during the war in which together with a team of fellow WAAF officers, she was responsible for assessing the information gleaned from Radar’s Chain Home (CH) coastal stations, estimating position, height and number of enemy forces in the air - essential for establishing Britain's defence network and giving air raid warnings.

These teams had a matter of seconds to calculate accurately the whereabouts of both friendly and enemy aircraft. This vital information was essential since at the time of the Battle of Britain, the RAF had a limited number of fighter aircraft and trained pilots, and limited supplies of fuel.

Wartime service
Having joined the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) in 1941 at the age of 19, Younghusband completed her initial training at RAF Innsworth, near Gloucester and later at RAF Leighton Buzzard. She was later posted to 10 Group Fighter Command at RAF Rudloe Manor, Corsham, near Bath, where she proved herself to be fast and accurate enough to be commissioned as a Filterer Officer. After training at RAF Bawdsey, she went first to 9 Group, RAF Barton Hall and finally to the Fighter Command headquarters at RAF Bentley Priory, Stanmore.

Six weeks after her marriage in 1944, Younghusband was posted to 33 Wing, 2nd TAF at Malines, Belgium, on detection of the launchers of the V2s aimed at the vital port of Antwerp. She remained there until June 1945. Following VE Day she was seconded to the formidable Breendonk concentration camp, known as the 'Camp of Silence and of Death', where she acted as a guide and interpreter, relaying to RAF personnel the horrors and harsh realities of war.

Family
She married Peter Younghusband, a PT (physical training) instructor based at RAF Northolt, in 1944 - shortly before her move to Belgium in the latter stages of the conflict. They had one child, Clive (born 1946).

Autobiographies
As she had signed the Official Secrets Act her story remained unheard for thirty years, though she has since written two autobiographies, Not an Ordinary Life (2009) and One Woman's War (2011), dealing more specifically with her wartime experience.

Recognition
Eileeen Younghusband graduated from the Open University at the age of 87, and continues to campaign on health and education issues. She lives in Wales, and was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to lifelong learning.

Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nathan Wyburn created the portrait from wartime images of Younghusband to commemorate her World War II work.