Page 19 - RAF Magazine

SHE DIDN’T

TAKE ‘NO’ FOR

AN ANSWER

Black women have long played an
important role in the RAF. Lilian Bader
was one of the fi rst, refusing to give up
on her dream of serving in the forces,
thus paving the way for others to follow

Lilian Bader Catterick Camp, Yorkshire, but was dismissed after just
18 February, 1918 - 13, March, 2015 seven weeks when it was discovered her father was of
Years of service: 1941-1944 Caribbean heritage.
However, as the war continued on, she heard that
S he was one of the fi rst black women to join the RAF was accepting recruits with a West Indian
background. She applied for, and enlisted with, the
the British Armed Forces during World War II,
but as could be expected it certainly wasn’t a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) on March 28,
smooth ride. 1941. The WAAF existed to interlink with its ‘parent’
However, Lilian Bader’s (nee Bailey) determination force (the RAF) to
and resilience saw her rise through the ranks, paving substitute, where
the way for future generations of women of African and possible, women
Caribbean heritage in the RAF. Not keen on for RAF personnel.
In an obituary written for The Voice newspaper, author continuing to work a After a period of
Stephen Bourne – who considered Lilian a friend, domestic job, Lilian domestic chores
and had interviewed her for his book, The Motherland decided that she with the WAAF,
Calls – Britain’s Black Servicemen & Women, 1939-45 she was given the
– described her as “feisty, outspoken but not without a wanted a career in chance to train
sense of humour”. the Navy, Army and as an instrument
He also acknowledged that she was “proud of the fact Air Force Institutes repairer, becoming
that, by the end of the 20th century, three generations of one of the fi rst
her family had served in the British Armed Services”. (NAAFI) group of women to
Lilian was born in Liverpool in 1918 to Marcus Bailey, be allowed on to
from Barbados, and Lilian, a British-born woman with planes to check for
Irish parents. leaks in their vital pipelines.
She was orphaned at the age of eight and brought Lilian passed the 12-week course and was sent to
up in a convent. She stayed there until the age of 20 as Shropshire where she worked on Air Speed Oxford light
it was extremely diffi cult to fi nd work. In the 1991 book bombers. On passing the course, Lilian became an
West Indian Women at War: Racism in World War II (Ben Aircraftwoman First Class and her salary doubled (from
Bousquet and Colin Douglas), Lilian is quoted as saying 22 shillings a fortnight to 44). She was later promoted
of that time: “Nobody would employ me and that’s when again, this time to Acting Corporal.
I realised I had a problem with colour.” She turned down further promotion when she became
At 20, she left Liverpool to work in a domestic capacity pregnant in 1944 and was discharged on compassionate
for a family in Yorkshire. grounds.
This line of employment was cut short when the Her husband, Ramsay Bader, was a tank driver who
war forced the family to move to Wales. Not keen on was part of the D-Day landings. The two were married
continuing to work in a domestic job, Lilian decided in 1943. Once the couple’s two children had grown up,
that she wanted a career in the Navy, Army and Air Lilian went back to education, got a degree and became
Force Institutes (NAAFI). She joined the NAAFI at a teacher.

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