WORRALS OF THE W.A.A.F
First Published in September 1941 - 220 pages
This story was originally published in the “Girls Own Paper” in 12
parts from October 1940 to September 1941.
Each part corresponds with one of the 12 chapters.
The original first edition dust
jacket – showing the original book price of 3/6. This one is in excellent condition. The dust wrapper for the first edition is
very rare.
Note that the heading on the back page is
“A Girl Flyer! and not “Worrals of the W.A.A.F” as on
the reprint dust wrapper below.
The fifth edition dust jacket from
1948 – showing the original book price of 7/6 – appears to be scare. Note how the cover illustration continues
onto the spine.
Whereas the sixth edition dust jacket from
1950 – showing the lower price of 6/- is far more common. The striped spine is from a “new illustrated”
series of the books.
It will also be noted that the publishers corrected Johns’ name to
“Capt. W. E. Johns” following Johns angry letter to Lutterworths which was one of the reasons he left them.
WORRALS OF THE W.A.A.F
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
III - MYSTERY AT THE GOLF COURSE
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.
With the exception of the frontispiece, there are no story
illustrations in the first edition of this book, however you can
Click here to see the story illustrations from the 1950 “New Illustrated Edition” of this book
French edition – Worrals de la R.A.F. (Worrals of the R.A.F.) – this had 9 internal illustrations
Click here to see the story illustrations from the 1952
French Edition of this book
Below is
the frontispiece from the 1941 FIRST edition
Click on
the picture below to see it in more detail
Below is
the frontispiece from the 1942 third impression of the first edition. Click on the picture below to see it in more
detail
(They must have realised how unflattering the drawing of Worrals was in the first edition frontispiece and so they
re-did it for later editions!)
Worrals of the W.A.A.F.
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - published by Lutterworth Press
On the left is the spine of the first edition and in the middle
the dust jacket of the first edition.
On the right is the dust jacket of the fourth edition, note the
smaller font for both title and publisher