The instruments she maintained were the ones aircrew trusted with their lives.
Lilian Bader was born in Liverpool on 26 January 1918, and came of age in a Britain that put obstacles in the way of her service.
War work was refused her at first, yet in 1941 she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force as an aircraft instrument repairer, among the first Black women to serve in the British armed forces. The role demanded precision.
The instruments she maintained were the ones aircrew trusted with their lives, and she did the work to the standard the job required, rising to Leading Aircraftwoman and Acting Corporal. She left the WAAF in 1943 when she married Ramsay Bader, as wartime regulations then forced women to do.
She lived to the age of 97, and recorded her own account for the Imperial War Museum, so that the memory came down in her own voice rather than anyone else’s.
Her record is in the Imperial War Museum oral history collection. Her card is in the deck.
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Timeline
- 1918Born in Liverpool on 26 January.
- 1941Joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as an aircraft instrument repairer, rising to Leading Aircraftwoman and Acting Corporal.
- 1943Left the WAAF after marrying Ramsay Bader, as regulations required women to leave on marriage.
- 2015Died aged 97.
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I salute Lilian Bader, who kept the instruments aircrew trusted with their lives.
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