Help the RAF - Join the WAAF

During World War II, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) did not allow women to serve as front-line aircrew, but it established the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) to let women help the RAF in support roles, as well as to let more men serve as combat pilots.  WAAF officers and enlisted women were aircraft mechanics, parachute-packers, meteorologists, barrage-balloon operators, radar technicians, test/ferry pilots, nurses, cryptographers, radio/telephone/telegraph operators, spies, counterintelligence agents, cooks, photographers, and operations plotters.  Members drawn from the exiled Polish Air Force were nicknamed Wafkas.  After World War II ended, the WAAF became the Women's Royal Air Force, which was fully integrated with the RAF in 1994.  These days, women in the RAF are still not allowed to serve as combat pilots or RAF Regiment soldiers, though most other positions are open, and the RAF is considering removing the final restrictions.  This WAAF recruiting poster "Help the RAF - Join the WAAF" is on display at the Yorkshire Air Museum at the former RAF Elvington Base.