WO (retired) Kate Orchard has received a surprise visit from 9 members of the Royal Air Force’s Deployable Air Defence Flight to celebrate an incredible 102nd birthday.
Kate, who joined the Women’s Auxiliary Corps in 1941, is the last of a generation who founded the Fighter Controller specialisation during WWII. She was absolutely delighted to be joined by aviators currently deployed to Remote Radar Head Portreath, Cornwall, and reminisce about her efforts in the War to defend the skies from enemy aircraft.
At a discrete celebration at the Red River Inn near Hayle, Mrs Orchard enjoyed recounting the important role she played in plotting the positions of enemy aircraft and in doing so saving many lives. The team from RRH Portreath were honoured to be the surprise guests and were able to swap stories about how the skies above the UK are protected and defended in the modern day.
Kate was born into a large Anglo-Indian family, one of 13 brothers and sisters. Her father worked as Chief Telegraph Officer on the railways, so Kate spent much of her childhood in boarding schools. After leaving school she trained as a governess and was due to go to South Africa with the family she was working for when war broke out in 1939. In 1941 India started recruiting women to come and help the war effort, so the Women’s Auxiliary Corps (India) (WAC(I)) was formed. Having always been interested in aircraft Kate underwent an interview for the Air Defence Centre, in which she passed the tests for speed and plotting. Two of her sisters, Merle and Helen, joined up at the same time as her and were all on the same watch.
In a previous interview, Kate remembered those early days of the war; “I wanted to do something for my country, which we all wanted to do during the war. There was a large grid in this room with a map of India. As the messages came through you had to identify if it was hostile or friendly. The enemy was the Japanese aircraft. They were the ones we were plotting on the big grid. It saved a lot of lives, otherwise we would have been bombed.”
Sergeant Anthony Thompson, 34, from Harrogate was one of the RAF team who joined Kate to celebrate. As a Cyberspace Communications Specialist within 144 Signals Unit, Deployable Air Defence Flight, Anthony is part of a team who have deployed a RADAR to Cornwall to provide 24/7 air surveillance to the UK, developing an air picture, much the same as Kate did over 80 years ago.
Reflecting on his conversations with Kate about the similarities and differences of their roles, Sgt Thompson said; "Whilst the technology of systems that were used during Kate’s time of Service have changed, the methods and procedures in how we use the information have fundamentally stayed the same. Information from all Air Defence sites are brought together by The Command & Control systems within the UK’s Control & Reporting Centres, generating the Recognised Air Picture. This is similar to Kate’s role as a plotter within the Filter Room and is why she was able to save so many lives from enemy bombers."
Kate was joined by four generations of her family to enjoy the celebrations, including her niece who flew all the way from Switzerland to be part of the special day. And, in true Cornish style, one and all joined in with the Cadgwith Singers who were performing some traditional shanties. Being incredibly proud of her time in the RAF and the medals she received in recognition for her efforts, Kate was so grateful to have been joined by the Service she so dearly loves and to receive a birthday card from her extended RAF Family at RAF St Mawgan;
"If I could put my uniform back on and do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat."
