Sunday 23rd June marks the 2019 International Women in Engineering Day (INWED19), this global awareness campaign, coordinated by the Women’s Engineering Society, aims to increase the profile of women in engineering worldwide and focus attention on the amazing career opportunities available to girls in engineering and related industries.
To highlight the work of female engineers in the RAF we spoke to three of our female engineers from No. 47 Squadron:
“My inspiration to become an engineer (apart from my family) was Sir Michael Foale who was selected as one of the first British Astronauts to qualify as a mission specialist with NASA in 1987. As a child I watched him go in to space and carry out spacewalks.
“I completed a National Diploma in Aeronautical Engineering and the next best thing to going into space was joining the Royal Air Force. I’ve enjoyed every second of my career and I would like to encourage the next generation and hopefully attract more female engineers into the Royal Air Force.”
Corporal Hayley Woodhall
Airframe Technician
“At school, Maths and Science were favourite subjects of mine, and this carried forward to university where I completed an Engineering Degree, which then led to me joining the Royal Air Force as an Engineering Officer.
“Since being in the Royal Air Force, the Training and experiences the RAF have provided me have been world class. Being an Engineer in the RAF offers you a wide range of opportunities and roles from being on a busy front-line Squadron as a Junior Engineering Officer to working on a Project Team.
“Engineering in the RAF is an amazing career, and I really would encourage anyone including the next generation of Female Engineers to consider it as a career.”
Flight Lieutenant Lorren Clark
Engineering Officer
“As 47 Squadron, Senior Engineering Officer (SEngO) I have the privilege to lead the 300 RAF and industry engineers in support of C-130 Hercules operations around the World.
“As Station lead for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), it is wonderful to see that we have so many females in roles including aircraft, communications and ground engineering, medical, dental, logistics, pilots and loadmasters; they all use science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to do their jobs successfully and have key roles in the RAF. The STEM activities that we do with local schools to inspire the next generation show students how to apply technology, teamwork, their knowledge and ideas to design or adapt something to find a solution to a problem; and why studying STEM subjects can lead to rewarding opportunities.“
Squadron Leader Trudy Askew
Senior Engineering Officer