WHEEL MEET AGAIN AS YEOVILTON MARK WARTIME DRIVER BETTY’S 100 BIRTHDAY

At 100 Betty Golledge is not merely one of our dwindling number of World War 2 veterans but also one of our last living links with the earliest days of RNAS Yeovilton.

The air base – today home to front-line Wildcat and Merlin helicopters – opened the year before Betty was assigned as the Commanding Officer’s driver.

During her four-year stint at the Somerset air station, Betty ferried four base commanders around on official duties through the dark days of war and into the first months of peace.

Eight decades later and that service didn’t go unrecognised by today’s Commanding Officer Captain Duncan Thomas, who produced a citation for the centenarian in gratitude for her wartime service.

“It is a real pleasure and honour to reach out to a member of our Fleet Air Arm family on such an occasion,” said Captain Thomas.

“Veterans remain rooted at the heart of our core values as a fighting force. Betty’s time in service remains fondly appreciated by us all.”

His citation was delivered to Betty’s home in Bosham, near Chichester, by her neighbour Lieutenant Commander Thomas Read, who spent two years at Yeovilton with 815 Naval Air Squadron.

He presented the citation in front of her family and friends before a birthday Devonshire cream tea and a fine selection of wartime anecdotes from Betty.

“Betty is a remarkable individual and neighbour. Her continued enthusiasm and advocation for the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Navy is genuine and timeless, having always been greeted by her asking after the service, specifically Yeovilton,” said Thomas.

He’ll continue to deliver ‘fence command update briefs’ from his garden to keep Betty appraised of the latest developments and deeds in naval aviation.