RCAF Station Jarvis Belgian trainee graduated. Women were admitted to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 as members of the Women's Division - the "WDs". The first WDs, 70 in number, arrived at Jarvis on 27 April 1942, and within six months airwomen were serving in many areas of the station including the control tower, the bomb plotting office, the kitchens, and the stores. Airwomen were not permitted to serve as aircrew. A key member of the famous "Dambusters" (No. 617 Squadron RAF) trained at Jarvis: RCAF navigator, Harlo “Terry” Taerum. In May 1943, in Operation Chastise, commonly known as the "Dambusters
RAF Manston Others included RAF Greenham Common, RAF Aldergrove and RAF Machrihanish. For a number of years, the base operated as a Master Diversion Airfield, open 24 hours every day. Manston, uniquely in the UK, also had a 'foam carpet' crash landing system, where two tractors would pull tankers laying a metre thick layer of foam over a strip of runway, for aircraft with landing gear problems. RAF Manston was home to a helicopter search and rescue (SAR) flight from No. 22 Squadron RAF from 1961, operating Westland Whirlwind aircraft. The flight was withdrawn in 1969, but the outcry led to the