As an evacuee, Frances McLaren was unable to go to university after leaving school at 18. Instead, on the advice of a friend’s father, she joined the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, and so began her remarkable career. After completing her training, Frances started off in the lab, working on the development of hull launching tanks on seaplanes and landplanes, before progressing to flight tests in the Sunderland flying boats. Her career went from strength to strength and she talks in detail about her central role in one of Britain’s greatest bombing missions, the Dambusters Raid, and her work on the top-secret Highball (bouncing bomb) experiments. Frances was also involved in other experimental projects including those focused on survival, with one in particular being the development of flotation devices for planes ditching in water. She recalls with humour how she had to cajole others into joining her on some of her test missions. Frances’ extraordinary story provides an eye-opening insight into the myriad ways women played an active role in the war effort, sometimes at the cutting edge of innovation and development.

Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth, joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in 1943 and caught the attention of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) due to her cipher skills. Promoted to sergeant, she trained operatives for Operation Jedburgh, supporting the Resistance in Europe. Despite a demotion, Daphne served as a Briefing Officer, working with French soldiers before D-Day. Major-General Sir Colin McVean Gubbins ensured she became a commissioned officer. Post-war, she joined the Field Intelligence Agency Technical British Intelligence Objective Sub-Committee in Frankfurt and Berlin. Daphne recalls various incidents, including her time in a jail, using food for intelligence, and training challenges. She discusses the SOE hierarchy, the notable secret agent Dennis Rake, and colleagues like Leopold Marks and the Gamble sisters. Daphne's remarkable service continued with MI6. She passed away on March 24, 2010.

Born in Malta, Noreen travelled widely due to her father being in the Royal Navy and developed a gift for languages. Noreen begins her recollections leaving the French Lycée school in London at eighteen to be interviewed at the Foreign Office and being asked to report to S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) leader Colonel Buckmaster at Norgeby House in Baker Street. From there she met Captain Harry Ree at Montagu Mansions and was instructed to tell nobody about what she would be involved in going forward. She recalls being sent to Lord Montague’s finishing school at Beaulieu in the New Forest, training in intelligence gathering and being used as a decoy. Joining the French speaking F Section in the S.O.E. she tells riveting stories about her work as an agent, losing enemy agents in a crowd, and trying to extract information from them at various parties. She explains passing messages by dropping newspapers and speaking without moving her lips. Noreen later recalls meeting famous characters throughout WW2 including agents Kim Philby, Paul Dehn, cryptologist Leo Marks and intelligence officer Vera Atkins. She also describes the ‘drop’ when a Lysander aircraft would fly an agent into enemy territory, the heartbreak if they didn’t return, and the relationships she formed even with their shielded identities.