Phyllis Tucker – Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

Aircraftwoman 2nd Class Phyllis Tucker – Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

Early Life and Family Background

Phyllis Tucker

Phyllis Tucker was born in 1923 in Swansea, the daughter of Albert William Tucker and Ada Elizabeth Morris, who had married in 1920 at St. David’s Church, Llandyfelach. Her father died while she was still young, leaving Ada widowed.

1939 Register

The 1939 Register provides the only surviving official record of Phyllis before the war. She was living with her mother at 120 Clyndu Street, Morriston, where Ada worked as a tailoress, and Phyllis was employed as a grocer’s shop assistant. The register captures a small household shaped by loss, work, and the everyday rhythms of Morriston life on the eve of war.

Military Service – Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

Phyllis later joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, serving as an Aircraftwoman 2nd Class. The W.A.A.F. played a vital role in wartime operations, with women undertaking technical, clerical, communications, and support duties across RAF stations throughout Britain.

South Wales Evening Post

Death During Blackout Accident

On 7 December 1942, Phyllis Tucker was killed in a car accident during a blackout at Boverton, a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, just east of Llantwit Major and close to RAF St Athan. The area was heavily affected by wartime restrictions and military activity, and blackout conditions made night travel particularly hazardous.

South Wales Daily Post

Her death was reported in the South Wales Evening Post, with a further article in the South Wales Daily Post describing her funeral and the community’s response to the loss of a young Morriston woman serving her country.

Burial

Phyllis Tucker 
Morriston Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Phyllis was laid to rest at Morriston Cemetery, her grave marking the final burial of 1942. She remains one of the many women whose wartime service ended not in battle, but in the hazards of a nation living under blackout conditions and constant strain.