January 11, 1945 - Batmen and Batwomen

From the Operations Record Book:  

Squadron again stood down from operations. Snow and bad or poor visibility prevented any air training taking place. Most of the aircrews were engaged in clearing snow from the runways. Thaw set in during the evening.

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The inside of a Nissen hut
Source: https://internationalbcc.co.uk/

At 550 Squadron, the crew had a batman who typically would maintain crew uniforms, keep living quarters tidy and perform miscellaneous tasks.  Harris wrote home to his wife Margaret about the service the crew received: “At my present camp we only get a partial service, which includes making beds & cleaning billets, but no personal service like polishing boots and buttons, in lieu of which we receive an allowance of 2/- a day.   The amusing part of it is that in our hut we have a pretty good batwoman who does clean our shoes and buttons.”

Getting laundry done at base, on the other hand, was a pretty haphazard prospect.  As Harris described it, “You may get your own things back or you may get somebody else’s or you may not even get any.”