Harriet Cornwall was born in the East Yorkshire village of Cottingham in 1921. At the age of 9 she and her family moved to Reims in the North of Franve, when her father, a well known businessman, was offered a contract by the French Government.

On arriving in France Harriet was packed off to an exclusive boarding school, armed only with a basic grasp of the French language. It was at school that she met her best friend, Nicole Delacourt, a fiery young French girl who kept the bullies away from Harriet.

As the might of the German war machine cut through France in 1940, Harriet and Nicole found their way to 508 Squadron of the British Auxiliary Air Force.