WWII Veteran Eileen Younghusband, Who Helped Stop Hitler's Rockets, Has Died

A Second World War veteran who used her maths talents to help foil Adolf Hitler's devastating V2 rockets has died at the age of 95.

Eileen Younghusband, of Sully in the Vale of Glamorgan, died on Friday night in a hospital in Cardiff. 

Mrs Younghusband was 19 years old when she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War Two.

She worked in filter rooms - the top secret hub of Britain's air defence - around Britain. Her vital work involved collecting radar information to identify German bombers and warn of air raids.

After D-Day, newly married Mrs Younghusband was sent to Belgium with a small team of women who used their maths talents to find the mobile launchers for the V2 rockets.

At the time the missiles were having a devastating impact on British cities.

During a recent interview, she described how they found the launch sites so the missiles could be destroyed.

"Our job was to extrapolate the curve of the V2 from the place it landed back to the launch site, and we did that once we knew the fall of shot and we got the position of the top of curve, we then used a slide rule in geometry to find the launch site," she told the BBC.

"And they managed to destroy them all by the end of February, beginning of March, 1945."

A V2 rocket on display in Trafalgar Square around 1945

Just after VE Day, Mrs Younghusband, a fluent French speaker, worked as a translator at the Breendonk concentration camp in Belgium to find out about the horrors that went on there.

In the decades that followed the war she became an author, worked in hotels and catering and even completed a degree in her eighties.

Her friend Hugh Turnbull, who was with her when she died, hailed her an "absolute inspiration".

"She was a remarkable woman, an inspirational figure, and she was tireless in promoting the work of the women who helped to defeat the Nazis," he said.

Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones tweeted: "Very sad to see that Eileen has died. A lovely lady and a real character. She will be sorely missed."

A life-size figure of Mrs Younghusband as a 21-year-old WAAF officer stands in a replica of a filter room at the Battle of Britain Museum at Bentley Priory.

London-born Mrs Younghusband moved to Wales in 1984 where she became known for her campaigning on health and education issues.

She was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2013 New Year honours for her work campaigning against cuts to adult education.

Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell, London, after a V2 rocket hit in 1945

She became passionate about the issue after completing her degree from the Open University at the age of 87.

After completing her degree, she published two autobiographies about her wartime experiences.

Her final book, Eileen's War, which was for children, was published just weeks before she died.

Quentin Younghusband, her nephew, described her as "an amazing woman" and recalled her "dogged" determination.

"Once she got her teeth into something it was to finish it," he said.

He added: "She wasn't fazed by any kind of male structure in whatever business she was involved in or whatever group she was involved with. 

"She really pushed the limits as an equal because she could do the job as well."