Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Mary Bell (aviator)

Article promoted by Kges1901 (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 00:20, 28 January 2019 (UTC) &laquo; Return to A-Class review list

Mary Bell (aviator)
Instructions for nominators and reviewers
 * Nominator(s): 

The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was the first -- and ultimately largest -- women's military service in wartime Australia. Mary Bell led it for the first three months of its existence but, more importantly, had played a significant role agitating for its establishment. One can just imagine her reaction upon being passed over for permanent command of her baby in favour of corporate executive Clare Stevenson, but Bell was persuaded to put aside her disappointment and ended up serving in the WAAAF for most of the war, if in a relatively minor capacity. This is one of my shorter bios but I think the detail is reasonable for the subject's career, and periodic checking for new sources since its GAN back in 2011 has turned up little new information. Any and all comments welcome! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:21, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Source review—pass

 * All sources appear reliable
 * No additional coverage that could be used to expand the article found on Google or Google Books
 * No source checks done buidhe (formerly Catrìona) 04:25, 9 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Many thanks for checking it over, Buidhe. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 12:26, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

Drive by sourcing comment I was a bit surprised that there were no old news stories from Trove being used in the article, but from searching on it it seems that Mary Bell attracted almost no news coverage. As such, the lack of such sources doesn't indicate any issues with the article being comprehensive, etc. Nick-D (talk) 10:30, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I trawled Trove again shortly before nominating and found zilch -- the official and academic histories know all about Mary Bell, but to the media she may as well have not existed... :-( Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 12:26, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
 * It certainly makes Wrigley's claim about Bell being focused on publicity look questionable! If Trove is anything to go by, quite the opposite might be why Stevenson was selected instead given that her substantial commercial experience in representing a large company and training sales staff would have better positioned her to drum up recruits. But that's OR, of course. Nick-D (talk) 22:31, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Typical, isn't it? Because most women didn't have careers owing to their traditional roles back then, any that tried to utilise their free time in pursuits that helped the country risked being labelled "socialites"! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 01:10, 13 January 2019 (UTC)

Support. I'm really struggling to find something to criticise here. Purely for the sake of being pedantic: —HJ Mitchell &#124; Penny for your thoughts? 17:50, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
 * A little detail on what the WATC was and did would be nice. What comes to mind is the British ATC, which appears to be something altogether different.
 * I felt the article (specifically paras 3 and 4 of Early life and WATC) does mention why the WATC was formed, their training, and some of the duties they did for the RAAF -- you're looking for more detail on that?
 * Why did the various members of the top brass mentioned object to forming a women's service?
 * I don't think that's in the sources I have at hand but can grab Thompson at the library to double-check if she goes into their reasons.
 * What sort of aircraft did a grade A licence qualify her to fly?
 * Dunno, but I'll try trawling Flight's archive and see if they mention it.
 * Why the quotes on 'A' and "citizen"?
 * A hangover from my style when I first wrote this -- can go I think...
 * Thanks for reviewing Harry! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:14, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

Comments by PM This is great shape, albeit fairly brief. A couple of suggestions/queries from me: That's about all I have. Great job on this. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:18, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
 * as she was great-grandaughter of a notable person, perhaps mention that?
 * suggest mentioning her parents' separation in 1906
 * why does Airlines of Australia link to Keith Virtue? Perhaps a redlink would be better?
 * suggest "they formed a new volunteer paramilitary group"
 * where you link Army and Navy, I suggest linking Australian Women's Army Service and Women's Royal Australian Naval Service instead?
 * Many tks PM, should be able to implement those one way or another. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:14, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

Image review


 * File:An008038WATC.jpg: source link is dead. Nikkimaria (talk) 20:06, 12 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Tks Nikki -- I'm not sure there's a direct link to this image anymore as it seems to be part of a short series but will see what I can do. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:14, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

 Comments Support

The article looks in great shape for promotion. Other than one edit to introduce an abbreviation, my only comment relates to "Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, RAF..." . I get that he was an officer of the RAF but I don't think it is necessary to have the RAF here particular as it is mentioned later. Zawed (talk) 23:30, 12 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Probably not -- tks Zawed! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:14, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

Support: G'day, Ian, looks pretty good to me. I have a couple of minor suggestions: AustralianRupert (talk) 09:32, 26 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Citation # 2, "Bell, Mary Teston Luis (1903-1979)" probably shouldn't be in italics? Suggest maybe using the cite web template here?
 * in the References, I suggest adding a page range for Tramoundanis' chapter in Mordike
 * ext links all seem to work (no action required)
 * no dab or dup links (no action required)
 * the images lack alt text, which might be a useful addition: