Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

When Coral Alldritt walked into a room, she was described as a vision of elegance with an artistic flair. Gifted with a talent for the arts, Coral’s skills in WWII would take her from drawing target maps to being involved at the forefront of plastic surgery in Australia.
Coral Edna Alldritt (nee Narelle) was born on 03 March 1909 in Annadale NSW. Little is known of her upbringing, childhood, or how she performed at school. The first written information about Coral was that she attended the East Sydney Technical College for five years, and was taught by George Rayner Hoff the renowned sculptor and teacher.
Post her studies, Coral set herself up in Sydney as a commercial artist where she worked for two years drawing for the Sun Newspaper, and also three years in her own business working for the Sunday Sun, Women’s Weekly, Sydney Morning herald, Sydney Mail, Bulletin. Coral married Cosmo Alldritt during this time but little information is available. The separation and divorce from Cosmo would occur during the war and led to an emotional rollercoaster for Coral.
On 13 July 1942, at the age of 33, at just over five foot two, Coral Alldritt joined the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force attending basic training, followed by the School of administration at the University of Melbourne on number 23 Administration and Special Duties Course. Upon completion of her early WAAAF training Coral was granted the rank of Assistant Section Officer (ASO) (equivalent of Pilot Officer) on 15 August 1942.
Identified as a candidate to work in the field intelligence, ASO Coral Alldritt 350265, was first posted to HQ Allied Air Force in Brisbane followed by HQ RAAF Command, and was then transferred to the Central Interpretation Unit on 25 August 1943.
The Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) was an interesting confluence of aerial imagery and geological information, which was processed and developed into reports, graphics and imagery mosaics to support air operations. Within the CIU were several sections including Graphic Intelligence, Photo Interpretation, Enemy Activity, Flakintel, Models (produced 3D models of terrain and targets) and the Objective Folder Section.
Located in the Old Courier building in Brisbane, Coral worked in the Graphic Intelligence section where she drew target maps for bombing raids. Captain E. B. Stover of the United States Navy described Coral’s work. ‘Flight Officer Alldritt would interpret photographs of selected target areas and from this, construct bombing maps. A few weeks later the Fifth Air Force would stage the strike on the selected target using these maps. It was observed that the work was ultrasecret and required a high order of accuracy in order to provide the maps for the bombers to make a successful run on prime targets. Inaccuracies, or slovenly work could lead to unnecessary loss of life, planes, and failure of the mission. It was (further) observed that her professional conduct was very businesslike and that her entire life appeared to be devoted to the successful accomplishment of her job in which she was regarded as most expert.’
In January 1945 Coral’s life took an unusual turn when she was posted to 6 RAAF Hospital Heidelberg Melbourne, being seconded to the 115th Army General Hospital, which was also in Heidelberg. It was here that Coral assisted the then LTCOL Benjamin (Benny) Keith Rank, in the development of plastic surgery in Australia. Coral brought her sketching and sculpting skills to help the development of techniques for plastic surgery for disfigured service personnel. Coral would attend various phases of plastic surgery operations, where she would sketch the procedures. Interviewed by a reporter in 1946, Coral stated, ‘I have had to evolve a technique for lightning accurate sketches which record every vital movement of the surgeon’s knife….Sketches give better results than photographs because blood and other matter interfere with the clarity of a photograph’. Creating nine to ten sketches during each operation Coral also had the task of building up plaster casts of disfigured faces for the surgeon. Her previous work with Rayner Hoff gave Coral an in-depth understanding of the human anatomy which she could translate into this important work.
Benny Rank thought highly of Coral. He mentioned that she found medical illustration daunting at first, but soon adapted to the work at Heidelberg. A quote from ‘Portraits at the RACS’ by Wyn Beasley on Coral states that, ‘medical illustration being as strange to her as her ways (and, Rank records ‘the heavy scent she used freely’) were to the nursing staff, but she was soon a popular member of the team.’
At the end of WWII, Coral decided to continue her studies in medical art and moved to the US in September 1946. She attended John Hopkins School of Medicine, studying with Stanislav Remsky, and graduated in the class of 1949. She then applied for, and received, US citizenship, changing her name back to Coral Narelle.
While in the US, Coral met and married John Bill RWA (Royal West of England Academy), a landscape painter and Cotswold art teacher. The couple moved to England in 1965 and lived in Gloucestershire. Coral died in 1986 just after she had been made RWA.
Though only in the Air Force for a short period of time, Coral’s service provided her with experiences and opportunities she might never have received in her pre-war civilian vocation. Coral’s memory and her work lives on with her paintings hanging in Westminster Abbey, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Melbourne, John Hopkins University, the Royal West of England Academy and the W.D. and H.O. Wills works gallery. Her Works also hang in private galleries and collections in the UK and USA.