_______________________

Janet Edith COX
(nee Joynt, known as Edith)

Serial Number: W4693
RNZAF Trade: Equipment Assistant
Date of Enlistment: 16th of February 1943
Date of Demob: Unknown
Rank Achieved: WA1 (?)
Flying Hours: nil as aircrew, passenger only
Operational Sorties: nil

Date of Birth: 25th of April 1891
Personal Details: Married to John Barker Cox (known as Jack), Edith was the mother of John Grant Cox (known as Grant) and Bryan Barker Cox, both of whom became RNZAF pilots.

The first ever time that Edith flew in a plane was when she was flown by the RNZAF in a Lockheed Hudson from Hamilton down to Nelson to see Bryan's Wings ceremony. She returned to the North Island the following day in a Harvard, and she loved flying from that time onwards

Service Details: Edith joined the RNZAF to work at her neighbouring station, the No. 1 Stores Depot at RNZAF Station Te Rapa. Having her home so close to RNZAF Station Te Rapa, Edith became the only Te Rapa WAAF allowed to live off-station. She would ride to work each morning on her son Bryan's old bicycle which she had cut down to make into a lady's bike. On the station Edith worked alongside another Cambridge WAAF, Olive Montgomery.

Date of Death: 15th of July 1982, aged 91
Buried:

Connection with Cambridge: Edith and her husband Jack Cox had owned a farm at French Pass, Cambridge, up until 1936 when they had shifted to Te Rapa to farm there. The Cox family was a long-established Cambridge family, and were related to the Peakes and Swaynes, also long-established Cambridge families.

Thanks To: Bryan Cox for details on his mother and Errol Martyn for his assistance

________________________________________________________________

Janet Cox in her WAAF uniform, and her son Bryan Cox, who was an RNZAF fighter pilot

 

Home Airmen Roll of Honour