The Women's Auxiliary Air Force

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force, or WAAF (pronounced waff), was established in New Zealand in 1940 when the RNZAF began to recruit women. They were employed in all sorts of roles within the Air Force, from administrative to technical trades, and they performed as vital a role as the men in the ground staff.

The following ladies from Cambridge volunteered to join the WAAF. It has been more difficult to piece together the history of Cambridge's WAAF's, for several reasons. For one thing the newspapers never followed their Air Force careers as closely as they did the Airmen. Another reason is that many WAAF's married later and so tracking them down is all the more difficult. It has really been more a matter of luck in most cases.

There are several ex-WAAF's buried in the RSA Cemetery at Hautapu. I have chosen to add them to the list here, although as yet I have not confirmed if any of them were originally from Cambridge before the war - they may all have moved here postwar. In the case where this remain unknown, an asterisk indicates this.

Cambridge WAAFs

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

_________________	•  Lois Marie Aymes (later Lomas) •  Joan Blackman •  Susan Buckland Banks (later Sherratt) •  Thelma Stewart-Browne (later Thomas) Interviewed •  Nina Christophers •  Margaret Matilda Cornwall (later Soanes) Interviewed •  Janet Edith Cox (nee Joynt) •  Beth Fairbrother (Later Hicks) •  Nancy Fairbrother (later Fisher) Interviewed •  Margaret Ellen Finch •  Claire Garland (later Brunskill) •  Daisy Alice Garnett •  Kathleen Goodwin •  Mavis Jean "Maisie" Henry •  Pearl Holmes (later Saunders) •  Ernestine Graham "Lassie" Hume •  Pearl Jones (later Adams) •  Joan Lind •  Myall Johna Gover Hounsell (later Maisey) •  Josephine McGovern (later Millar) Interviewed •  Mary McNamara (later Mary McGovern) •  Olive Montgomery Interviewed •  Margaret Morris Interviewed •  Gwenda Nickle (later Reid) Interviewed •  Vivette Josephine Paul (later Light) •  Florence May Saville (later Millener) Interviewed •  Patricia Annie Velma Saville (later Anderson) •  Melva Sayer Interviewed •  Amy Dorreen Trotter •  Joan Mary Watts (later Bartlett) •  Betty Maud Wild (later Betty Hogan) Also - Ethel Swayne	_________________