Seventy five years ago last month, 100 British lasses set sail for the other side of the world to bolster the New Zealand Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) numbers.
Among the women selected for the voyage was former Ashburton resident Fay Hunt.
It was post World War II and followed the WAAF’s struggles to maintain sufficient levels of of recruitment and retention.
Fay, now age 97, was 22-years-old at the time.
She had served four years in the British Army when the opportunity arose.
Thousands of women applied, and after a three-day interview in London, Fay was informed she had been selected.
On April 19, 1951 the group set sail on the SS Atlantis from Southampton, England for a six and half week trip to Wellington.
By Malta, one of the women had to leave the voyage due to a medical event dropping their number to 99.
Fay’s first memory of New Zealand was sailing into Wellington Harbour, which was full of ships at the time due to a waterfront strike.
“We had to remain on the ship for three days after arriving because there were only skeleton crews and men of the air force were working on the wharves,” Fay said.
The ladies then received an official welcome to New Zealand.
‘‘It was a big welcome they made such a fuss of us,” she said.
But after the heat of the tropics they were greeted by cold wet weather in Wellington. After the welcome they headed to Woodbourne Base in Blenheim.
‘‘We didn’t have any heating and there were big frosts.
‘‘We bought every hot water bottle in town. To keep warm we would march up and down the road,” she said.
‘‘We took the mats off the floor to put on the beds to try to keep warm but even then we all ended up with bad colds.”
Fay has many memories of her time with the air force but the friendships she made during her time serving mean the most to her.
“I remember being told I had to dress up a fairy not once but twice for Christmas events. One flight that sticks with me was flying over an air force base and pushing out a large hamper of Christmas presents.”
In the early 1950s, the 99ers, as they had become known, were excited by their mission in New Zealand.
They landed at Wellington and went to Woodbourne for training. Fay then went to the RNZAF’s Whenuapai Base, in Auckland for a six week course.
She then applied for posting at Wigram Base, Christchurch.
She said her training in technical stores dealing with machinery parts meant her skills were transferable between the services.
Following their service, some women returned to the United Kingdom to live, others went to places like Australia and Canada.
Some, like Fay, settled in New Zealand. She met Alan who was also serving in the air force.
Fay was out of the service for two months when she and Alan married.
The couple moved to Ashburton in 1986. Fay was very active in the community especially in Save the Children and the Ashburton Herb Society.
“Alan and I only ever went back to England once for a three week holiday because I was happy and settled here,” she said.
‘‘I wanted to get away from the life I had and do something different, so joining the army and then coming to New Zealand with the air force suited me. I got what I had dreamt of when I came to New Zealand,” she said.
While Alan passed away five years ago, Fay has done a full circle recently moving back to the Lady Wigram Retirement Village built on land that once as part of Wigram Base.
Fay recently received her New Zealand Defence Service Medal and it will be formally presented to her on Monday at the Royal New Zealand Air Force Association Canterbury Branch meeting.
