Ann Baumgartner Carl learned to fly in 1940 and entered Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) training during World War II. She was assigned to tow a target squadron at Camp Davis, North Carolina, flying Curtiss A-25s. She was transferred to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, where she became the […]
“I became interested in joining a military service available for women as World War II progressed. The only service branch which really interested me was the WASP program.” – Patricia Blackburn Bonansinga (September 10, 1921 – December 2, 2006) After taking flying lessons in Utah, Patricia earned acceptance into the […]
Although she was born into impoverished circumstances in Florida in 1906, Colonel Jacqueline Cochran became one of history’s most accomplished female aviators. She learned to fly in 1932 while working as a cosmetics saleswoman. Three years later, Cochran became the first woman to fly in the Bendix Trophy Race, which […]
“I was the absolutely minimum of everything that you could be to get into the WASP. I thought I could, and I applied myself and I made it. I think anybody who really wants to do something very bad, if they work at it, and they focus, and they concentrate, […]
WASP pilot Gertrude “Tommy” Tompkins Silver of the 601st Ferrying Squadron, 5th Ferrying Group, based at Love Field in Dallas. It was on this day in 1944 she departed Mines Field in Los Angeles for Palm Springs, on October 26, 1944, flying a North American P-51D Mustang destined for New Jersey. She […]
Home economics, shorthand and typing were common classes for most women in school in the 1930s, but those topics didn’t interest Elizabeth “Betty” Wall Strohfus – she had a heart for flying. She borrowed money to join a local flying club in her native Minnesota. After seeing an ad for […]
Today, we honor Margaret June “Peggy” Seip, Class 43-W-5. Seip was among the 38 WASPs killed in plane crashes. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Seip earned her private pilot license in 1940 and was one of the first women to join the Wisconsin CAP. She went on to be a Link […]
“I loved sitting under the wing of a plane hot as it was with the black top of the ramp sticky, waiting for my turn to fly.” Born in 1921 in Lake City, MN, Ethel Meyer Finley started out as a school teacher but quickly learned she could not earn […]
After earning her Bachelor’s Degree and her civilian private pilot’s license, Lois Maxine Dobbin Auchterlonie paid her own way to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas where she began WASP military flight training. Out of 95 female pilots who entered the 43-8 class, Lois was one of only 48 who successfully […]
“In an era when many women didn’t even drive cars, Downey’s office was an AT-6 Texan military trainer.” Jean Downey Harman, WASP Class 44-9. Hear Jean tell some of her amazing stories about her time serving in the Women Airforce Service Pilots in this 2010 interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq3e146U9VY P.S. We heard […]