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AIRWAY AGE

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[[caption]] Elinor Washington Howard, descendant of General Washington presents flag to Mary Goodrich of the Betsy Ross Corps.  Left to right:  Mrs. James B. Fechet, General Fechet, Miss Goodrich, Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Opal Kunz, commander of the Corps, Mrs. Wm. A. Moffett, Admiral Moffett and Mrs. Elinor Patterson, Publisher of the Washington Post. [[/caption]]

Betsy Ross Corps Off to a Good Start

Representatives of seventy-six licensed women airplane pilots met in Washington, Saturday, May 9, for the first organization meeting of the Betsy Ross Corps.  They also officially tendered their aid to Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief of Naval Aeronautics, and Major Gen. James E. Fechet, Chief of the Army Air Corps, before a selected group representing American patriotic societies in Memorial Continental Hall, national headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Memorial Hall ceremonies followed a luncheon at the new open air dining room at Washington-Hoover Airport.

The purpose of the organization, Mrs. Opal Logal Kunz, founder of the Betsy Ross Corps, told the military representatives, was to serve the country in time of national emergency by piloting ambulance and auxiliary airplanes in order to relieve male pilots for combatant duty.

Members of the corps, dressed in uniforms of light morocco color, lighter colored breeches and dark-brown berets, stood before the military authorities to take the oath of allegiance, read by Chaplain Gill R. Wilson, director of Aviation for New Jersey.

Mrs. Kunz read a telegram from Dr. Frances Dickinson of Orange City, Fla., presenting to the lady fliers a tract of land to be used as a training field.

High tribuets were paid to the organizers of the corps by Mrs. Lowell Fletcher Hobart, President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution;  General Fechet and Admiral Moffett.  They were made honorary members of the corps, along with Cliff Henderson, who, Mrs. Kunz said, had been a great help in founding the organization.

General Fechet, the first to be decorated, said:

"I have the highest admiration for your work.  The next war will develop a great burden which will fall first upon the airman.  You will relieve them of a great work.  Ambulance work will largely be taken over by women.

"Women have exceeded men at golf and tennis and in other ventures.  In future wars, superior women pilots will be developed.  Women pilots will actually be in combat some day."

Many of the seventy-six members own planes and in time each corps area will obtain flying equipment and fields.  One of these sites, it is expected, will be near New York City.

The women who took the oath today were Mrs. Kunz, Miss Thelma Elliott of Baltimore, Miss Althea Murphy of Brooklyn, Miss Manila Davis of Flatwoods, West Virginia, Miss Mary Goodrich of Hartford, Mrs. Lola Lo Lutz of Oshkosh, Wis.;  Miss Mary Moore of Hartford, Mrs. Martha Morehouse Johnson of Columbus, Ohio;  Miss Mildred Morgan of California, Miss Mary Nicholson of Greensboro, North Carolina;  Miss Mary Alexander of Lynchburg, Va.;  Mrs. Frederick L. Ames of Boston, Miss Peggy Remey of New York City and Miss Jane Dodge of Germantown, Pennsylvania.
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BETSY ROSS CORPS
OPAL KUNZ, Commander
166 Second Ave., Pent House D.
NEW YORK

GENERAL STAFF
Corps Area Commanding Officers

I - MAURICE W. AMES
Sr. Vice-Commander
Boston, Mass

II - OPAL KUNX
Commander
New York, N. Y.

III - MARJORIE STINSON
Lieut. Commander
Clarendon, Va.

IV - PHOEBE F. OMLIE
Jr. Vice-Commander
Memphis, Tenn.

V - MARTHA MOREHOUSE-JOHNSON
Lieut. Commander
Columbus, Ohio

VI - LOLA LO LUTZ
Lieut. Commander
Oshkosh, Wis.

VII - RUTH STEWART
Lieut. Commander
St. Louis, Mo.

VIII - JEAN LA RENE
Lieut. Commander
Dallas, Texas

IX - FLORENCE LOWE BARNES
Jr. Vice-Commander
San Marino, Cal.

and

MARY GOODRICH, I Area
RUTH ELDER CAMP, II Area
ELEANOR McRAE, IV Area
MANILA DAVIS, V Area
LAVELLE SWEELEY, IX Area

and

JANE DODGE, III Area
Quartermaster
425 W. Clapier St., Germantown, Pa.

ALTHEA MURPHY, II Area
Adjutant
1086 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.