Viewing page 4 of 28

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

4

I was happy as a lark whenever I looked out and could see the U.S.insignia on the plane that I was flying. My heart just swelled up with tremendous pride. I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that I would be flying military aircraft such as the C-60 Lockhead Lodestar or any of the fighter airplanes P-39, P-40, P-47, or P-51. When I was instructing at Boston I heard a lot of talk of how fast the larger planes had to land, and how hard they were to control on landing. When I was preparing to check out in the larger aircraft I approached the transition with a feeling of trepidation. Needless to say after my first transition began, there was no need for this completely false feeling.

By now our designation had been changed from WAFS to WASP (Women's Air Force Service PIlots). I was with the WASPS to years,three months, and flew 18 different aircraft.

The Wasps were an experimental group everyone of us girls put our hearts, souls, and heads together to prove that we could do it as we knew we were being watched very carefully, and would be very easily criticized. We had a gratifying distinction of knowing we had done a job "Well Done."

Because of our record, I am sure we opened a door so that young ladies of today have an easier time in getting flight instruction and flight assignments in the military.

Writing about women who flew in the 1930's is a tremendous undertaking as so many of those women have passed on. But I am sure most of their deeds have been recorded in other publications.