Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
NEWSLETTER
VOL. XII
Editor
ODLUM DIES
- Betty Cross
AUGUST
1976
gested a week or so abroad since there are many inexpensive all-inclusive tours being offered. Sara
Hayden, 22 Stadium Road, Methuen, Ma. 01844
will be assembling information for future reunions
so please send her your suggestions and
comments. See all of you in Hot Springs!
MARTY WYALL, Historian
Prior to 1943, Marty Wyall had been in an airplane only twice. She had already decided to join
the WASP military program, but had to wait until
she graduated from DePauw University in the
spring of '43. She worked at the Eli Lily Pharmaceutical Research Laboratory in Indianapolis, and
learned to fly in her spare time. When she had logged 50 hours she applied and was accepted into the
the WASP Class of 44-1 O. Since then, flying has
been one of her main interests.
She is married to Gene Wyall, and is mother
of four boys and Martha. Her second oldest
son, Sandy is now rated in Boeing 727's and
is making aviation his career. Gene is a construction engineer and they live on a 120 acre
. farm near to Baer Field, Ft. Wayne, Ind. On
the IFR chart it is at Robin Intersection on the
Rwy. 9 approach.
When the Order of Fifinella became a forgotten organization after the first years of its
inception, Marty wrote to several 99's to see
if a WASP Banq uet could be arranged before
the official opening of the Internation Convention of the Ninety-Nines at Cincinnati,
Ohio in 1964. Eighty-one WASPs and guests
attended. Jacqueline Cochran and Dora Dougherty were the main speakers. Another reunion
was planned to be held in 1969 and Marty was
appointed secretary. Since 1969, Order of
Fifinella has gained momentum and is again
a lively organization with the WASP Reunions
becoming wonderful opportunities to see and
reminisce with "the greatest women pilots"
of World War II.
PROFILES
on
NEW
OFFICERS
VICEPRES.* SARA
PAYNE
HAYDEN
22 Stadium Road
Methuen, Mass. 01844
Sara was working in Charlotte, N.C.
when she saw a newsreel on the WASP,
and decided that was what she wanted to
be - a pilot and a WASP. So off to the
first flying lesson, and a year to get
in enough flying time and gain 10 Ibs.
to make it into last class.
After deactivation she obtained her Flt. Instructor I s rating and did instructing
and commercial flying, charter and
ferrying for several years.
Continued
this part time while working as secty.
and cotton records keeper for a cotton
company. Received her commissionin
the USAFR
in 1949 and was involuntarily
called to active duty in 1951. Served
two years as WAC/WAF
recruiting officer
in Shreveport, Charlotte and Nashville,
finding some station commandersnot sure
their officers should be flying parachute jumpers in air shows on Sundays,
or aerial photographers old style in
cubs with the door off. While in Nashville met and married husband Frank.
Weownedthree different planes, but
sold the Cessna 172 whenwe built our
ownMedical Center in 1963. Being
office manager and bookkeeper for busy
doctor-husband makes renting a plane
more practical,
and had to bid a sad
farewell to hard earned Flt. Instructor's
rating several years ago. Is a Life
Memberof MethuenWomen'sPost 417, The
American Legion, and presently Post Adj.
Served as Class 44-10 Secty. fram Cincinnati to Reno. Still flying.
MILITARIZATION
Wm.Bruce Arnold
1625 Eye St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
SENATE
mIJ, S1345: In spite of the
special mailing we sent out and the
resulting letters that 11m sure all of
the WASP
s and their friends wrote,
there still has been no congressional.
action on militarization
of the WASPs.
OnMarch 11th, Col. WIn. Bruce Arnold
informs that as time gets closer to adjournment, chances of a hearing on this
bill becameless.
I would like to
stress that we are asking for a hearing
on this bill rather than to have the
Committeevote on the recommendations
of the Veterans' Administration because
the V.A. strongly oppose any action
favorable to us. As a last chance action on this bill, Senator Goldwater
attempted to make a deal with Senator
Hartke by having the WASP
bill appear
as an admendmentto one of Hartke's
special and private bills in which he
had great interest.
This ploy failed
in that Hartke refused, but Hartke's
bill was voted downin Conmrl.tteeanyway. This is the last action we got
out of the 94th Congress, but we will
commenceagain in the 95th Congress
with a new bill number. If we are
lucky, Vance Hartke may not return in
January. There is more at stake here
than a handful of benefits for a few of
the WASPs. Weare going unrecognized;
statements by the Air Force are intimating that the womenofficers who are
eligible to apply for active flight
training this fall are the "first" women to fly for the Air Force. I, for
one would like to see thi s point clarifi~d and passage of Senate Bill S1345
would do this.
Vance Hartke is chairman of the Committee on Veterans I Affairs and committee membersare:
HermanE. Talmadge,~.
Jennings Randolph, W.Va. Alan Cranston, Calif.
Richard (Dick) Stone, Fla. John A.
Durld.n N.H. Clifford P. Hansen, Wyo.
Strom ThUrmond,s.c. Robert T. Stafford, Vt.
Whatwould be helpful from you would
be a written plea to any of these men
in a ca.1JD., civilized tone pointing out
any of these items:
(1) we served o~
country in time of need; (2) the maJority of us were from a "working class"
who gave up good paYing jobs to enter
WASP
training;
(3) we had expected to
be militarized;
(4) we wanted to be
militarized to serve our country in
time of war; (5) the Air Corps wanted
us to be militarized and tried to get
~
I
the militarization
bill. of 1944 through
Congrees; (6) we now seek somepublic
recognition for what we did in WWII;
(7) mention the type of flying you did
after graduation during WASP
days.
Please do not write demandingor angry
notes since this works against us.
(Personal note: From my correspondences with Vance Hartke, Chairman, he
seems to have already made up his mind
to vote against this bill.
Those in
Indiana rememberthat a vote against
Vance Hartke is a vote for the WASPs.
By the sametoken, Strom Thurmond
seems to be all for us.)
AWARDS
COMMITTEE
15, 1976.
MEMBERSHIP
by
REPORT
THEWASP
CO!Q(EMORATIVE
C~TTEE
The cOIllllittee attempted to determine
it a real interest exists on the part
of the membershipto select and to support a work of art (statue or plaque)
to ccmnemoratethe WASP
program.
The membershipwas surveyed by means
of a request in the last Newsletter.
Only six. replie s were received.
Half
of these wanted neither a plaque nor a
statue.
The camnittee has taken this
as a vote of no interest on the part of
the general membership. It has recommendedthat the Order not try to sponsor a work of art, but rather urge individuals or small groups to do so.
For example, the Womens'Forumof the
Sweetwater Chamberof Camnercerecently
conmissioned AnnAtkeison (44-10) and
Franoes Withers to sculpt a 3 ft. bronze
statue of Fifi to adorn the Wishing Well
at the airport and to commemoratethe
WASPs. This work was not sanctioned by
the Order but it is a lovely and legitimate tribute.
The committee has, at the suggestion
of Betty Gillies WAFS, recommended
that the Postal Department be approached with the idea of issuing a connemorati VB stamp to the WASP. This would cost
us nothing, require little
effort, would
reach untold numbers of people, worldwide, and would ccmnamorateand publicize the WASP
in a way nothing else
could.
Following
submittal
of the Commemora-
sound barrier,
and the North Arne rJ.can
X-15, which is half aircraft and half
spacecraft.
Recopied from an article sent by Cappy
Whitaker Johnson 43-6. Ed.
*BI-CENTENNIAL
EXHIBITION*
AIRFORCE
Former WASPs
who have not yet.~s~ted
the Air Force Bi-Centennial ExhibJ.tJ.on
touring the United States should do so;
Your editor became curious when the ex-
175.46
Coach fare/indiv.
to Little Rock 170.73
Group fare to Little Rock
150.73
Bicent. fare/indiv.
(must stay
7 days) to Little Rock (This
is not available all the way
to Hot Springs)
119.73
Anyoneplanning on rema~
seven
days would be wise to buy theJ.r own
ticket at $119.73 to Little Rock only
and schedule her flt. with ours so she
could ride the bus fran Little
[HotSprings.
Rock to
cotton.
WANTEDll !1 !
KAY (GOTT) CHAFFEY 43-2 needs a pair
of W-2 wings. Her mother wishes her
WASP memorablia to go into her hametown
museum and she doe s not have her W-2
wings. Also, she had her WASP uniform
stolen in 1969 but fortunately had stored
all the hardware.
If anyone want 8 to
donate a uniform, the Nampa Idaho Historical Society will put a display in
the old Union Pacific Railroad Depotwhich they are now restoring in Nampa.
Kay urges WASPs to join the American
Aviation Historical Society -- she finds
the reading very interesting.
*ABOUT DUES*
Approximately half of the Order of Fifi
nella members have paid their dues. We
are econcmizing wherever possible (use
WATTS lines where available to us, write
instead of phoning, did not print a
roster, hold only one Board meeting a
year staying at other WASP's homes
rather than motels, etc.). Also the
officers, committees and class secretaries are functioning by not turning in
every expense item. Girls and boys,
this should not have to be. If everyone paid their annual dues, we would
have enough funds to operate properly.
There may be confusion about when the
dues should be paid. To clarify, it is
from October to October, at present $10
per year, to be mailed to Betty Nicholas
125 W. 82nd St., Indianapolis, Ind.
46260. Starting at the reunion, we
will issue membership cards. Also,
please be prepared to pay your dues for
the fiscal year Oct., 1976 to Oct. 1977
in order to attend the business meeting
Sat. a.~ Oct. 23 at the reunion.
AT THE REUNION
Many of the members make items for sale
at the reunion with some or all of the
profits to go to the Order of Fifinella.
Sara Hayden, 22 Stadium Road, Methuen,
Ma. 01844 will be in charge of all items
to be displayed.
If you plan to bring
anything, please contact her prior to
the reunion in order that she can plan
the display. Also, let Sara know if you
* FIFI
GOES HOME
to
DEDICATION
CEREMONIES
The elaborate ceremonies honoring the
WASP
at Sweetwater on Flag Day, June 14,
were focused on the unveiling of "Fili"
at the site, following a coffee and
hospitality hour at the Holiday Inn,
hosted by Mrs. Poe and membersof the
Woman'sForum.. Order of Fifinella
member
s, their guests and member
s of
the TSTI system Board of Regents were
guests of the Rotary Club and the First
National Bank at a "finale" luncheon,
also attended by membersof the organizations and others involved in this
project.
HomerTaylor, TSTIManager of Instruction gave the invocation to open
the lIunveilingil, Dyess Air Force Base
Color Guard preaented the colors (the
wind was blowing so hard the airman
Dorothy Smith Lucas - 44-7, Viola Thompson Mason - 43-4, VelmaM. Saunders 43-6,
Dora Dougherty Strother - 43-3 and her
husband, Frankie McInerney Warms- 43-8
and her daughter, our much appreciated
adopted artist,
Frances Withers.
Weall agreed that this was a grand
and glorious occasion and were unanimous
in our gratitude to Ann and Frances and
our admiration of the Fifinella
statue.
It is a something we can be proud of
foreverl
EXCERPl'
FROM
SPEECH
of
DR. CAllDLYN
SUEHUNTOON
"I am here today with a special message. Just as Fifinella was along on
your flights in the early '40' s, she
has been along on our space flight
missions.
It is true that we have enjoyed tremendous success in t~e 15 ~s.
that we have been a space-farlng natlon.
But that is, perhaps, because the success of each flight was enhanced with
her female touch. I can enumerate
specific examples as when Fifi helped
the Apollo 13 crew to return their
crippled spacecraft to earth.
Again
Fifi was there to help that first Skylab crew release the solar panel which
saved the Skylab program from complete
disaster and it was Fifi who helped
downthe oxygen mask and brought our
crewmenout of their contaminated
cabin to safety."
AVENGER
FIELD
'WISHING
WELL
TRANSFORMED'
Our Wishing well is no longer a concrete-walled mucthole, as it has been
since the mysterious diSappearance of
the fountain and chiseled stone tributes to the Waspinstalled by Generals
H. H. Arnold and Barton K. Yount. It
is now a strikingly beautiful pennanent memorial to the WASP,thanks to
the Sweetwater Woman'sForum, Horizons
'76 Bicentennial Commissionand the
Texas State Technical Institute unit
which now occupies much of the site of
old Avenger Field.
Centered by a three f~ot bronze statue of Fifinella which will stand some
five feet high on a pylon (not completed at the time of the dedication),
"flyingll from a mass of flowers, the
Wishing Well will be surrounded by a
landscaped viewing area (surrounding
buildings will be torn down), and is
nowwithin the fenced (and guarded)
campusof TSTI. Various factors made
it impractical and unwise to restore
the fountain, but the IIFifill statue is
an ideal and dramatic replacement.
The artists,
Frances Withers and AIm
Atkeison and the castor, Jim Pugh, have
created a true work of art.
The Wanan's
Forum, with Mrs. George Poe as chairman of the Fifinella project, underwrote funds to get a matching grant
for the Sweetwater commissionfrom the
Texas Bicentennial Commission,and
raised the moneylocally.
Mrs. Poe
and Mrs. Wilson Guest, general chairman of the Sweetwater Bicentennial Commission headed the committee in charge,
assisted by Mrs. SamReeves, president
of the Woman'sForum. The artists contributed their time and talents, receiving only the cost of materials.
*TRIBUTE
TOTHEWASP*
by
Rigdon Edwards
HonoredGuests, ladies & gentlemen:
It is certainly a very high honor
and a great Privelege to offer a tribute or salute to the Woman'sAirforce
Service Pilots.
The four letter nameof WASP
has a
lot of symbolism-.
I feel that the IIWII
could stand for
all those 1830 WonderfulWomen
that
had the desire, dedication, determination and courage to be the first women
to be trained for all flying jobs short
of combat - in order to relieve men
pilots for combat duty.
The "Allexpresses the tremendous
right attitude of these womenwhen
faced with a grueling training program,
zoot suits, cattle trucks for transportation, impatient instructors and
the close confinement during 210 hours
of flight training in all kinds of
planes & weather. The "A" could also
symbolize "Avenger" - ~
of these
womenwere-training to avenge the loss
Char1yn
*ATTHETWIUGHT'S
LAST*"
GLEAMING
Cornelia Fort
Here is one of the most remarkable articles ever pub1ished--a personal story
by the first womanpilot to die on war
duty in American history.
Shortly after
she sent it to us, Miss Fort, twentyfour, of Nashville, Tennessee, was
killed when the banber she was piloting
crashed in Taxas. But her words here
will 1i ve--as a moving account of why
one womanjoined the WAFS
and as a te stament to all Americanwomenwho are
helping keep America free.
I knew1 was going to Join the Women
Is
Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron before the
organization was a reality, before it
had a name, before it was anything but
a radical idea in the minds of a few
menwho believed that womencould fly
airplanes.
But 1 never knewit so
surely as 1 did in Honolulu on December
7, 1941. A.t dawnthat morning 1 drove
from Waikiki to the John Rodgers civilian airport right next to Pearl Harbor,
where 1 was a civilian pilot instructor.
Shortly after six-thirty 1 began landing
and take-off practice with my regular
student.
Comingin just before the last
landing, I looked casually around and
saw a military plane cQJDing
directly
toward me. 1 jerked the controls away
frem.my student and jammedthe throttle
wide open to pull above the oncoming
plane. He passed so close under us
that our celluloid windowsrattled violently and 1 looked downto see what
tind of plane it was.
The painted red balls on the tops of
the wings shone brightly in the sun.
I looked again with complete and utter
disbelief.
Honolulu was familiar with
the emblemof the Rising Sun on passenger ships but not on airplanes.
1 looked quickly at Pearl Harbor and
my spine tingled when1 saw billowing
black BIIloke. Still 1 thought hollowly
it might be somekind of coincidence or
maneuvers, it might be, it must be. For
surely, dear God
Then I looked way up and saw the formations of silver bombers riding in.
Something detached itself from an airplane and cameglistening down. My
eyes followed it down, downand even
with knowledgepounding in mymind, my
heart turned convulsively when the bomb
exploded in the middle of the harbor.
1 knewthe air was not the place for my
little
baby airplane and I set about
landing as quickly as ever I could. A
few seconds later a shadowpassed over
me and simultaneously bullets spattered
all around me.
Suddenly that little
wedge of sky
above HickamField and Pearl Harbor was
the busiest fullest piece of sky I ever
saw.
Wecounted anxiously as our little
civilian planes cameflying hometo
roost.
Twonever cameback. They were
washed ashore weeks later on the windward side of the island, bullet-riddled.
Not a pretty way for the brave little
yellow Cubs and their pilots to go down
to death.
The rest of Decemberseventh has been
described by too many in too muchdetail
for me to reiterate.
1 remained on the
island until three months later when1
returned by convoy to the United States.
Noneof the pilots wanted to leave but
there was no civilian flying in the islands after the attacko Andeach of us
had someindividual score to settle with
the Japs whohad brought murder and destruction to our islands.
When1 returned, the only way I could
fly at all was to instruct Civilian
Pilot Training programs. Weekspassed.
Then, out of the blue, came a telegram
from the WarDepartment announcing the
organization of the WAFS(Women'sAuxiliary Ferrying Squadron) and the order
to report within twenty-four hours if
interested. 1 left at once
Mrs. NancyLove was appointed Senior
Squadron Leader of the WAFS
by the Secretary of War. No better choice could
have been made. First and most important she is a good pilot, has tremendous enthusiasm and belief in womenpilots and did a wonderful job in helping
us to be accepted on an equal status
with men.
of skill.
I knowit in the satisfaction of usefulness.
For all the girls in the WAFS,
I
think the most concrete momentof happiness cameat our first review. Suddenly and for the first time we felt a
part of sanething larger.
Because of
our uniforms which we had earned, we
were marching with the men, marching
with all the freedom-loving people in
the world.
Andthen while we were standing at
attention a bombertook off followed
by four fighters.
Weknewthe bomber
was headed across the ocean and that
the fighters were going to escort it
part way. As they circled over us I
could hardly see them for the tears in
myeyes. It was striking symboli8111.
and
I think all of us felt it.
As long as
our planes ny overhead the skies of
Americaare free and that' 5 what all of
us everywhereare fighting for. And
that we, in a very small way, are being
allowed to help keep that sky free is
the most beautiful thing I have ever
known.
I, for one, amprofoundly grateful
that my one talent, my only knowledge,
flying, happens to be of use to J1I1
country whenit is needed. That's
all the luck I ever hope to have.
Editor's note: The article you have
just read appeared in the Wanan's Home
CompanionJuly, 1942, and also in Scholastic October 11, 1943. Cornelia Fort
was the first casualty of the womenwho
flew for the United States ArmyAir
Corps. The original copy of this article is in the Historian Files and was
madeavailable for me to copy by our
Historian, Marty Wyall.
'LAST FLIGHT'
WAFS.
Secretary:
Delphine Bohn
quoted verbatim: it covers her swimming and flying career s and contains
several lively anecdotes. There's
morel Twoyears ago, Ft. Lauderdale
declared a KATHERINE
RAWLS
Day, gave
a very large (200) cocktail party for
her and "a first dq cachet was designed and 100 of them given out.
Mine was g:lven to me as the center of
a framed 8 x 10 poster with a beautiful piece of watercolor art called
'Sport s in Stamps'--about 15 valuable
sports and aviation stamps were placed
around the poster, including the
Amelia Earhart stamp on the cachet.
Needless to say, I was overwhelmed."
Well, so are we.
DELPHINE
BORN
believes in breald.ng reporters' rules, so: I, also, firmly
believe that all WASP
NEWSLETTER
"Secretaries" who preceded me should have
PLATINUM
KIOOS. With this column to
attempt to put together, I, of course,
re-read the prenCN.s ones: they are so
very, very good and here as I, trying
to emulate my betters. As to what else
I I ve been doing, well: Days ago, I
rang BARBARA
TOWNE
FASKEN
only to be
informed by her housemanthat she was
on "vacation."
I III make book she is
enjoying herself for one reason, if no
other: husband Dave is delightful.
Too, I :telephoned another WAFS. Apropos her, some fortunate people have
voices of such magnificence as to
make identification
a real plea sore
and immediate, regardless heard on
Jupiter or requesting landing instructions at Ramulus. If its been too
many years since one has heard that
voice, there is a skipped heartbeat
and an unrolling on one' 5 mental
screen of unique scene after fun
scene. Across a continent and too
many years, I talked with BARBARA
OONAHUE
ROSStoo few minutes. As I
say, her "hello" is truly beautiful.
She said she is wonderfully well;
that Acorn Farm is lovely and becoming more so wi.th each passing year;
and why don't we converge for hours
of reminiscing.
She remarked of how,
just atter WW
II, we had had our personal era of "make-moneymonth" and
spend-moneymonth." Of course it was
*****
*****
G. C. BROWNIE
KINDIG
17205 North 14th St.
Phoenix, Ariz. 85022
LaVELLE
RICHARDS
BENESH
has been foundl
She and her husband Ken are li'ring in
Singapore. I understand that in the
early 19701 s she was flying a Learstar
out of the Philippines.
MAGDA
TACKE
and George are delighted
they made the move to Florida.
She
plays golf and bridge several times
a week and won a trophy in a golf
tournament, which she said was sheer
luck. I wonder if it was luck!
JANESTRAUGHAN
is working for Social
Security and does public information
work with retirement seminars, sane
radio work, takes claims at Walter
Reed Hospital and National Institute
of Health, as well as investigates
frauds.
Sounds like a heavy schedule,
Jane - what do you do wi.th your spare
time"l
DOTTIEYOUNG
telephoned me from Okl. to
say she is as busy as ever, working
for Catlan Aviation, amongher other
43-2 Secretary:
MARION
S. BROWN
2715 So. Broadway, Apt. 228
Tyler, Texas 75701
Oh HAPPY
HAPPYDAYSIMany of you
answered JIr3' plea for news; from as near
as Big "D" to as far awq as Tchad, Mr.
Thanks a bunchl
From Dallas, Texas canes news tran
BE'rrY BACHMAN
BUEHNER
and MARIE
MUCCI
GENABO.B. J. keeps busy producing
metal sculpture with an ~-acetylen8
torch, and a aide line of making apple
heads tor dolls.
She and husband, Paul,
have a daughter in Austin, Texas and a
son in OklahomaCity. Both children
are marri.ed and have produced three
grandsons between them.. Marie sold her
health tood store in Lake.Park, Fla. and
hopes to get into another business in
Dallas.
Both are planning to be in Hot
Springs in October.
~January,
we were saddened by a
letter trom Capt. B. M. Fillmore, Jr.
who wrote, ItI am sorry to report that
Jsr:f sister CAROL
FIUMORErecently passed away after a short illness.
She was
always proud of her service during WW
II
and subsequent association with the
'Order ot Fitinella'."
We shall miss
her. Those who attended the Reno reunion are grateful for those few happy
days with Carol.
From NewYork, RUTH
TREEStells of her
great time. at the reunion.
It was the
first time she had seen old friends
MARY
TROTMAN
0 I BIUENand GINNY
.AI..LFMAN
DISNEYsince Newcastle days. Ruth says
that all ot 43-2s should be proud of the
tremendous job done by our ownFRAH
DIASGUSTAVSON.
Wehear that Gus Gustavson, Franl s husband, is recoTer~
nicely after his illness.
Weall 'WJ.sh
him the best of healtho
Another letter from NewYork was not
a happy one. RITAMOYNAHAM
McARDLE
has
obtained a divorce after Z7 years ot
marriage and. i6 having to work at part
time jobs until she can find something
more permanent, to support herself and
her two youngest children.
Rita has a
MAin business administration,. a real
estate license and a most impressive
work record in advertising and selling,
managementand senior. executive super-
dance production. and it is. very rewarding work and .very time. consuming.aince
my students number.in the thousands ,
(3 quarters).
It's nice to see men in
dance, finally..
I was brief~
in. Reno
but could not stay. since we had planned
a South American trip with the Sierra
Club. Met and eorreepond withGBETCHEN
GOHMAN
GRABA
43-3. She had problems in
Reno and upon.returning heme.to North
Dakota, found. she had cancer in both
lungs and esophagus. Weworked together on the night line in Dallas, after
WASP
were disbanded, under her. husband
Ray. Gretchen .was in chemotherapy in
September.
AlMAJERMAN
HINDSflew in the 1976
Powder Puff Derb7. She was to join .
an Afr1.can Safari, .photographing animals. WilL see GINNYHILLWOOD
in
Alaska this summer.. She and Cecelia
Hunter sold CampDenali., however,
Ginny has a.place adjoining.
We are
going. to Alaska in August.1I
MARION
SCHORR
BROWN
is flight instructing at Pounds Airport in Tyler, TX.
In April she new, via A-36 Bonanza,
to Baton Rouge, La. for. the caDbined
South East - South. Central Sections
meeting of. the. Ninety-Nines.
At the
take-off breakfast on Sunday morning,
the weather briefing was given by
GLORIA
DeVORE
SCHWAGER,
44-3. She is
the weather girl for. TV station WRBT;
her husband is resident manager of the
Prince Murat Inn in BatOBe Mayfound
Marion flying. the AlL Women's.Int' 1.
Air Race from Quebec City, Quebec to
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The Brownewere
pleased to have GERALDINE
UIMER
MICKELSENvisit with them after she attended the dedication of the NinetyNinea headquarter building. in Oklahana
City.. Gerry has had a buayyear hosting the start of. the Powder'Putt. Derby
and flying. in ..it as well as the Angel
Derby.
General. and KARGARET
ANNHAMILTON
TUNNER
were in the midst of the earthquake
that shook Guatemala in February.
Their home.in Antiqua suffered e.xtensi ve damage; however, they. were grateful to have escaped injury as JII8J'lY' of
their neighbors died in .the disaster.
Their new home6 juat completed but. not
yet moved into, is on a mountainside.
papers.
FAITHB. RICHARDS
3411 Goldendale Drive
Dallas, Texas 75234
CARTER,
DORA
DOUGHERTY
and ANNATCHINSON. She plans to attend the Hot
Springs Reunion and has the welcome
mat out for rmy girls enroute.
Says
to please call and get your name in
the pot.
GRACE
PUTNAM
JONESwrites that she has
been getting wonderful publicity for
her fashion shop" which is in an old
bank building in Salado, Texas. They
had three pages in the Dec. 1975
issue of PEOPLE
WEEKLY
magazine, a 30
minute television interview with
WF
AA, channel 8, Dallas, a story on
the front page of "TREND"
in the
Dallas News, a story on the front page
of II Tempo
" in the Chicago Tribune and
another. television interview on the
"Eyes of Texasll program of Channel 2
in Houston. She goes to the NewYork
and Paris markets every year and invites all WASPS
to visit her shop and
buy from an old pilot.
PEGGY
HELBURN
KOCHER
ran for State Committee last year-and lost.
Is now
working hard for a Federal funded NY
area-wide water cleanup program. She
had a great bike trip in England last
sunnner. Her daughter, who is finishing her third year at Taft, is cocaptain of basketball for next year.
ELEANOR
FEELYLAWRY
::Jaysthings are
quiet in her corner of Conn. She
takes a few classes at the local college and says competition for grades
and applications of Clairol keep the
middle-age "muddles" at bay. She
visited her oldest son in Pa. in April
and had fun spoiling her three grandchildren.
In Kay they went to Durham,
N. H. for their daughter's graduation.
ANNCRISWELL
MADDEN
has just returned
from a trip to Vienna and Budapest
which she enjoyed very much. In the
spring she put together a slide-illustrated lecture on the public sculpture
of Philadelphia which she gives several times monthly to schools or womens
clubs. She has six of her ten children still living at home.
MARG1~~
McANALLY
writes that she is
content with her life as a desert rat,
teaching 4th grade. She is still putting her children through college and
says she spends her spare moments
saving money.
ANNA
FLYNN
MONKIEWICZ
headed her news
"Story of my life, Installment 24."
She is worldng with the State of Oregon, Administrative Asst. with Children's Services Division.
Before that
she worked for Public Welfare Division. Also did a stint in private
industry as a legal secty. with a
local law firm. In her spare time she
is an instructor and vessel examiner
with the U. S. Coast Guard Aux. She
is presently directing a dinner theater group in a production of "The
Sunahine Boys", and is also a reserve
patrolman with the Dalles City Police.
The last time she flew was in 1972 in
Juneau, Alaska when she flew a small
Cessna around the field to see whether
she could still get a plane up and
downin one piece.
She could and did.
This is her year to travel having been
to Maui,. Hawaii, Prince EdwardIsland,
Canada, to Reno in the early swmner
with her son, and to Germanyin Aug.
She can't make it to Hot Springs,
having used up all her leave by then,
but hopes to make the next reunion.
LOLAPERKINS
RICCI spent a pleasant
evening with Howardand VIVEDDY
in
Seattle, enroute to Hay River and
Yellowknife, NWT. HubbyEd added a
Lear Jet Rating to his Air Transport
License but they can't find their
way to trading the Travelair for a
Lear. To celebrate they flew down
eastern Mexico to Cancun and visited
Mayanruins on the Yucatan, back
through Mexico City and the west
coast.
She noted wonderful flying
courtesies, but was dismayed by the
$60 to $80 (EP) "average price" for
hotel rooms. She recently spent an
evening with MARY
LOUNEALE
(43-1)
and her husband, Ray. She hasn't
seen LANA
CUSACK
BOXBERGER
since
Jerry took off in Jan. to fly a 720
for an .&nir in Dubai, but she reports
he's being treated "princely".
LOLA
is eagerly awaiting a preview showing of LAURETTA
FOY'S (43-4) new
solar energy house in the nearby
Malibu mountains.
pm w1.SSLER
ROBERTS
sent a brief note
to say that she and Jay were leaving
in Mayto take a ship through the
BELEN
TRIGGLUTS
P.O. Box 178
El Dorado, Cal. 95623
MARGE
SELFRIDGE
DRESBACH
has very kindly
consented to be class secretary.
Her
address is 1302 Walker Lane, La Habra,
Cal. 90631. Please send your news to
Marge in the future but don't forget
about me. I have really enjoyed hearing from all of you and would like to
keep in touch.
PEGMCNAMARA
SLAYMAKER:
"Wehaven't
been'doing anything too exciting but
seem to be unusually busy. In Dec.
a friend of mine opened a small dress
shop nearby and &lSkedme to help her
on a part time basis.
11m working
almost full time now as her business
has been good and am enjoying it, particularly when we go on buying sprees.
We h ave been to four market weeks so
far and another one is coming up in
S.F. in June. Our son is getting
married July 3rd, in Red Bluff, to a
darling California girl.
Our daughter
and son-in-law from Lincoln, Mass.
will be out for the wedding."
LOESMONK
MACKENZIE:
IIAfter husbands
retire,
life is supposed to have lots
of time. Well, something happened to
us--we have less time than before.
We seem to stay busy going back and
forth to our vacation homenear the
ocean at Ocean City, Md. Mac and I
are avid golfers--though our scores
don't seem to get much smaller. During nice weather we play 5 days out
of 7 over there.
Whenit gets hot we
switch and became beach bums. So I
stay very busy trying to be "retired"
and yet keeping up both homes. Our
son, Mac III, attended graduate school
at V.C.U. in Richmond, Va. this winter
and now seems to be getting involved
in the business
of making TV Commer-
places
and I do miss
the
MARDO
CRANE
has retired as Editor of
the 99 DWS and now will do only special stories for the magazine. She
looks forward to finishing a few books.
FRANJOHNSON
CISTERNINO
met Earl Medlicott, an instructor at SweetwaterJ
while she was having lunch at the Air
Force Academylast fall.
GENESHAFFER
FITZPATRICK
enjoyed an 11
day Caribbean cruise with her sister
in March. On her return heme she was
met at the airport by Murph and Dolores.
She has a new address: 20455
Anza Ave., Torrance, CA. 90503. She
also reported that she and CATHERINE
"Murph" LORTZ
have been flying. foodJ
clothing etc. to Baja for the Christian Pilot's Assoc. DOLORES
MEURER
REEDwill join them soon in this
venture.
MARGARET
GERHARDT
sent a new hane address.
It is P.O. Box lOl~ Wellington,
Nevada 89444 - Phone (702) 465-2475.
DOTHENRY
is sti.llin
Germanyand enjoys
the location and job. She will be
thinking of us at Reunion time.
MADELON
BURCHAM
HIU. sent lat... of news.
Daughter Betsy married Lt. DrewSmith,
a graduate of the Air Force Academy
and they are now living in Zweibrucken,
Germany. Son, Tom, graduated from the
Naval Academyand married Karen Draper
and he is now in flight training in
Texas. Daughter Nancy is interested
in horses and is pursuing an agribusiness major at Portland State Univ.
Son, Marty, has completed his RF4flt.
training and is now stationed in Okenawa. NowJack and Madelon have time
for golf and flying.
RUTH
JONESand IDA "Skipll CARTER
retired in February after many years of
teaching.
Ruth spent Christmas in
San Francisco and then she and Skip
went to Dallas for NewYears.
LlAOOET
KOSTUK
says son, Ken, has married and moved out, but she is still
busy.
ALBERTA
HUNT
NICHOLSON
has: invested in
a Cessna 182 and is now working on an
instrument instructor rating.
She
flew it to Mexico.
ANNE
NOGGLE
has moved and sends a new
address:. 1204 Espanola N.E., Albuquerque, N. M. 87110. She reports that
her three years of work on Wcmenof
Photography; An Historical Survex, was
well received in San Francisco and the
exhibit is now traveling to: NewMexico, NYCat the Sidney Janis Gallery,
the Univ. of Wisconsin, Wellesley
College and Univ. of MiBJlli,and it
will close at the San Diego Museum.
of
Art in the fall.
Anne received a
National Endowmentof the Art s Grant
in Photography and has been traveling
about the country photographing.
She
was also invited to sit on the panel
in Wash., D.C. to choose next year's
grant recipients.
She sounds busy.
MARY
IIJershll 0' ROURKE
is working full
time now for the Navy. Their daughters are nearby and the granddaughter
is a delightful 7 years old.
MARJORIE
ELLFELDT
REEShas a new address:
2811 W. 66th Terrace, ShawneeMission,
Kansas 66208.
JANEROBBINS
is enjoying Boston and can
hardly believe her three year assignment is half over. She thinks New
England is surely one of the most
(J times),
MARGAREl'
TWITO
EHLERS
has just returned
from a trip to Honolulu with her husband, Wayne. She had a hysterectonw
in January. Her last child is graduating from high school this year, and
she is then going to re-qualify for
her flYing license.
Good for you,
Margaret 1
FRANSMITHTUCHBAND
is now living in
Monrovia, Calif., and working as a
dispatcher at the Lincoln~ercur.y
Sales there.
Fran's daughter was in
intensive care for a week, and in the
hospital for a total of five weeks
after a beating by an unknownassailant, but is now recovering very well.
We're glad the recovery is good, Fran,
and wish her well.
MARGE
GILBERT
STEWART
"foundll MILLY
GROSSMAN
PAlMER
for us, and says she's
still busy with her son, Mark, in college, daughter Ann graduating from.
high school, and daughter Karen starting to high school next fall.
MARY
ELLENKEILis finishing another yr.
in the sixth grade - teaching, that is,
and is looking forward to spending
llhappy timesll on her boat in Lake Erie
and at her cottage there.
She'd like
to go to the SummerOlympics in
real.
Thanks for writing, now or later.
Hope
to see you all at Hot Springsl
Mont:
44-3 Secretary:
DOROTHY
MOULTON
ROONEY
6977 Buohanan Ave.
San Bernardino, Ca. 92404
last
44-4
Secretary:
MILLIE D. DALRYMPLE
Pear Drive
Austin, Texas 7fr/31
4211 Prickly
in buying
a ranch,
HAZEL
STAMPER
HOHN
is still attending
college" being active in numerousaviation organizations" espe,cially ExperaentaJ. Aircrart Assoc." still
writing for publication" and keeping
up with the family" including the
young Vietnamese refugees for whom
they've been sponsors since last Sept.
The NevadaState Museumis having an
exhibit of aviation" featuring Nevadans who have played a part in the
history or aviation.
"S0,of course"
I called the Director to see what he
he was going to do about WASP's. He
W"clS delighted I'd
called as he wanted to do something about it, and I
called Fran Gustavson. We'll put
together an exhibit and will also
contact other NevadaWASP'sand WAF's
to see if they will help. II
DOROTHY
BlUTTMANN
is still recuperating from,the shock of getting a letter from me, but has pranised to attend the 'reunion" which is the incentive I needed to get KAY
D'AREZZO
to start thinking positively on the
subject too. Dorothy lost her husband two years ago and has been runningtheir
business" railroad contracting" ever since by herself.
She
also lost a son four years ago so it
has been good for her to be busy even
though it gets to be too muchat
times. She has another son in Colo."
a daughter in Miss. with two grandsons" and another daughter still
roaming - Wyaningat present.
Good
friend that she is, she promised to
vote for me to continue as W-4 secty.
I ought to nominate her, to get even.
ALYCE
STEVENS
ROHRER
wrote in a hurry
because they were getting ready to go
to Hawaii for Easter vacation.
She
had surgery last fall and was out of
school for two months, but said if
there wasn't a volunteer for class
secty." she'd take it over again for
next year. Thank you" Alyce, but
fortunately there is saneone else who
feels as we do that keeping up with
our class is worth a little
effort.
Read on and you'll find out who.
JEANMCCARl'
is the doll whowill hold
the class together for the next year.
She figures that if each of us took
pasture fires.
Fought one on us for
six and one-half hours with a 55 mile
per hour wind. Fires have really
been bad this year, but lucky, as not
too many houses, barns, or stock
have been lost.
Looking forward to
Hot SpringS.1I
JANEBAESSLER
OOYLE
can't figure out
why she was hard to locate since
they've been living in the same house
for 22 years.
Her youngest children,
twin girls, were born there right
after they moved in. She also has .
two more girls, a boy and two grandsons. Has lost contact with most of
the WASP'sbut will rearrange her
vacation to attend the Reunion with
a little
encouragement. She works
full time at the college in Grand
Rapids and take s or audit s one course
each semester.
FRANCES
STANDEFER
ACKER
finally received the third letter I sent her and
wants to be sure she hasn't been missing any other mailouts because of a
RRmail carrier who sometimes delivers mail but most times doesn't.
She
is boning up on Asian history in anticipation
of a trip to Amman,Jordan
where her son is a U.S. Air Force
Military Advisor attached to the U.S.
:Elnbassy. Then when time and money
permit she will visit her daughter
whose husband is stationed in Hawaii.
Twoother daughters are in the states.
MILDRED
DAVIDSON
DALRYMPLE
- I work for
the House of Representatives of the
Texas Legislature which is a feastor-famine job. Either too IIDlchor too
little
work. In the interim between
sessions there is nothing to do, then
whanmothe Legislature convenes and
suddenly there is no way to -get it
all done in the normal l6-hour day.
This is the off year, so I decided to
pamper myself and take the summeroff
(without pay) and play tennis every
day, all day. I keep having this hm'fIIDlch-longer-have-I-got feeling.
Since
I compete in the Over-40 bracket or
Over-50 when I can find one, the field
isn't very crowded. Thanks for your
encouragement and cooperation while I
have been class secretary, especially
this last year when I was in such a
dither about addresses.
Alyce Rohrer
LORRAINE
NELSON
BAIN
3161 Flowerdale Lane
Dallas, ~
75229
BECKY
MCSHEEHYplans
to attend the Reunion at Hot Springs. Becky is working part-time as a tour escort for
UNITOURS
(Club Universe).
Her last
trip was to Peru-liThe most exciting
parts were Cuzco-MachuPicchu,
Iquitos and a jWlg1e saf'ari camp on .
the Amazon,and flying in a Beechcraft Bonanza over the strange 'lines'
and animal-outlines on the Plains of
Nazca---these are written up in the
book (and movie) IICHARIOTS
OF THE
GODS?"
Maybedone in prehistoric
times by men from outer space".
MARGOT
HARVEY
VEALhad planned to attend the Reunion as their daughter
lives in Hot Springs, but their dau-
'0
44-6 Secretary:
BEVERLY
BEESElfiER
Rte .3
Grove, Okla. 74.344
the reunion.
BETTY
JANEwru.IAMS write 5 einee Reno
she has spent most of the time in
uniform at the Pentagon. A tour of
Special Duty with AF office of Info.,
Sec. of AFHdq., Washington, DC. She
was a guest of Lt. Col. Jo Olmsted
who resides in Alexandria, Va. and
Betty thinks, to her knowledge, is the
last WASPstill on full time duty.
Jo is Intelligence Officer with the
7602 Intelligence Group, Ft. Belvoir,
Va. The three special duty weeks
Betty worked on was a Dept. of Defense
Exhibit honoring .caen in the Federal
Govt., both civilian and military.
Then had extra duty on a continuing
project centering on Int'l.
Woman's
Year Activities within the A.F. The
3 wks. became7 and duty on into
Sept. and a motion picture plan
where Gen. "JiJIIDy"Doolittle will
interview the three top womenin the
Air Force. "That Gen. Doolittle is a
joy to meet. This then led for a
request by the newly promoted Brig.
Gen. Cris Mannfor me to serve 60
days in Nov. to help get the Info."
Activities started in her new Directorate at USAFHq. She heads up
the HumanResources Directorate, thus
I was able to enjoy staYing on with
J 0 Olmsted in D.C. during the Holi~s.
After returning to Calif. and
retirement, it appears Betty is toying with ideas of joining a company
in managementtraining programs that
deal with the new Equal Opportunity
Law. All I can say is hope to see or
get a minute to see you in Hot Springs
and more exciting info. Goodluck
and happy retirement.
Betty asks
anyone flYing to the reunion she
would like a hop. That's one way to
get her there.
-BEVERLY
BEESEliYER
had a great week in
Las Vegas spending most of her time
at the Black Jack table.
She'd practiced a month prior to going and read
every thing she could get her hands
on assuring her how to win at Black
Jack. She says; II dont t you believe
it, however, did a lot better than
not having a system. Also got brave
twice and sat in on poker. That is
WASPS
for drinks and supper at their
Palm Beach Gardens condominium.
Feasted and entertained were: Dorothy Henesy 43~, Teresa James WAF,
Eleanor Morgan (Boysen) 43-1, Marianne
Nutt 43-5, oMaryO'Brien 43-2, Katie
and Jack Strehle 43-4 (They flew in
from Key Biscayne, Fla.), in honor of
visiting Betty Nicholas.
NONA
HOLT
PICKERING
Back in a U. S.
Govt. school after all these years!
Nona working IRS, just graduated from
Tax LawSchool and is a bona fide Tax
Auditor---so watch those returns,
gang. Seriously, it was a lot of
work and study-and Nona should be
congratulated.
To celebrate and recover, she climbed aboard the Island
Princess and enjoyed a cruise through
the PanamaCanal and the Carribbean
to Puerto Rico then by air back to
Los Angeles. Also, she has reinstated
her commercial and will probably be
back in the air soon doiRg what we all
were born to do.
VELTA
HANEY
BENNvisitedher old bay-mate,
me (Gundy). Wespent somegrand hours
in Los Angeles with Nona.Holt Pickering--all
three talking at once-and
looking at an old album with pictures
of us whenwe were skinny and smooth.
Velta and Gundydrove to Tucson by
way of Tallmantz Co. in Orange County,
Ca. There we met the Great One, Frank
Tallman--it was great to hear real
hangar flying by those two old prosFrank and Velta. He invited us to
visit the Movieland Air Museum-and
there we found airplanes that are older than we. By the way ladies,
44-8 Secretary:
ANNE
DAILEY
MARSHALL
2225 East Whitten
Phoenix, Ari7le 85016
WONDERFUL
CLASSTURNOUT
ATRENO
REUNION
Interesting and varied tours were arranged for us at Reno last June, but
the best part of all was just seeing
and ta.lking to old friends... Weall
managedto sneak out from time to time
to try our luck with the slot machines,
but always hurried back to the hotel so
that we wouldnt t miss anything. Bonnie
Dorsey Shinski new in fran San Diego,
Joanne Blair Martin fran Tucson, Ty
Hughes drove through desert dust.storms
and an unexpected mountain blizzard to
join us, Jeri Fulk Crook new in fran
Sumter, S.C., and Dorothy Johnson Burri
flew in fran Berkeley, Calif.
Jean
WardNeill came fl'an Calistoga, Calif.,
Airport.
Having retrieved myuniforms
and photo album I can will them to
progeny or somemusewn. (Seriously,
Oakland Museumhas asked for them.)
And the disgust of spending three
days in the same dress has faded into
a conversation item. Reno Reunion was
for me a delight.
I didn't think it
would be that important to me to see
you all, to reminesce and to forget
the grey hair and wrinldes and intervening years that have sometimes been
stodgy. I very muchwant to go to
Hot Springs Briefly-I'm no longer
working so I'm toying with the idea
of returning to UCfor a course or
two in geography Mytwo boys are in
school - Eric at local Merritt College, Robert a senior at Berkely High.
Eric flies at AlamedaNaval Air Station club and Robert specializing in
vaulting & sidehourse on gymnastic
team."
MARIE
"COOKIE"
JACOBSON
JONEShas retired from.teaching & is now enjoying
someleisure for a change. Weenjoyed meeting her husband Les Jones or
"Jonesey" at Reno. He was an instructor at Sweetwater, you may remember,
and they both do same flying from time
to time. She and Dorothy Johnson
Burri recently spent a day together
exploring somelocal Calif. historical
sites being restored.
Cookie makes
an excellent guide, Californiana being
a longo:-standinghobby for her. And
we do thank her for finding Ty far us.
Incidently we welcomeyou back to our
class, Cookie.
Despite the fact that I mailed cards
to everyone in our class, Flight 2 did
not answer my cards, so I have no news
about them. Wedo have somemissing
gals & hope you will a.l.Ldo everything
in your power, as out-lined in the last
Fifi Newsletter to find them. Incidently, six weeks ago I sent in all the address changes for our class that I mew
about & corrected our class list (DOOley-Dorsey), but didn't knowwhen they
were sending out the Newsletter, so our
class news will go into the next one.
ANNE
DAILEY
MARSHALL
- still married to
Clarence, a retired & tirea FAAMaintenance Insp. Have 3 boys, 1 girl.
44-9
Secretary:
BETTY
STAGG
TURNER
6161 Le Sourdsville
W. Chester Road
Hamilton, Ohio 45011
JOHNANDJEEPHARMAN
lost three of
their Parent s, and married off three
of their children last year, so this
year Jeep and John went on a tour of
Southeast Asia: Japan, Bali, & Hong
Kongto regain their balance.
That
taking up their vacation time, we
regret to hear, she will not be attending Hot Springs.
MICKEY
McLERON
BROWN
has a new address,
2201 N. Deleon, Victoria, Tx. 77901.
HusbandBob is a professor at the new
University of Huston, Victoria Center
and is Director of Field Experience
for Student Teachers there.
They are
delighted to be back homein Texas.
Their current family consists of Bob,
Mickey and girls Ellie & Ann. Ellie
is a freshman at Victoria College,
and Ann graduated from VHSthis May.
Son George, 21, is a junior at Oklahana State majoring in horticulture
& landscaping architecture,
and Robert is in pre-med at V. Cal at Santa
Barbara. Mickey is looking forward
to Hot Springs and hoping to get
there.
BETTY
STONE,after recovering from a
coronary heart attack in Dec. 1975,
is looking forward to making it to
the reunion in Hot Springs. She and
Ross boast of a new granddaughter,
Erwin Bryanne Foster, born Jan. 30,
1976. Altho a premie weighing 4 lb.
2 oz. she is nowup to 7~ lbs. and
going right on. Mary & Steve, Erwin's
parents, are back in Okla. near Betty
& Ross. Liz & Les are still in
school and Ross E. is still at home.
VIRGINIA
EARTHERTON
SPEAR
is getting
settled in trying to feel at home
living in the country for the first
time. In Feb. and March she went to
Spain, Andalusia, and to Moroccofor
a couple of daya. She says quote It A
wonderful ex:perien~e, my fir st trip
alone and first off this continent. II
She is looking forward to Hot Springs,
her first reunion with us.
ANNand TOM
GLESZER
took .a trip to
Switzerland in Feb. and saw many
friends there.
They plan to go again
in '77 when the Swiss will put on
their great and wonderfUl IlFete de
Vigneronsll which is given only once
in 20 years.
She too plans to be in
Hot Springs in October.
DUSTY
ELIZ. RANSOM
teaches aeronautics
in Clearwater High School, Clearwater,
Fla. She is such a success she has to
turn away students every semester.
She teaches in addition one section of
advance placement AmericanHistory.
She plays lots of tennis, would like
more canoeing. She & Jack are debating England, Greece or North Carolina
this summer. Says traveling is great
fun but N.C. is so restful.
Her
daughter & husband live nearby and son
& wife are in Miami. He is chief
pilot for Air Florida.
NADINE
(CANFIELD)
NAGLE
quote: "There
are no super-exciting activities
or
travels to relate, however, I do
feel fortunate in that I like my
position as Kindergarten teacher,
my family all enjoy good.health, and
we are proud of our children.
John
and Paul are both happily married,
Annwill graduate from Wright State
U. this year and Steve will enter
Ohio State U. this fall. Frank and
I enjoyed a trip and visits with
friends and relations in San Francisco and Seattle last swmner. I
would like to extend an invitation
to all WASP
to use my homeas a
meeting place if they cometo attend
the dedication of the WASP
exhibit
and talk by Col. Dora Strother at
the Air Force Musemn.
in Dayton, Ohio
on August 11th. I live within three
miles of the nnseum. Please drop me
a card so I can expect youllt
NOm-iA
BOSTON
DOUGLAS
is still hard at
work instructing.
She has now obtained her multi-rating instrument
instructor's
rating and instrument
air taxi license.
Normasays if anyone is in her neighborhood, be sure
to check in with her. She works at
Douglas Aviation in Macomb,Ill.
(309-837-1800) Her homephone is
309-458-6275.
ELAINE
HARMON
has been a great help to
me as Secretary to 44-9. She sends
all her news she receives of Flt. #1
etc. whomshe has been in contact
with over the years.
She and her
mother.will be visiting relatives in
Texas during June and plan to be in
Sweetwater June 14th when the Fifi
fountainhead is dedicated. They will
be staying at the Holiday Inn if any
one wishes to drop in for the ceremony. The last of her children,
Billy, just married a neighborhood
girl and all her children, Robby,
Chris & Terry live nearby. In Oct.
shetll be a granny for the third
time. Daughter Terry expecting her
first child. Elaine won't make it to
Hot Springs this year as she has too
manythings going on.
JANEFOHLsays she is thoroughly enjoying her retirement by plaYing all
the golf she wants at three golf
courses in the area.
BETTY
STAGG
TURNER
keeping busy at her
part time job, and enjoys plaYing
golf at least twice a week, if possible.
A short trip to Detroit, Mich.
with friends going through Greenfield
Village, and the Ford Plant was an
experience and restful time. Spent a
few hours in Canada, and hopes to get
back for a nice long vacation to see
more of it.
Anywayit was a change
fran homewhere we nowhave 6 dogs,
9 puppies, 2 horses, I pony and 2
cat s, and on only 5 acre s. Bought a
motorcycle, learned to ride it, and
take a nice ride through the countryside quite often.
It's really relaxing to me, and the next, best thing to
nying I could find.
Only have three
children at homenow.
44-10
Secretary: CHARLYNE
CREnER
3048 Sandra Drive
Shreveport, La. 71109
ATKEISON,
"ROONIE": Flash from Jewel
Estes is that Roonie has retired and
is now finalizing the unveiling of
"Fifi" in the wishing well at Avenger,
June 14. It is a big undertaldng,
and those that oan possibly share will
be on hand for this honor.
CHAPIN,EMILY:A.toast to you for the
first to respond! She and friend
went to NewOrleans and Fla. to escaoo
the cold North only to be caught in ~
cold wave and leave the swim suits &
summerclothes in the bag. At this
time they are motor-homing in San
Francisco, and returning by Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. They will
b~ in Hot Springs early to join in the
diamond hunt.
CREnER,CHARLINE:To Dallas for a Beverly Sills concert with Jewel Estes
and Ziggy Hunter. Weran into Ruth
Wheeler, 43-5, and phone conversa:
tions with others.
Ziggy had knee
surgery and spent time with my sister
and me at Thanksgiving time. Most of
our time was spent on the lost list.
To break the monotony our tame "wild"
squirrels came into the sun porch,
perched on Ziggy' s shoulder, and begged for pecans. Myyear has been
full of firsts;
see story about the
wee one which may make Guiness after
the professional papers are published. Six. weeks or so after that case
I had.a patient of 105 to anesthetize
who had her ownteeth and mind! And,
the very greatest honor of being on
the anesthesia team for President
Ford if it were necessary while he
was visiting here. Our hospital is
charity, and I suppose it was felt
that we had more experience in gun
shot wounds. Amveq grateful for
NOThaving to use my professional
knowledge.
DAVIS,DOTTIE: Regrets poor planning
for Hot Springs.
She will be on a
freighter somewherein the Mediterranean. It won't seem complete without you gal! But what a substitute.
ESTES,JEWEL: Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport
WAGNER,
MAaY(CEYANES)
says that her
news is insignificant---wOW, what she
has been doing! She and her husband,
Warren, had such a good time on their
first safari to Africa that he decided to take the two oldest grand-
INSTRUCTORS:
GIP D. OLDHAM,
Jr. - SEeTY.
6008 W. Univ. Blvd.
Dallas, Texas 75206
CLAY
SPEAR- Virginia (Eatherton) Spear,
44-9, wrote to inform me of the death
of her husband, Clay (Instructor),
in
June, 1'173, of a brain tumor. Two
yrs. ago I reported on the death of
L.V. Rudolph in June, 1'l73 of a
brain tumor. Circumstances described
by Virginia and by Ann Rudolph are almost identical.
Clay, Rudy and I left
Sweetwater at the same time for Air
Corps, through Randolph and to Love
Field together and then went our separate ways. I had canpletely lost
touch with Clay after Love. Virginia
also informs that LESJONES(Instructor) and Marie IICookie"Jacobsen 44-9
were married about three years ago
and live in Ca.l.i.f. Virginia lives
about 200 miles fran Hot Springs and
plans on making the '76 bash.
DAYLE
DAYTON
(Instructor) li vas in
Sparks, Nev. (12/2/76).
Hazel Hohn
sent this info to me. His address
will be in the book. She found another 'lost one', WILFRED
'BILL' HarTMAN,
her C/C Instructor.
Bill.lives
in
Sacramento. GLENN
MILLER
had called
Hazel after the Reno Reunion. Glenn
plans on retiring from AAin about 2
years.
Hazel is workingno'Won locating her Primary Instructor,
PAULGAYNOR,So if any of you have a clue to
his whereabouts, drop Hazel a line.
FREDNESPER
re sponded to my last call
for help in Newsletter.
25 plus yrs.
with American Airlines; was on DC-lOs
but not on 707s out of San Diego. He
lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. and conmutes to S.D. He hopes to nake Hot
Springs also.
Sees several of the
I guysI who are with American.
Fred's
j,nnger sideld.ck, Harold "Shorty"
Woodlives in Colorado.
BILLHEBENSTREl!.'T,
who was also my Instructor, wrote from Kansas City, Mo.
Bill checked me out in AT-6 and BT-13s
when I was moving up from Primary
Instructor.
Bill covers several states
for his (Iwater treatment" eng' g. business.
He has used a Riley TurboRocket for last three years.
He is
ahoul.dDtt
__
HEBE'STOYOU,GlOOliGE111
A.gain our gratitude goes to George
Haddawayof Dallas, publisher of FLIGHT
Magazine, who has been helpful to the
WASP
in ma.IlY wqs throughout the years.
He was speaker at the 1972 Sweetwater
reunion, K.C. tor the 1975 Austin memorial dedication, as well as Chairman of
the Funding program. He was primarily
responsible for obtaining Neil Armstrong
as principal speaker at Austin.
As a
gesture of thanks the WASPspresented
him with a ,36-inch-long framed document
stating:
"WEHEREBY
DOPUBLICLY
PROCLAIM
THIS DAY,APRIL12, 1975 AND
FOREVERMORE,
THATWE, THEWASP,
DOLOVEGEX:>RGE
HADDAWAY."
Below is a picture of George surrounded by dozens of WASP
lip prints in lipstick with each WASP'ssignature below
her awn print as a testimony of our gratitude.
George has indicated, "I would
like for the WASPsto knowthat I have
removed frClll the wall o my office a
:Cramedpiece of fabric which was a part
of the original Wright airplane and have
hung in its place the WASP
proclamation.
It has the place of honor in my office
and I am very proud of it."
George's latest significant
contribution to the WASPhas been the securing,
through his ~
contacts, of industry
cooperation in the use of long-distance
phone lines.
This has been invaluable
in the Membership COBIDittee's eearch
for lost WASPs. Our thanks again to a
great guy for his continuous support.
"BACKWARD
FLIGHTII
THROUGH
THETUNNEL
OFTIME
Parachutes Save TwoMorelll!J
Whentwo Kelly Field planes collided
in midair at an elevation of about 4,000
ft. March 6, both pilots jumped from
the wrecked machines in parachutes,
landing safely soon after the burning
plane s, locked wing in wing, crashed.
Sec. Lieut. C. D. MacCallister and Cadet
C. A. Lindberg of the advanced nying
school of Kelly Field, were the pilots.
With the exception of minor scratches
neither was hurt.
'
This is the first time in history
that two pilots have leaped from different ships following a collision and
landed without fatal injury.
(Copied from the March 23, 1925 issue
of AVIATION
magazine). I believe this
magazine was a forerunner of Flying magazine as we know it today and wanted to
share this article about Col. Lindbergh
as a cadet.
A pilot friend found many
of these magazines dated fran 1925 thru
1929 and loaned them to me to read. (ED.)
"I t Happened in '51"
Lt. Pauline C. Banken, Former WASP,
Nowat Hickam as WAFin Plans Div.
HICKAM-AsMrs. Pauline Canney Banken
of 832 Puunani Place, Honolulu returns
to active duty with the Air Force her
status changes from a civilian employee
of HickamAFBto Lt. Banken, a Plans
Officer for Pacific Division.
Lt. Banken, wife of Edward L. Banken,
Meterologist, U. S. Weather Bureau is
the first WAFto cometo active duty
from the Hawaiian area.
She attended Stephens College, Columbia, Mo.; University of Minnesota, and
graduated from the University of Miami
Miami, Florida.
'
She was a memberof the Chi Omegasorority.
It was at this time that she
began her log of flight hours which now
totals 1400 hours.
While learning to fly she encountered
many set-backs.
For example the Dean
of the University of Miami endeavored
all my days.
Her determination to get
to Reno was overwhelmingly courageous
in the face of her pain and physical
exhaustion.
She simply had to say her
Good-bys.
She is a very great and loving lady my heart and life is so very empty without her.
Howfortunate you are to have
aeronautics class.
FOlKS
mlHE
FlEIS[HER
Down-to-earth
approach to an
up irl-the-air
subject
CLEARWATER
Elizabeth
Ransom
Clearwater
baa her students
High School
up in the air.
teacher
~
"
ny
Her instructors
were Tommy and Edna Metcalf,
hue operators, and her airplane was the venerable
erated Piper J3 "Cub."
the fued
and ven.
"I GOT
INTO
THE
government's
Civilian
Pilot
Training
Program
- a program to train college students
how to fiy," abe said. "We got college credits for having a
balt and the g~rnment
got a pool of trained pilots - Ulleful in cue a war broke out."
War broke out. Her. friend . were gettiDj: into the military services and war work. "Some didn't w.ait for the
to get toto the war," ahe reealled. "I had frienda going to
c.nada
t.o join up just about every week back in 1940."
ReatJesa, a war on, Duaty wanted something
to do. That something
bad to involve airplanes.
It turned out to be the_be
U.s.
=t;:ybCk~~~'~Pt::f:
O~~:=~~
woman
Folks
"om
at Toledo
Municipal
Airport.
P.';' 1
-1963,"oheeaid.
Dusty graduated
in 1965 and began teaching at Duneain Highlands
Junior High. Three yean later ahe tranaferred to Clearwater
High School to teach aoc:ia1 acience_
When the Pinellaa County schoola decided to offer an
aeronautics
course, then-Clearwater
High principal
William J118tice, a pilot, aaked Mn. Ransom if she would like to
teach the course.
"I jumped
at it,~. ,he said. "I hadn't
~ught
ground
school in 20 yean but 1 went back and got certified
all a
ground achool instructor.
The basic:a - navigation,
theory
of night, meteorology
wen the same but they were
arranged
diffenntJy."
Today Eli1.8beth Ransom teaches two sections of cultural anthropology
- "you don't think I'm going to waste
seven years of college spread out over 25 yean, do you?" and three of aeronautics.
"IT'S
A SCIENCE
- meteorology,
math, phyaiaand it's history and it', flying," she said. "We use the federal aviation regulations
in cIaaa and the Airman's
Information Manual. We take the history of fligbt about through
World War 1 and Geo. Billy Mitchell.
Anything
more
recent ia ea.ay to come by if a younpter
is interested.
"I find, by the way, they really get interested
in ,uch
things as Langley and the Wright Brothers
arguing over
who discovered
what fint.
"I uae the basic science approach
because even i( one of
my students
never sets foot inside an airplane that student
still haa to walk around in the weather. So he might as well
know something
about it, right?"
ONE WRINKLE
that has been added to Clearwater
High School's aeronautic:a
course is a field trip. "We have
an arrangement
at a nying achool wbe~ the kids in my
e:Iaaa get a 2O-minute ride for $5," she said.
"That 2O-minute hop puts it aU together for thO&e kids.
It makes believers out o( them.
"I don't know how many have come up after a flight and
told me they were amazed that an instrument
worked the
way I said it would. Qr that the plane reacted a certain way
training department
ford, Conn.
at Pratt
and Whitney
Aircraft
in Hart-
. under
certain
Conditions
just as we learned
in clau.
"WHAT
rM TRYING tossy is that you can't teach
aeronautics
without
e:lpoeing the atudent
to flying any
more than you can teach swimming
without e:lp08ing the
,tudent
to water."
Elizabeth
Ransom seems surprised that students
are interested
to go beyond her daasea into the field of aviation.
At least one fonner student i, at the U.s. Air Force Academy. Another.
is contemplating
going to Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical
University.
"I don't know what influence, if any, 1 had on these deciaio~;
I like to think I Wall at least a minor (actor," ,he
said.
WHEN
SHE
ISN'T
teaching,
Elizabeth
Ransom
punuea a hoat o( hobbies. There's tennia, awimming,
em.
broidery, designing
dothes,
sewing, Bonaai, yoga, garden, iog,sailing,
canoeing, knitting and quilting.
What about nying? "Oh, I gave it up," ahe said. "I don't
l\ave time. Furthermore,
once you've been a profeuiona1,
it', awfully hard to go bad: to being an amateur."
never
.
said a word
to
UL
derby
111 never
forget
that
m0-
IT WASN'T TOO long or"" that that the WASP Women", Airforce Service Pilots - WSI formed."1be
said.
"I read about it in Life Maguine,
took a day off, took a
train to Wuhington,
went to the Pentagon
and applied.
"I was told they had tried to contact all women PiJots
but 1 waa registered
in Toledo and bad moved,to Hartford.
In any cue, 1 applied, got in and waa MDt to Sweetwater,
TeJ:;., for training."
FIRST TO FLY
(conI.. from p e 3)
Cook says.
(The B26, known
as the
Marauder,
was one of the world's more.
feared war birds at the time.)
, Of the Marauder Cook says: "That was a
helluva airplane.
Like the A6 it would do
everything you told it to do, but you had to
tell it. You had to C1yit or you could find
yourself on the wrong end of the yoke."
Flying across the country
in the 826
bombers
the WASP pilots' often found
themselves
in adverse
weather.
"It was
then that someone decided we should have
instrument
training,"
Cook explains. "We
were sent to Bryan."
Cook became one of the world's first (she
is listed as NO.5) women pilots to hold an
instrumeRt rating and one of the first three
American
women selected
as a pilot.
instructor in instrument flying for Army Air
Corps pilots.
She taught hundreds of young men how to
reach their destinations
even when they
couldn't see where they were flying. There
is little doubt that more then one World War
n pilot owes his life to a woman whose only
thought was to be a good pilot, a woman who
was not out to prove anything just because.
she was a woman .. except that she is a
woman.
Shortly before World War II ended the
WASP group was disbanded, but the women
pilots stuck together.
Today their organization
is known as the
Order of FiCinelia.
Fifinella
was the lady gremlin.like
symbol of the WASP designed by the late
Walt Disney especially for the lady pilots.
"Fifi' rode on every flight, with every
WASP pilot. In fact, it was 'Ffi,' perched on
our shoulders, who really told us how to fly
the
airplanes,"
Cook recalls
with
a
chuckle.
Of the 1,038 women who swelled the rolls
of WASP 37 died on active duty. Today there
are more than 900 listed on the Order of
Fifinella
roster,
includin~
one of the
cofounders, Jacqueline Cochran.
The members are scattered
around the
world .. in 47 states. and Guam and. in II
foreign countries.
Gen H.H. Arnold's son, Col. W. Bruce
Arnold,
is an
active
participant
in
Fifinella's
activities
and attends
all
reunions, representing
his late father.
The next reunion will be this October in
Hot Springs, Ark.
.
FIRST TO FLY
Story by
Dick Williams
accomplishmenb.in
aytation had nothing to
do with being a woman. I just wanted to fly
and I wanted to be a good pilot. I never ga ve
a thought to proving anything just because
I'm a woman--except
that I am a woman,"
she adds with a chuckle.
Cook also has some advice
enter a woman's world.
"Those
men
secretarial
work
cabin attendants
compete with the
on ~.
22)
.".
..
..J
;;:
0:
w
C
..J
!!!
(Left)
Our wonderful
'Dedie'
(Right)
Ziggyand
friend
1=
Still looking! Whose pictures are these? Do you know, Ziggy? To
whom they belong, I mean?
1i
OCTOBER 22nd, 23rd, 24th. Come early. Stay late! Monday, the 25th is a Holiday (VETE HANS DAY).
You'll probably want to stay over and see more of Hot Springs.
PHOTOS: Plan your arrival so that you can GET IN THE PICTURE. Class photos will be taken on Friday,
the 22nd, starting at 4 p.m.; then they will be rushed to the developer so that each member can have
one to take home. Order will be: WAFS will be first; Class 43-1 will be second, 43-2 will be third, etc.
THUNDERBIRDS
will be our guests at dinner Friday night. And WE will be guests of honor in the front
stands at the airport Saturday to see their performance. Wear your uniforms! We're the greatest and
Hot Springs has declared this week to be Aviation Week Honoring The WASPS.
IDENTIFICATION
CARDS must be worn! And you must keep track of your tickets! This is absolutely
necessary. There will be 5 tickets: (1) Buffet dinner Friday night, (2) Breakfast Saturday morning, (3)
Box lunch Saturday noon, (4) Bus ride to Thunderbird performance, and (5) Awards Banquet Saturday night. No admittance without your ticket.
HOSPITALITY
ROOM: We're ALL hostesses! If anybody seesa shrinking violet, draw her out! Piano
players, bring your Sing-along music for spontaneous choral renditions. We will have a piano setting
there for you. Also, a Juke Box with records of the 40's. Costumes, anyone? What is your fantasy?
SHOW AND SELL - SHOW AND TELL:
tion from you in order to determine
what handicrafts and items you plan
SARA HAYDEN, 22 Stadium Road,
Sara Hayden will work this out, but she needs advance informathe area, size and number of tables, etc. needed. Write HE R as to
to bring and advise whether for sale or for show.
Methuen, MA. 01844.
$5.00
----------------------------------------------
Class
Ck. Enclosed
STREET
CITY -FEE:
STATE
~7IP
Private Plane
Charter Plane
Airline
Other
OnDATE
You will be able to pick up your packets at the Registration Desk on Thursday, Oct. 21, (1 p.m. till 4:30
p.m.) and all day Friday, Oct. 22.
SEND CHECK TO: ORDER OF FIFINELLA,
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