WASP Betty Louise Taylor Wood
(13 Mar 1921 – 23 Sep 1943)
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| Betty Louise Taylor Wood |
On the day she
graduated at Avenger Field with class 43-W-4, August 7, 1943, Betty Louise
Taylor married one of her civilian flight instructors, Harry “Shorty” Wood.
Harry got his nickname for the not so obvious reason—he was very tall. Regulations forbid trainees from dating
flight instructors, but Betty and Harry’s wedding proved that love would top
any military regulation every time.
Twenty-one-year-old
Harry was born in Colorado and he attended Fort Collins High School. After
graduation, he enrolled in Colorado State College, learning to fly in the
college’s extensive Civilian Pilots Training program that included advanced
training and cross-country flights. After training in Texas, he qualified as a
civilian flight instructor.
Betty was born in
Illinois and she grew up near Athens, a small community in the central part of
the state. In 1940, while still a high school student in the nearby community
of New Berlin, Betty’s parents moved the family west and settled in Auburn,
California.
Betty finished her senior year at Placer Union High School and then
began studies at Placer Junior College, now known as Sierra College. It wasn’t
a long commute between classes, the college and high school shared some of
their facilities and a few of their instructors. While Betty studied, she worked
as a store clerk and as an assistant in a doctor’s office. She enrolled in the
Civilian Pilot Training program at the college and learned to fly. A fellow
student later remembered her as the most natural pilot enrolled in the class.
Her application to the WASP program was accepted and Betty reported to Houston
to begin her training with the 43-W-4 class.
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| Harold Wood and Betty Taylor's Wedding Day |
After their
honeymoon, Harry returned to his training assignment at Sweetwater, while
22-year-old Betty headed for her duty station with the 5th Ferrying
Group in Dallas. Initially scheduled for transition training to heavier
aircraft, by September, new orders had assigned her to Camp Davis.
On August 23, 1943,
while making a landing following two hours of flying, one of Betty’s wings
touched the ground, forcing her to abort. Observers on the ground thought they
heard her engine surge and cut out. They believed Betty was giving her A-24
full throttle, trying to climb and make a go-around attempt, but the throttle
must have been sticking. The plane struck an embankment, the engine stalled,
and the plane rolled over onto its top, crushing Betty. It was just 47 days after
her marriage to Shorty.
There was a delay
in returning Betty’s remains to California and she didn’t arrive until after
the memorial funeral service held in Auburn. Her parents chose to have her
cremated and then interred in the mausoleum at East Lawn Memorial Park, in
Sacramento.
So far, eight WASPs
had died, four in a single month. But the war was still going on and the worst
had just begun.
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| Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), Betty Taylor Wood and husband and flight instructor Harold "Shorty" Wood |
