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| Wing Scout Wings |
“Piloting
airliners for commercial air transport companies is strictly a man’s job. You
might; however, look into the possibility of flying with a smaller passenger or
cargo line.”
Those words, as
well as a suggestion that women might also become “airline stewardesses,” were
actually trying to encourage the aviation interested young women who were
members of the Wing Scouts.
The idea of the Wing
Scout Program began slowly in 1941 as one of the activities for Senior Girl
Scouts. Young women would be taught everything about aviation, but would not
fly themselves. Interest in the Wing Scouts surged with America’s sudden
entrance into WW2.
In November 1943,
Medford Girl Scouts offered the first Wing Scout Program in Oregon to senior
high school girls between the ages of 15 and 18. Within days, 24 girls had
enrolled and voted to name
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| Wing Scout Manual 1947 |
In addition to
weekly meetings at the high school, the girls were required to give 25 hours of
volunteer community service at the Wing-In Canteen, at the Medford airport. Managed
by adult volunteers, the canteen served military personnel and air crews who
were stopping over while flying up and down the West Coast.
The girls began their
pre-flight training course by studying meteorology, plane identification, model
plane building, parachute packing, and the theory of flight. Soon they were at the
airport with their male instructors, Airport Traffic Controller Ken Grant and
Airport Operations Manager, Army Captain O. M. Smith. There, the girls learned
operation of the control tower and the airport’s weather and radio departments.
They also sat in real airplanes a rode along as passengers.
Within six
months, Northwest Girl Scout executive, Marjorie Hopkins, said Medford’s Wing
Scout program had been rated best in the Northwest.
“This
outstanding achievement,” she said, “has been made possible through cooperation
of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, United Airlines, and the Medford Army
Air Base.”
“The objective
of Wing Scouting,” added Margo Collins, local pack leader, “is to meet the
needs of air-minded girls, make them aware of the importance of air power, and
to prepare girls for community service in the field of aviation.”
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| Wing Scouts, 1950s |
At war’s end,
nearly 90 Jackson County girls were actively participating in the program;
however, their interest quickly faded, and, by spring 1946, the first Wing
Scout Program ended.
In February
1950, a new Wing Scout troop formed, naming themselves the “Airharts,” a
fanciful tribute to Amelia Earhart, the world famous aviator who disappeared in
1937.
“The troop is
off to a flying start,” said Berte Hampson, the troop leader, “with many happy
flights ahead.”
The program
continued on for a few more years, but was never as popular as it had been. By
the 1980s, the national Girl Scouts retired the entire program.
Some of the local Wing Scouts did indeed
become flight attendants and others worked in many other aviation related
field, but how many actually learned to fly seems not to have been recorded.
It certainly would
be great fun if someone knows one of these women.
