On Duty WASP who died in November

On Duty WASP Who Died in November

Goodbye to the WASP

December 1944- “Miss Fifinella”

Pilots of WASP Class 44-W-10  say goodbye at Avenger Field.

WASP Sara Payne Hayden

Sara Evelyn Payne Hayden

  (29 August 1919 - )

  shaking hands with

 

WASP Jacquelyn Riley Zerlaut

Jacquelyn Riley Zerlaut

   (12 February 1914 – 26 May 1988)

WASP Mitte Parsley Schirmer

Mittie Elizabeth “Betty” Parsley Schirmer

   (4 October 1921 – 25 January 2008)

WASP Beverly Beesemyer (44-W-6) is now on her final flight.
“I towed targets and they fired 50 caliber machine guns at the sock target I was towing.” Her plane was hit once.
She passed away early in the morning of October 29.

(1918 – 29 Oct 2018) 

WASP Beverly Beesemyer (44-W-6)

WASP Beverly Beesemyer (44-W-6)

Beverly fought for the right of women to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Born in Hollywood, she grew up in Beverly Hills. She studied art at USC. Wanting to do something to help win the war, Beverly joined the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots).

Bless you Beverly. RIP and Happy Flights.

WASP Beverly Beesemyer (44-W-6)

Decision Height - Life as a WASP Trainee

Had a chance to speak with the all female cast of the play Decision Height that is being presented by the Grants Pass (Oregon) High School. It was written by Meredith Dana Levy.

Rehearsal of Decision Height by Grants Pass High School

I was surprised at how intently they listened as I answered their questions. I reminded them that they were representing these brave woman and that they should not be nervous or afraid. After all, they are just a couple of years younger than these WW2 pilots were when they were in training.
 Their rehearsal proved that they are taking their roles seriously and perhaps with a new found intensity.
 The play uses real stories and events to tell the story of a group of Womens Airforce Service Pilots trainees making their way through their arduous six months of training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.
We watch as they overcome their initial conflicts with each other to become a sisterhood of love and support. There is comedy, drama, and more than a few tears.
These young ladies are fantastic and they are ready to show the world how committed they are.
"Break a leg!" And enjoy!

Cast members of Decision Height coming to the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center

She vanished without a trace

Gertrude Vreeland “Tommy” Tomkins Silver (Class 43-W-7) was the third and youngest daughter of

Vreeland and Laura Tompkins, born October 16, 1912.

Gertrude modestly chose the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for

Women, in Ambler, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. There, her interest in farm animals blossomed. She had found her calling, at least for the moment. For the next decade, when she wasn’t home helping her father at his factory, Gertrude made frequent trips to all parts of the world, sometimes with family, but usually alone. She wanted to see the world’s farms and gardens.

Gertrude entered training at Avenger Field on May 23, 1943, and was one of 59 out of 101 trainees to successfully graduate on November 13. Her assignment was with the 5^th Ferrying Group at Love Field in Dallas. For nearly a year, she flew almost every type of plane produced for the Army, and after a month’s worth of training at the Palm Springs Army Airfield, she qualified to fly the P-51 Mustang and other pursuit aircraft.

Gertrude Tomkins Silver

Gertrude received orders to report to the North American Aviation factory alongside Mines Field (now part of the Los Angeles International Airport). She and 40 other women would fly brand new P-51 fighters from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey. Gertrude reported to Mines Field, October 26, 1944.

Leaving the runway, she flew west over Santa Monica Bay, disappearing into the fog. She was never seen again. Gertrude was the only WASP pilot to disappear without a trace. Many attempt have been made to find her final resting place; however, her fate is still a mystery.

(16 October 1912 – 26 October 1944)

Memorial Plaque

P-51 fighter

"Decision Height" All Female Cast

Helping to promote the all female cast and Director Julie Kennedy as they mount a spectacular production of the award-winning play, "Decision Height," at the Grants Pass High School Performing Arts Center (Oregon)
The play tells the story of the WASP women trainees at Avenger Field, in Sweetwater, Texas.
These young ladies are GREAT!

Decision Height - a Play about  the WASP Women pilots

Nancy Harkness Love

22 October 1976

Today (22 October 2018) marks the final flight of WASP/WAFS leader Nancy Harkness Love.

(14 February 1914 – 22 October 1976)

RIP

Nancy Harkness Love

Other than their love of flying, in many ways, the two women most responsible for formation of the WASP couldn’t have been more different. Jacqueline Cochran was born into poverty, while Nancy Love was the daughter of a wealthy physician. Cochran never went to college, had barely two years in elementary school, and said she taught herself what she needed to know. Nancy attended private schools and was a Vassar coed. Both women were methodical and tenacious in their life decisions, but Jackie was more aggressive and vocal, loaded with uncontainable personality. Nancy was private, soft spoken, diplomatic, and gently efficient.

Nancy Harkness Love

Legally, Nancy was Hannah Lincoln Harkness, but because her father preferred to call her Nancy, the name stuck. Barely 13 years old in 1927, and while on a tour of Europe, Nancy saw Charles Lindbergh land in Paris after his historic transatlantic flight. One would think that she would have been impressed, but she wasn’t. Aviation wouldn’t captivate her imagination and become her passion until three years later, when she was 16 and took a ride with a barnstorming pilot.

Nancy Harkness

When Nancy Harkness Love became director of the U.S. Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron in September 1942, she was only 28 years old. Beginning with her first squadron of women pilots at New Castle Army Airfield, near Wilmington, Delaware, her responsibilities quickly grew. Within nine months, she was commanding an additional three squadrons of WAFS—at Love Field, in Dallas, Texas, Romulus Airbase near Detroit, Michigan, and at Long Beach Army Airfield in California.

-Excerpts from To Live and Die a WASP.

 

Nancy Harkness Love

The Fatal Coin Toss

Late in the afternoon, October 16, 1944, Jeanne Lewellen Norbeck (Class 44-W-3) and Marybelle Lyall (44-W-4) flipped a coin to see which of two planes they would fly. Jeanne won the flight line

WASP Jeanne Lewellen Norbeck

coin toss and chose the BT-13 that had just been released by mechanics. The previous pilot had said the plane had a “heavy wing,” rolling slightly to the left. It was Jeanne’s job to test it and make sure everything was now in working order. It wasn’t, and Jeanne would die in the crash that came barely 8 miles away from the Shaw Army Airfield, her South Carolina duty station.

Born November 14, 1912, in Columbus, Indiana, Jeanne was the daughter of Darcy Lewellen and Mayme Emmons. Her father was the founder and president of Lewellen Manufacturing, a company he set up just after WWI that specialized in transmissions and machinery.

Before WWII, Jeanne and husband had Edward lived about eight miles from the naval base at Pearl Harbor and were eyewitnesses to

the Japanese planes flying over during the December 7, 1941 attack.

Jeanne was anxious to join the war effort. She had flown some in high school and college and decided to apply to the WASP program.

That simple coin toss had had ended it all.

Writer Bill Miller is the author of “To Live and Die a WASP: 38 Women Pilots Who Died in WWII.