WASP Peggy Wilson Martin - Class 44-W-4
(8 February 1912 – 3 October 1944)
Peggy was one of the oldest WASPs, and yet, the details of
her life have all but disappeared. Even as late as 1993, the WASP Association’s
file on Peggy was “empty,” and the women were asking for contributions.
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| Peggy Wilson Martin |
Peggy began training at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, November
1, 1943, and graduated May 23, 1944. Her first duty assignment after graduation
was the pilot training base at Gardner Army Airfield near Taft, California. She
was only there a short time before she received orders for Arizona’s Marana
Army Airfield, about 30 miles northwest of Tucson. It was another Army training
facility and Peggy’s primary assignment was engineering test pilot, flying
recently repaired aircraft to be sure they were airworthy.
On October 3, 1944, Peggy climbed into a BT-13 Valiant with Marion Hagan (44-W-6).
Marion had graduated from Sweetwater two months before, and Marana Air Base was
her first assignment. She was riding as an observer as Peggy gunned the plane’s
engine for takeoff. There was something sluggish in the way the engine
struggled to get the Valiant into the
air.
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| Marion Hagen Mayfield |
About 11 miles from the field, the engine suddenly lost all of its oil.
Peggy tried to turn the airplane toward a nearby auxiliary airfield, but with
no power to keep the craft flying, it stalled and crashed to earth.
Peggy and Marion were still alive when the rescue team
arrived and rushed them to the base hospital. Marion survived, but had severe
injuries and suffered for weeks in hospitals before recovery. Peggy only lived
for an hour after arriving at the hospital. She was returned to Southern
California for burial in Whittier’s Rose Hills Memorial Park.
That same day, October 3, the press reported that General Arnold had decided to shut down the entire WASP program by December 20.
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| BT-13 Valiant |
