Mary Louise Webster - Last member of the WASP to die in the line of duty

With barely two weeks before the WASP program would end, 37 women had officially lost their lives

Cessna AT-17 Bobcat – “The Bamboo Bomber”

in service to the Air Corp and their country. No one would have expected another woman to fall.

Mary Webster (44-W-8) and a two-man crew were flying into a cold front with intermittent snow and rain and temperatures dropping. Their UC-78 Bobcat was taking them on a cross-country training flight to Chicago from Frederick Army Airfield in southwestern Oklahoma. With only 11 days remaining until WASP deactivation, it should have seemed ridiculous to continue training; yet, there she was, flying between Tulsa and Claremore, Oklahoma.

WASP Mary Louise Webster

Mary was the seventh of eight children and the second daughter. Her father, William Webster, was born in Canada and immigrated to the United States in 1895. He settled southeast of Seattle in Ellensburg, Washington, where he met and married Mary Pott.

Mary graduated from the Holy Names Academy, a private Catholic all-girls high school in Seattle. After graduation, she studied for two years at the Seattle Business College and earned her diploma. Although believing business was her best career choice, Mary had always dreamed of flying, and when Central Washington State College announced a Civilian Pilot Training course in May 1940, Mary leaped at the chance. In, she was accepted into the WASP training program.

After graduation from Avenger Field on October 18, 1944, and following her 10-day furlough, Mary reported to Frederick Army Airbase to begin her advanced training. A month later she was riding in the Bobcat with Lieutenant George Crowe at the controls. Also with them was 22-year-old Sergeant Melvin Clark, a married Oklahoma native who had been assigned to

WASP Mary Louise Webster

Frederick when the base opened in September 1942.

An hour out from Frederick on December 9, 1944, the UC-78 was flying at 9,000 feet above the clouds, when Crowe noticed ice forming on the wings. He radioed the air controller and received permission to descend, hoping warmer air would keep more ice from forming. Now, deep in the clouds, the aircraft began to fall and Crowe lost control. The UC-78 fell straight down and crashed, killing everyone aboard.

WASP and former classmate Nettie Winfield (44-W-8), who had come to Frederick Field with Mary, was Mary’s escort back to Ellensburg for burial in Holy Cross Cemetery

Mary Louise Webster - (30 June 1919 – 9 December 1944)

#RIP

WASP Mary Louise Webster