Jane Delores Champlin: the 3rd WASP Pilot to Die During WW2

WASP Jane Dolores Champlin - Class 43-W-4

(14 May 1917 - 7 June 1943)

(Excerpt from To Live and Die a WASP)

Jane Dolores Champlin was born May 14, 1917, in Chicago to David and Katherine Champlin. When her father died a month before Jane’s 14th birthday, her mother took Jane and her brother to

live with their aunt in St. Louis. Jane graduated from Saint Louis University in 1937 with a degree in Sociology. While working as a secretary for the Railway Express Agency in St. Louis she took flying lessons and when she heard of Jackie Cochran’s aviation school for women, she signed up.

 

Jane Delores Champlin, Women Airforce Service Pilots

June 7, 1943, Jane was on a nighttime, cross-country training flight near Westbrook, Texas, almost 40 miles west of Sweetwater. With her in a BT-15 was her instructor, Henry Awbrey. Her roommate, Jennie Hrestu, was flying nearby. Early the next morning, after flying for over two hours, an exhausted Jennie returned to Avenger Field. Although Jane still hadn’t returned, Jennie wasn’t concerned. Awbrey had a reputation among the women of getting lost, and rumor said that once on a training flight he had even fallen asleep. Besides, Jennie was just too tired

to care.

Jane Delores Champlin, Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

The next morning, at the flight line assembly, everyone heard that Jane was dead. Although there were no witnesses, investigators believed that Jane was making a turn when she lost control, perhaps the engine catching fire, and neither she nor Awbrey reacted quickly enough to avert disaster. They smashed into the earth and the plane burst into flames.

RIP