Kathryn “Kay” Barbara Lawrence Class 43-W-8
The fourth WASP pilot to die while flying on duty
(3 December 1920 – 4
August 1943)
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| WASP Pilot Kathryn “Kay” Barbara Lawrence Class 43-W-8 |
(Excerpt from To Live and Die a WASP)
Energetic Kathryn was Kay to her friends and family. Born in
December 1920 to Frank and Chrissie Lawrence, Kay grew up in Grand Forks, North
Dakota, not far from the Great Northern Railroad Depot. Her father was an
engineer on the railroad and shortly after Kay’s older brother, Frank Jr. was
born in 1917, the family had moved to North Dakota from Washington state. After
graduating from high school, Kay began working toward her Bachelor Degree in
education at the University of North Dakota. At 5 feet 4 inches tall, 125 pound
Kay didn’t stand out in a crowd, but she still made the most of her college
years, especially in athletics. She was a champion swimmer, and as an ice
skater for the university, won the trophy for best woman speed skater on
campus. As a cheerleader with the all-girl, Nodak Pep Squad, she was at every
football and basketball game, making sure there was plenty of noise from the cheering
fans.
As a sophomore, in 1939, she signed up for the Civilian
Pilot Training program, the only girl who wanted to fly out of the 100
collegians who had applied at five North Dakota Colleges. It brought her news
coverage and her photograph in newspapers. “Cranking an airplane propeller is a
woman’s job for Kay Lawrence,” said one headline. …
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| WASP Pilot Kathryn “Kay” Barbara Lawrence Class 43-W-8 |
--- It was just before 5:00 in the evening on August 4,
1943, when Kay’s PT-19 trainer lifted off from the runway at Avenger Field.
Hers was the eighth flight made that day in the very same airplane. In the
month since she arrived, she had flown nearly 20 hours in this type of plane,
but now she was soloing. Fifteen miles and a few minutes northwest of Avenger,
something happened, and no one knows exactly what. Whether pilot error or
mechanical failure, the plane spun out and crashed into the ground. Kay managed
to jump, but her parachute never opened. Investigators believed that she had
been too close to the ground when she jumped and didn’t have time to pull her
ripcord. The next day, a memorial service held at Sweetwater’s Methodist
Church, brought over 100 of her fellow trainees to remember her. She returned
to Grand Forks for burial; her grave marked simply as “Kay.”
RIP
