#The38
WASP Betty Louise Taylor
Wood 43-W-4
(13 March 1921 – 23
September 1943)
(Excerpt
from To Live and Die a WASP)
On the day she graduated at Avenger Field with class 43-W-4,
August 7, 1943, Betty Louise Taylor married one of her civilian flight instructors,
Harry “Shorty” Wood. Harry got his nickname for the not so obvious reason—he
was tall. Regulations forbid trainees from dating flight instructors, but Betty
and Harry’s wedding proved that love would top any military regulation every time.
After her morning march on the flight line and receiving her
wings
from Jackie Cochran, Betty had most of the afternoon to get ready for the
evening wedding service. Her mother and father, Thomas and Effa, had come from
Auburn, California for both ceremonies. Her father would give his youngest
daughter away and waited patiently while Betty, her mother, and classmate
Violet Thurn prepared themselves.
…
 |
| Wedding Day Harry Wood and WASP Betty Taylor |
Twenty-one-year-old Harry was born in Colorado and he
attended Fort Collins High School. After graduation, he enrolled in Colorado
State College, learning to fly in the college’s extensive Civilian Pilots
Training program that included advanced training and cross-country flights.
After training in Texas, he qualified as a civilian flight instructor. …
After
their honeymoon, Harry returned to his training assignment at Sweetwater, while
22-year-old Betty headed for her duty station with the 5th Ferrying Group in
Dallas. By September
1943, new orders assigned her to Camp Davis, towing targets for artillery
soldiers in training. …
 |
| A-24 Dauntless Towing Target at Camp Davis, NC |
On August 23, 1943, while making a landing following two
hours of flying, one of Betty’s wings touched the ground, forcing her to abort.
Observers on the ground thought they heard her engine surge and cut out. They
believed Betty was giving her A-24 full throttle, trying to climb and make a
go-around attempt, but the throttle must have been sticking. The plane struck
an embankment, the engine stalled, and the plane rolled over onto its top,
crushing Betty. Almost every current report of the accident says that an Army
chaplain was riding with her and that he too died; however, none of the
newspaper stories reporting the accident at the time mentions
anyone else dying
or even flying with Betty that day.
 |
| WASP Betty Taylor Wood |
When word of Betty’s death reached Sweetwater, Harry
Wood was on leave and in the air, on his way home to Fort Collins. Sweetwater
forwarded the message to Fort Collins to await Harry’s arrival. Until he
landed, Harry didn’t know that his wife of less than two months was dead.
There was a delay in returning Betty’s remains to California
and she didn’t arrive until after the memorial funeral service held in Auburn.
Her parents chose to have her cremated and then interred in the mausoleum at
East Lawn Memorial Park, in Sacramento, California.
Betty
was the eighth WASP to die.
RIP
