To Live and Die A WASP : Evelyn Genevieve “Sharpie” Sharp

3 April 1944- 

WAFS (Womens Auxilary Ferrying Service)

& WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots)

Evelyn Genevieve “Sharpie” Sharp
#The 38

WASP Pilot Evelyn Sharp

 Dies when one engine on her P-38 loses power on takeoff.

(20 October 1919 - 3 April 1944)

WASP Pilot Evelyn Sharp

WASP Pilot Evelyn Sharp

Excerpt from "To Live and Die a WASP"

On April 3, at 10:29 in the morning, Evelyn Genevieve Sharp lifted off from the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport in a twin-engine fighter, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. She had been flying the fighter all the way across the country, on a delivery flight from the Lockheed plant in Long Beach, California to Liberty Army Airfield in Newark, New Jersey.

Following standard takeoff procedure, she immediately retracted her landing gear when she left the ground and almost instantly she noticed black smoke beginning to pour from the plane’s left engine. Barely 700 feet in the air, her engine shut down. Evelyn threw the rudder hard right, trying to keep the plane from rolling over. She feathered the left prop and cut its throttle. There wasn’t enough power to get higher or stay much longer in the air, so she scanned the countryside, looking for a way to land without hitting any of the homes and buildings below. She veered left, across the Susquehanna River toward Beacon Hill, where the population was scattered. With no time to let down the tricycle landing gear, Evelyn smashed into the ground in an abrupt belly landing, her forward motion only stopped by a forest of trees. The steering column pushed up, forcing Evelyn’s head into the canopy. Her neck was broken, and after only a minute in the air, she was dead.

Mounds of flowers were everywhere on April 9, 1944. Although she hadn’t lived in her hometown for over four years, the people of Ord, Nebraska and the surrounding countryside came to her Sunday funeral services by the hundreds. Her mother and father came by train from their new home in Nevada, to bury their only child in the town that called Evelyn their “favorite daughter.” Fellow WASP and classmate, Nancy Batson, and two servicemen were there to pay their respects. Nancy had accompanied Evelyn’s body to Ord, bringing with her $200 donated by the WASPs at New Castle Air Base in Delaware, to help pay for the funeral.

  Airport in her hometown, Ord, Nebraska, named in her honor.

Sharp Field, Ord, Nebraska

RIP Sharpie!

 

On Duty Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) Who Died in July During WWII

On Duty WASP Pilots Who Died in July During WW2

The loss of WASP - Evelyn Genevieve “Sharpie” Sharp

3 April 1944- 

WAFS (Womens Auxilary Ferrying Service)

& WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots)

Evelyn Genevieve “Sharpie” Sharp

WASP Pilot Evelyn Sharp

 dies when one engine on her P-38 loses power on takeoff.

(20 October 1919 - 3 April 1944)

RIP

WASP Pilot Evelyn Sharp

WASP Pilot Evelyn Sharp

-----

Excerpt from "To Live and Die a WASP"

On April 3, at 10:29 in the morning, Evelyn Genevieve Sharp lifted off from the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport in a twin-engine fighter, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. She had been flying the fighter all the way across the country, on a delivery flight from the Lockheed plant in Long Beach, California to Liberty Army Airfield in Newark, New Jersey.

Following standard takeoff procedure, she immediately retracted her landing gear when she left the ground and almost instantly she noticed black smoke beginning to pour from the plane’s left engine. Barely 700 feet in the air, her engine shut down. Evelyn threw the rudder hard right, trying to keep the plane from rolling over. She feathered the left prop and cut its throttle. There wasn’t enough power to get higher or stay much longer in the air, so she scanned the countryside, looking for a way to land without hitting any of the homes and buildings below. She veered left, across the Susquehanna River toward Beacon Hill, where the population was scattered. With no time to let down the tricycle landing gear, Evelyn smashed into the ground in an abrupt belly landing, her forward motion only stopped by a forest of trees. The steering column pushed up, forcing Evelyn’s head into the canopy. Her neck was broken, and after only a minute in the air, she was dead.

Mounds of flowers were everywhere on April 9, 1944. Although she hadn’t lived in her hometown for over four years, the people of Ord, Nebraska and the surrounding countryside came to her Sunday funeral services by the hundreds. Her mother and father came by train from their new home in Nevada, to bury their only child in the town that called Evelyn their “favorite daughter.” Fellow WASP and classmate, Nancy Batson, and two servicemen were there to pay their respects. Nancy had accompanied Evelyn’s body to Ord, bringing with her $200 donated by the WASPs at New Castle Air Base in Delaware, to help pay for the funeral.

  Airport in her hometown, Ord, Nebraska, named in her honor.

Sharp Field, Ord, Nebraska

 

Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, Who Died in April

Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, Who Died in April

While on Duty

RIP

 

On Duty WASP Who Died in March

On Duty Women Airforce Service Pilots Who Died in March

On Duty WASP Who Died In February

Women Airforce Service Pilots

Losing WAFS pilot Dorothy Scott

WAFS/WASP Pilot Dorothy Scott

It was a father-daughter race for an airplane prize. Dorothy Scott and her father, Guthrie, had challenged each other to a “learn to fly” contest; the prize—a two seat, cabin-style airplane. For two years, Dorothy’s attempts to get into a Civilian Pilot Training course at the University of Washington were frustrated, but in February 1941, she finally succeeded. Her father bought a plane and challenged her to a race to find out which of them would be the first to fly solo. The winner would have rights to the plane.

On St. Patrick’s Day, 1941, at 10 o’clock in the morning, and just four weeks after she began training, 20-year-old Dorothy soloed in a seaplane over Lake Union in Seattle. As soon as she landed, she sent a telegram to her father that told him to hold his airplane for her exclusive use. Seven hours later, at 5 o’clock that afternoon, Dorothy received an excited telephone call from her father. He had soloed and was claiming victory. Apparently, he hadn’t yet received Dorothy’s victory telegram.

Dorothy was born a twin to brother, Edward, February 16, 1920. She completed WAFS training with Nancy Love in January 1943.

On her second day of WASP pursuit training, December 3, 1943, Dorothy was flying in an AT-6 with her instructor, 2nd Lieutenant Robert Snyder. It was a pleasant winter afternoon over the desert sands of Palm Springs, light winds, and temperatures only reaching into the mid 70s. Dorothy had already flown many takeoffs and landings, and so, at about 5:00 in the evening, she was probably on her final approach of the day. A P-39 flown by 1st Lieutenant Wilson Young followed behind. Both planes were cleared by the tower for landing, but apparently the controller hadn’t considered that Young’s P-39 was a faster airplane. Coming out of a wide turn on his final approach,

Young must not have seen the slower plane. Officials believed the low winter sun might have blinded him. From above and behind he came down, right on top of Dorothy’s AT-6, tearing off its tail. Both planes fell, the AT-6 erupting in flames—all all three pilots were dead.

Dorothy (16 Feb 1920 – 3 Dec 1943)

Lt. Snyder (18 Sep 1921 – 3 Dec 1943 )

Lt. Young (21 Feb 1918 – 3 Dec 1943 )

RIP

WAFS/WASP Pilot Dorothy Scott

WAFS/WASP Pilot Dorothy Scott