| Show I American Women Pilots Helped Deliver Planes Which Enabled Red Armies to Launch Offensive That May Have Been Turning Point of the War I By nr ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released by Western Newspaper Union unton THIS IS is a story of the great JL 1 1944 summer offensive of the Red army which historians of the future may write down as the turning point of the war It Itis Itis Itis is the little-known little story of the contribution of a small group of American women to the success of that drive of the part they played in making it possible for forthe forthe forthe the determined Russians who had stopped the Nazi hordes at the ga gates tes of Moscow and Stalingrad Stalingrad Stalingrad Stal Stal- ingrad to push them back across the plains of White Russia and the mud of Poland to the very German border itself It is the story of the civilian women ferrying pilots of the Air Transport Commands Command's ferrying division a a. a skilled determined and courageous little group from among the members of the Women's Air Force Service pilots popularly known n as WASPs This story begins just about a year ago The Tho clouds of planes which I President Roosevelt had promised at al atthe atthe the beginning of the war and at al which our enemies had scoffed were rolling from American production production production tion lines Lend Lease was making these planes especially the fighter planes available to our allies the Russians But its it's a long ulong long trail from the factories of America to the Eastern front front it it winds from the Bell Aircraft factory in Niagara Falls N. N Y across the fertile Mississippi Mississippi Mis Mis- Mississippi Valley the Great Plains of the Vest West the Rocky mountains the wilds o of Canada and Alaska the steppes of Siberia and the Ural mountains to Moscow and then the I k rk U U ULU U How to get these fighter fighte planes to the Russian front front and and especially to deliver them in time for the great Russian offensive that offensive that was the question To fly them there seemed to be the logical way but fighters with their limited range must avoid long overwater flights An overland route was needed That need had been foreseen long before and the trail previously mentioned had already been established by the Air Transport commands command's ferrying division division divi divi- sion and its Alaskan division The War Var department accorded No 1 priority to the movement of American Amer Amer- ican jean planes to the Russian armies and the problem of getting them there was assigned to the A ATC TC ferrying fer fer- fer- fer division commanded by Brig Gen Bob E. E Nowland to its pilots and its groups As a matter of fact planes of many types were moved to 4 thE 10 k L. L u un t uy men pilots both American and andRU- andRU Rus Rus- sian But this story deals only w with th the fighter planes and the Women's Air Force Service pilots The ferrying divisions division's third ferrying ferrying fer fer- ferrying fer- fer group based at Romulus Mich was assigned the mission of ferrying the deadly fast from the Bell factory in Niagara Falls to Great Falls Mont where the Seventh Ferrying group took over for the delivery to the Russians Russians Russians Rus Rus- at Fairbanks and at Nome Name I 7 4 t c c j jL m l j L Barbara Donahue commanding officer of the WASP squadron of the Third Ferrying Group based at Romulus field Mich poses beside one of the nine Bell Ben which she delivered over the long Ulong long trail from Niagara Falls N. N Y to Great Falls Mont n a i 4 e c T k 7 4 L 3 BRIG GEN BOB E. E NOWLAND I I Then it became a question of manpower of availability of pilots to keep pace with the output of the production production production pro pro- lines To meet this emerI emergency emergency emer emer- gency geney the ferrying division decided decided ed to utilize the services of its qualified qualified fied fled and trained civilian women ferrying ferrying ferrying fer fer- fer- fer pilots on the domestic section of the long long trail Each male pilot released from the mile 1800 trip from Niagara Falls Fans to Great Falls simply meant one more male pilot for the long dangerous hop from Great Falls to Nome These women hadn't been flying fighter planes light ships had I been their assignments in the past but they had long experience hours in the air and with a short period of transition training they were ready for the task It wasn't a glamorous one The ferry pilot of the Army's Air Transport Transport Trans Trans- port Command is a working hard individual individual in in- individual in- in j who lives out of his B 4 bag spends long stretches of time I away from his home base flies long hours and encounters little of the glamour the heroics and the recognition recognition recognition that come to the combat pilot These Women's Air Force Service pilots were going to share that lot with the men So their story cantI cant can't I be one of glamour either Its It's merely merely merely mere mere- ly the record of a job well done By comparison with the number of I male pilots engaged in the operation the V WASPs ASPs were a small group But I Iby by comparison the job they did did equaled the performance of their male partners They delivered from Niagara to Great Falls sufficient planes to completely completely com corn I arm a half dozen Russian squadrons and they did such a I workmanlike inh iob flint r Ince rn rl rn I tio compares favorably favorably with ith th that t- t tf of f the men In fact only three Aira Aira- cobras obras leaving Niagara with a aV WASP V ASP at the controls failed to reach Great Falls The normal flying time from Niagara Niagara Niagara Ni Ni- agara to Falls is approximately approximate approximate- ly nine hours but the lapsed time on the average delivery probably is three times that great considering that the ferrying division demands almost perfect weather conditions for the operation of fighter aircraft and that winter through Minnesota the Dakotas and Montana and in inthe inthe inthe the Great Lakes region of the Middie Mid Mid- dle die West often is far below the minimum minimum minimum mini mini- mum required And when a delivery is completed ed from Niagara Falls to Great Falls the pilot must return to the Third Ferrying Group a hour 14 ride on the special provided provided provided pro pro- I vided by the military air transport section of the ferrying division for just that purpose Yet despite the ruggedness of the trip WASPs of the Third Ferrying group delivered Russia-bound Russia fighters fight fight- ers from Niagara to Great Falls in ina a single day delivered deliver d three planes in ten days which is a feat to equal the best performances of their male coworkers Barb Barbara ra Donahue commanding officer of the Third Ferrying group WASP detachment at Romulus paced the delivery of Russia-bound Russia fighters for her detachment with nine to her credit while WASP Mary C. C Johnson of the Third group ranked second in the list of individual al achievement with seven as her score V WASP ASP Ellen Grey is one of the few pilots who can boast of a one- one day delivery from Niagara to Great Falls a flight accomplished in eight hours and 18 minutes of actual time in the air and an elapsed time of approximately 11 hours Consider that five hours in the air is considered considered considered consid consid- ered a days day's work by the average fighter pilot and that the usual de do- I livery from Niagara to Great Falls is considered a two or three-day three job and you'll realize that Miss Grey to say the least was working overtime Three of the seven deliveries de do- liveries credited to toV V WASP ASP Mary C. C Johnson were made over a day 12 period period period-a a record cord of which any pilot pilot pi pilot pi- pi lot man or woman may well be proud when one considers the sheer physical exertion involved But while WASP Greys Grey's feat of making a one-day one delivery and WASP Johnsons Johnson's feat of three deliveries deliveries deliveries de de- de- de liveries in 12 days are outstanding examples of WASP performance they are not really unusual The records of the Third Ferrying group V WASP ASP detachment show that all of these women pilots are hardworking work hard ing and conscientious Theres There's Betty Betty Bet Bet- ty tv Archibald and Pat Dickerson with records of two deliveries in eight days There are Grace Burge and Virginia Claire with two deliveries each in 10 days And the chances are that it was weather which kept some of these girls from equaling the record of WASP Johnson When the movement started these women ferry pilots were not trusted as fly-alones fly on the long ulong long trail They were assigned as wing- wing men to experienced male pilots fa familiar familiar familiar fa- fa with the route But as they pained gained experience through hard work they were graduated to the fly alone class and now they take their turns flying alone still rushing planes to the Russians But the long long trail is not the only place in which the civilian women pilots of the Air Transport Commands Command's ferrying division have proved their worth in the two years since Mrs Nancy Harkness Love formed the first women's ferrying 4 4 t 1 fl 4 r aM G r rU U Mrs Lenore Louise McElroy operations operations operations op op- op- op officer of the V WASP ASP squadron squad squad- ron of the Third Ferrying Group at Romulus field Mich V WASP ASP McElroy roy recently made aviation history when she delivered a big Consolidated ed cd Catalina flying boat designated designated designated by the Navy as and by the Army as OA lOs at one of the aviation fields in this country It was the first time one of these big ships has ever been flown by a woman woman woman wom wom- an pilot Since then she has flown more than 80 hours in this t type pe of ship adding the time to her already impressive total of more than pilot hours squadron at the 2nd Ferrying Group base Wilmington Del on September Septem Septen-i- ber 10 1942 Since that date women pilots assigned assigned assigned as as- signed to the Ferrying Division have flown more than miles ferrying ferrying ferrying fer fer- fer- fer planes from factories to destinations destinations des des- within the United States Originally assigned only to light hason liaison liaison ha- ha son and training type planes they now are qualified to fly 68 different types of ships ranging from heavy four-engine four bombers down Of their number 16 per cent are qualified to fly class four planes such as the Billy Mitchell and Marauder medium bombers and 98 per cent have made deliveries in class three planes such as twin engine trans trans- ports But in the ferrying division emphasis is placed on the ferrying of lighter type planes and fighter planes and it is significant to note that 68 per cent of the women pilots in this division are now qualified fighter pilots ma making ing regular deliveries deliveries eries of Mustangs Thunderbolts and Of even greater significance is the fact that per cent of 01 these pilots hold army instrument ratings and andare andare andare are qualified to make cross country flights under weather conditions which require the use of m ments |
