| Show american women pilots helped deliver planes which enabled red armies to launch offensive that may have been turning point of the war J by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper union HIS is a story of the great t T 1 1944 summer offensive of the red army which historians ot of the future may write down as the turning point of the war it is the little known story of the contribution of a small group oi of american women to the success of that drive of the part they played in making it possible for the determined russians who had ad stopped the nazi hordes at the gates of moscow and st stal ell 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 ferrying division a skilled determined and courageous little group from among the members of the air force service pilots popularly known as WASPs this story begins just about a year ago the clouds of planes which president roosevelt had promised at the beginning of the war and at which our enemies had scoffed were rolling from american production lines lend lease was making these planes especially the fighter planes available to our allies the russians but its a long long trail from the factories of america to the eastern front it winds from the bell aircraft factory in niagara falls N Y across the fertile mississippi sis sippi valley the great plains of the west the rocky mountains the wilds of canada and alaska the steppes of siberia and the ural me mountains to moscow and then the eastern aas tern fighting front how to get these fighter planes to the russian front and especially to deliver them in time for the great russian 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 ferrying division and its alaskan division the war department accorded no I 1 priority to the movement of american planes to the russian armies and the problem of getting them there was assigned to the ATC ferrying division commanded by bri brig 9 gen bob E nowland to its pilots and its groups As a matter of fact planes of many types were moved to the fighting fronts taken there by men pilots both american and russian but this story deals only with the fighter planes and the air force service pilots the ferrying divisions third ferrying group based at rom romulus ulus mich was assigned the mission of ferrying the deadly fast Aira cobra from the bell factory in niagara falls to great falls mont where the seventh ferrying group took over for the delivery to the russians at fairbanks and at nome C L i x I 1 tl 1 I 1 1 I L M agns as nS barbara donahue commanding officer of the WASP squadron of the third ferrying group based at romulus field mich poses beside one ol of the nine bell which she delivered over the long long trails trail fro from niagara falls N Y to great falls mont is iba ITIL ir t wu I 1 V X 7 l 1 B BRIG R IG GEN BOB E E NO WL AN 1 then it became a question of manpower of availability of pilots to keep pace with the output of the production lines to meet this emergency the ferrying division decided to utilize the services of its qualified and trained civilian women ferrying pilots on the domestic section of the long long trail each male pilot released from the 1800 mile trip from niagara falls to great falls simply meant one more male pilot for the long dangerous hop from great falls to nome these women been flying fighter planes I 1 light ships had been their assignments in the past I 1 I 1 but they had long experience hours in the air and with a short period of transition training they were ready for the task it a glamorous one the ferry pilot of the ardys air transport command is a hardworking hard working individual who lives out of his B 4 bag spends long stretches of time away from his home base flies long hours and encounters little of the glamour the heroics and the recognition that come to the combat pilot these air force service pilots were going to share that lot with the the men so their story cant be one of glamour either its merely the record of a job well done by comparison with the number of male pilots engaged in the operation the WASPs were a small group but by comparison the job they did equaled the performance of their male partners they delivered from niagara to great falls sufficient planes to completely arm a half dozen russian squadrons and they did such a workmanlike job that their loss ratio compares favorably with that of the men in fact only three aira cobras cabras leaving niagara with a WASP at the controls failed to reach great falls the normal flying time from niagara to great falls is approximately nine hours but the lapsed time on the average delivery probably is three times that great con considering t 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 the great lakes region of the middle dle west often is far below the minimum required and when a delivery is completed from niagara falls to great falls the pilot must return to the third ferrying group a 14 hour ride on the special crew liners provided 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 fighters from niagara to great falls in a single day delivered three planes in ten days which is a feat to equal the best performances of their male coworkers barbara donahue commanding officer of the third ferrying group WASP detachment at romulus paced the delivery of russia bound fighters for her detachment with nine to her credit while WASP mary C johnson of the third group grou P ranked second in the list of individual achievement with seven as her score WASP ellen grey is one of the few pilots who can boast of a 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 ol of approximately 11 II hours consider that five hours in the air is considered a days work by the average fighter pilot and that the usual de livery from niagara to great falls is is considered a two or three day job and realize that miss grey to say the least was borki working na overtime three of the seven deliveries li credited to WASP mary C johnson were made over a 12 day period a record of which any pilot man or woman may well be proud when one considers the sheer physical exertion involved but while WASP greys teat feat of making a one day delivery and WASP johnsons feat of three deliveries li in 12 days are outstanding examples of WASP performance they are not really unusual the records of the third ferrying group WASP detachment detach men t show that all of these women pilots are hard work ing and conscientious theres betty 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 on the long long trail they were assigned as to experienced male pilots familiar 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 ferrying division have p proved roved their worth in the two years since mrs nancy harkness love formed the first ferrying V JV J V I 1 V diw 17 aali mrs lenore louise mcelroy operations erat ions officer of the WASP squadron of the third ferrying group at romulus field midi mich WASP mcelroy recently made aviation history when she delivered a big consolidated catalina flying boat 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 pilot since then she has flown more than 80 hours in this type of ship adding the time to her already impressive total of more than pi pilot lot hours squadron at the 2nd and ferrying group base wilmington del on september 10 1942 since that date women pilots assigned to the ferrying division ha have v L flown more than miles fe ferrying r planes from factories to destinations ti within the united states originally assigned only to light liaison and training type planes they now are qualified to fly 68 different diffene nt types of ships ranging fro from rn heavy four engine 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 transports but in the ferrying division emphasis is placed on the ferrying of lighter type planes and fighter planes and it t is significant to note that hat 68 per cent of the women pilots in this division are now qualified fighter pilots making regular delav eries 18 1 of l mustangs thunderbolts h and War hawks of even greater significance is the fact that per cent of these pilots hold army instrument ratings and are qualified to make cross country flights under weather conditions which require the use of inspru ments |
