[Clipping: WASP Memorial Fly-In] Part: 3 of 4

                                
AVENGER FIELD, SWEETWATER, TX

RUTH UNDERWOOD FLOREY             43-W-4   Odessa, Texas Ruth is a native Texan, born in Brownwood. While she was attending Daniel Baker College in Brownwood, she took
advantage of a Government sponsored Civilian Pilot Training program and earned her private pilot's license. She learned about the flying training program for women pilots at Sweetwater,
met all the entrance requirements. was accepted and spent the hot summer months of '43 in training at Avenger Field. After graduation, she reported to Camp Davis AAF, N.C., an anti-
aircraft artillery school. Ruth flew A-24s and A-25s, towing targets for live 90mm guns; flying night target towing; radar deception missions (dropping aluminum foil chaff) and low alti-
tude missions for anti-aircraft tracking guns. She was transferred to Liberty Field near Camp Stewart Army Air Field, Ga., spending 90 days being instructed and practicing in piloting
radio-controlled aircraft. After finishing that course, she was sent to Biggs Army Air Field, Tx., where she flew B-34s and B-26s in night searchlight missions, tracking missions for train-
ing anti-aircraft crews; radar tracking missions to train radio operators; radio controlled target flying, low altitude night missions and laying smoke screens. When the WASP were dis-
banded, Ruth married her long-time friend, a Skipper in the Navy. This great-grandmother and former avid golfer is a very active volunteer with the CAF in Midland/Odessa.
ODEAN 'DEANIE' BISHOP PARRSH 44-W-4 Waco, Texas Deanie grew up believing that 'nothing is impossible'. 63 years ago, she asked a primary cadet instructor why, just because
she was a girl, she couldn't learn to fly like the aviation cadets? He taught her to fly! When she heard about a program at Avenger Field to teach qualified young women pilots to fly military air-
craft, she applied and was accepted. She boarded a train in Florida and traveled to Sweetwater, where she trained for 7 months. When she graduated and became a WASP, she was assigned to
Greenville AFB, Miss as an engineering test pilot in BT-13s and UC-78s. She was transferred to Tyndall AFB, Fla., completed B-26 school and was retained as an air-to-air B-26 tow target pilot
to train combat gunners (using live ammunition). After the WASP were disbanded, Deanie married a career AAF B-29 pilot, raised 2 daughters and spent 5,000 hours as a hospital volunteer. In
1979, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Houston. Over two years ago, she and her daughter, Nancy, convinced the Sweetwater Rotary that the WASP deserved a museum
at Avenger Field. Impossible? She now serves on the Board of Directors of the National WASP WWII Museum and works full-time as the Assistant Director of Wings Across America. Recently
the Silver Wings Detachment of Arnold Air Society at Texas Christian University was named in her honor. Deanie still believes that 'With faith, nothing is impossible.'
FLORENCE G SHUTSY REYNOLDS 44-W-5            Connelsville, Pennsylvania 'HONOR! Remember, young lady, honor is your first consideration', were the words a young Florence
heard her dad say every time she walked out the front door of their Pennsylvania home. Her dad is gone now, but his words still 'ring' as true to her today as they did over 70 years
ago. While attending Penn State, Shutsy wanted to learn to fly, but she couldn't afford it. Her three siblings saved a percentage of what they earned each week and helped pay for her
flying lessons. When she received her private pilot's license, she was accepted into the flying training program for women pilots at Avenger Field. After training for seven months, she
graduated as a WASP and was sent to Merced Army Air Base in California as an engineering test pilot in the AT-6. When the WASP were disbanded, Shutsy moved to Alaska and worked
with the Army Air Communications Service, the Air Rescue Service, and the Weather Station. She was a Captain in the AF Reserves. She married and lived in the Panama Canal Zone
for 20 years, working and learning, among other things, the art of working with silver. She has spent the last seventeen years as an artist, craftsman and promoter for the WASP as the
Chairman of the WASP Stores. She designed and hand-made the first WASP flag, researched the history of the WASP wings and has recreated each different design in silver, Shutsy is
a talented silversmith, lapidarist, silk screener and airbrush artist.
ENID FISHER     43-W-6 Salem, Oregon Enid was born in Everett Washington. She always wanted to fly, even as a small child. Her parents promised her she could take flying lessons after
she graduated from college, but she didn't wait. While working as a model and hostess in a department gown shop, she applied for admission to the Government's Civilian Pilot Training pro-
gram, was accepted and learned to fly. She met and married a young Navy Ensign. After he left for overseas duty, with her private pilot's license in hand, she was accepted into the newly cre-
ated experimental flight training program for women pilots at Avenger Field. There she learned how to fly military aircraft 'the Army way'. After graduation, she was assigned as a ferry pilot
at Long Beach, Ca,, and completed pursuit school at Brownsville, Tx. She was soon ferrying P-39s, P-40s, P-47 and P-51s all across America. She delivered P-51s from the West Coast to the
East Coast for delivery to the European Theatre. She delivered P-63s, destined for Russia, from the New York plant to Great Falls, Montana. Since the WASP were not allowed to fly outside
the Continental U.S., AAF male pilots would then fly them to Alaska. Russian pilots would pick them up in Alaska and fly them on to Russia. After the WASP were disbanded, Enid earned
her Masters' in Education and became a teacher.
MARY PUTNAM VANDEVENTER             44-W-7   Leuders,Texas Out in West Texas, in a town called, Leuders, you will find Mary Vandeventer living in the same house in which she
was born, a charming two-story, with its turn-of-the-century architecture, just a couple blocks off Main Street. Her drama students, from her years of teaching 'Theatre' in the local high
school, can always find her there-ready to listen to their stories of success and to encourage them to 'take the next step'. Her duty to her country, first as a WASP trainee at Avenger Field
and then as an AT-6 tow target pilot, ferry pilot and administrative pilot at Moore Army Air Base in Mission, Texas, were just interruptions in the career she loved--'acting' and teaching
others to 'act' She attended SMU, graduated from Texas State College for Women, but she honed her talents for acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She was
a gifted actress and could have pursued a career in Los Angeles, but she felt that young people, no matter how small their school or how small their town, should be exposed to the same
dramatic situations.
DOT SWAIN LEWIS 44-W-5 Idlewild,California A little girl in North Carolina, who was barely thirteen, took her Sunday School money and paid for her first flying lesson. She earned
her instructor's rating and then taught at the Naval Aviation College in Portales, New Mexico. While flying for Piper Aircraft Co. she learned of the experimental flying program for women pilots
at Avenger Field. She was hired as a primary instructor. After a short time, she decided she wanted to fly the larger planes, so she resigned and became a trainee in the program, After graduation,
she was assigned to Columbus Army Air Field, Miss., flying AT-lOs, but was soon transferred to Laredo Army Air Base, Tx, a flexible gunnery school. Dot flew the P-40 and P-63 and towed tar-
Kgets with the B-26. After the WASP, Dot pursued other interests and careers, including 'stunt' flying as 'Miss Ophelia'. She had horses, an airplane, a ranch. was a FAA designated private and
commercial examiner, flight instructor and she still plays a 'mean' guitar, but her first love is art, which she taught for 26 years She used her artistic talents and did the illustrations for the book,
We Were WASP' for her dear friend, the author and WASP, Winnie Wood. Dot has created several pieces of art which will forever represent the WASP, including a WASP statue which will be
unveiled during the reception at the temporary National WASP WWII Museum at Avenger Field on May 27.
GRACE ASHWELL LOTOWYTZ 44-W-7             Boulder, Colorado Grace was born in Manhattan, Washington Square, New York. At an early age, she became interested in flying because
of the wonderful stories she heard about her uncle, who was a World War I pilot in Lafayette, Espadrille. She learned to fly, and when she heard about the WASP and the flying training
program in Sweetwater, she applied and was accepted. After successfully finishing the seven months of training at Avenger Field, she graduated and received her silver WASP wings. She
received orders to report to Minter Field in Bakersfield, California. Her assignments were varied, but she primarily flew as an engineering test pilot on the BT-13s, flight testing aircraft
after major overhauls, after repairs for damages to the airplane or after replacements of major elements of the aircraft. (The instructors and students were not allowed to fly airplanes that
came out of the maintenance hangar until it was flight tested and approved.) She also flew as an administrative pilot, taking personnel to other bases, and as a utility pilot, hauling cargo
that needed to be transported to another base. After the WASP were deactivated, she worked as a botanist at Planting Fields Aboreturn at a NY State Park and in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
JEANNETTE GAGNON G )OODR fM           43-W-8  Lake Oswego Oregon Born in Massachusetts and educated at the U of New Hampshire, Jeannette enrolled in the Government's Civilian
Pilot Training program when she was a college Senior-the only girl in the class. Much of the time she flew on skis. She became a teacher and Asst Dean at an Academy in Vermont and the next
year at Am. Univ. in Washington, D.C. While she was in Washingtofi,'he was accepted into the flying training pram for women pilots at Avenger Field. Following her graduation as a WASP,
she was assigned to Douglas AFB in Arizona, testing aircraft, slow-timing engines, ferrying mechanics to auxiliary fields, and transporting personnel. She flew all the advanced trainers, including
the AT-6, 17, 9, 11 and the UC-78. She became an Army Air Force pilot's wife, mother of two and a 2nd Lt in the Air Force. She was a teacher for 25 years, was the fifth woman in the U.S. to
be appointed to the National Ski Patrol, had a license to race sport cars in the Northwest Conference, earned a Master's in Counseling and Guidance and retired as Dean of Girls at a Junior High
School. After becoming a widow, Jeannette ran a successful business and has now retired to the Oregon coast, but she is still learning. Recently she enrolled in a four year Education for Ministry
program and went to England to attend the summer session in Religious Studies at Oxford University.
PEGGY PARKER ECCLES          44-W-4  Kalmath Falls, Oregon Peggy's Dad was a pilot and was her role model. When she entered Mills College at 16, it was her intent to head for
medical school. However, the college offered the Civilian Pilot Training program, and she was intrigued with the possibility of becoming a pilot like her Dad. When she was a Junior,
she entered the program, receiving her pilot's license when she was a Senior. After graduating from college, she applied for admission to the flying training program for women pilots at
Avenger Field. She was accepted and reported for training. Seven months later, she graduated and received her silver WASP wings. Her first assignment was to the Air Transport Command
at Romulus, Michigan, primarily ferrying B-24 aircraft to points of embarkation. She was transferred to the Alamagordo Army Air Base in New Mexico. where she flew as an administra-
tive pilot, using the airplane as a 'taxi' for flying four physicians from the University of New Mexico to Edwards Air Force Base in California and then on to Washington, D.C. and back
again. Peggy was required to carry a gun each time she transported those physicians, but she never knew what that 'hush-hush' mission was all about. When the WASP were disbanded,
Peggy continued to fly at the Palm Springs Airport, teaching flying and ferrying airplanes. Her life is filled with the happy laughter of seventeen grandchildren.
BETTY JUNE "BJ" BROWN 44-W-7 Skowhegan, Maine Her friends call this Iowa born WASP, Bee Jay. Her family moved to Michigan, where she attended school and gradu-
ated from high school. She got a job at General Motors, and became interested in flying when one of her fellow employees took her for a ride in his plane. She learned to fly, and by the
time she heard about an experimental flying training program for women pilots at Sweetwater, Texas, she had enough flying hours to apply. She was accepted and reported for training at
Avenger Field. When she graduated, she was assigned to Aloe Army Air Field in Victoria, Texas, which was a gunnery school. Bee Jay was assigned as an AT-6 pilot, towing targets for
cadet aerial gunnery practice. When the WASP were disbanded, she returned to her job at General Motors. She became co-owner of a plane, and flew many other small planes also. She
moved to Florida, where she met the man she married. Her love for the outdoors has taken her and her family on many trips, enjoying nature to the fullest---camping, fishing, whitewater
canoeing, wilderness trips, kayaking, taking floatplane flights and exploring the rivers from Colorado to Florida to Canada. Although the children are all grown-up and live elsewhere now,
Bee Jay and her husband enjoy living in Maine, where they still enjoy the rugged life in the 'North Country'.
MAXINE EDMONDSON FLOURNOY 43-W-8 Alice, Texas Maxine was born in the 'show me' State-Missouri. While a student at Joplin Junior College, she became interested in
flying. The college offered the Government sponsored Civilian Pilot Training program, and she became the one girl allowed in the class of ten students. After receiving her private pilot's
license, Maxine was accepted into the flying training program for women pilots at Avenger Field. She entered training, completed the program, graduated and became a WASP. She was
assigned as a navigational pilot at Hondo Army Air Field, Texas, flying C-45s to train cadet navigators. When the WASP were disbanded, she got a job as company pilot for two com-
panies. She soon married, but continued to fly for three years after marriage. When two of her daughters were in high school, they decided to learn to fly. Maxine secretly began taking
flying lessons again and soloed before either of them. She and her husband owned several different airplanes over the years, with Maxine as the pilot. President Carter appointed her to
the USO World Board, where she served for nine years. In 2004 one of the Texas CAF Squadrons changed its name to the 'Maxine Flournoy Gulf Coast Squadron' in her honor.

DOROTHY SMITH LUCAS           44-W-7   San Antonio, Texas Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Dorothy learned about the WASP flying training program while working in Washington, D. C.
She immediately began formulating plans to meet the flying requirements needed to be accepted into the program. She borrowed $200 and spent the summer learning how to fly. She was
not old enough to meet the age requirement, but when they eventually lowered that requirement, she mailed in her application. As she waited for a reply, she worked as a secretary, went to
George Washington University at night and flew on the week-ends. Her application was approved and she entered training at Avenger Field. While she was in training, her brother was killed
while serving his country overseas. It was very hard for her to keep flying, but she knew she must--for him. Several months later she graduated and received her silver WASP wings. She
was assigned to Moore Field in Mission, Texas as a tow target pilot in AT-6s, but she also flew as a ferry pilot for aircraft needed at other bases and as an administrative pilot. After the WASP
were disbanded, she married an Army Air Force pilot and became an Air Force wife until his retirement. She loves to share the history of the WASP with her 14 grandchildren and anyone
else who cares.
MILDRED JA NE A   i   JSL ( )R D IFLE  44 W-4 (Grand Rapids, lichigaim  As a young child, seeing 'Lucky' Lindbergh and 'Wrong Way' Corrigan tweaked this young girl's inter-
est in aviation. In high school, Jane's music teacher (a pilot in the 20s) kept that interest alive. While attending Grand Rapids Community College, she entered the Government's Civilian
Pilot Training program and got her private pilot's license, but when she attended the U of Michigan, no girls were allowed in the advanced CPT program, so she flew as a member of the
Civil Air Patrol. Jane played the French horn in the U of Michigan's Marching Band, and was one of the first female members allowed to wear slacks! She finished college in the summer
of '43 so she could enter the flying training program for women pilots at Avenger in the fall. After training for seven months, she graduated and was assigned to Freeman Field in Seymour,
Indiana as a maintenance test pilot on AT-10s. There she met and married a young AAF Major, who was a fellow pilot. After her children went away to college, she was a teacher's aide
for visually impaired children for several years and began painting in water-colors, which had always been her passion. She is a very successful. professional artist.
HETTY JO ,It hTM     LI IL      \ . -  Corinth, Texas  Betty Jo grew up in Texas with a Dad who would read her newspaper articles about Lindberg and drive the family to places
where aviators were performing in 'barnstorming' shows. She took her first ride in a Ford tri-motor at an air show, and she knew that was what she wanted to do-BE THE PILOT! After
WWII was declared, Betty Jo, took the money she was making at Marshall Fields and spent it on flying lessons. Her first lesson was on skis. While working for Douglas Aircraft, she
learned about the WASP. She asked for a release from Douglas (which was an 'essential' war-time employer), applied for WASP training and was accepted. After training for seven months
at Avenger, she graduated and was assigned to Columbus Army Air Field, Miss. She flew AT-10s and BT-13s as an engineering test pilot, ferry pilot and administrative pilot. After the
WASP were disbanded, she returned to work at Douglas, a C-54 plant. In her job, she was given the opportunity to fly as a co-pilot on the C-54 and was eventually able to 'check out' in it.
After she married, she owned and flew many different types of airplanes as a part of her husband's business. After he retired, they sold all of their airplanes. She was a docent at an air-
craft museum in Tucson for many years, and has continued to be involved with aviation as an active member of the Commemorative Air Force.
LORRAIN NELSON BAIN 44-W-5 Chireno, Texas Lorraine was born under the 'big sky' of Montana. Her interest in flying began after finishing high school, while working to
save money for nurses' training. She and her brother went for a ride one Sunday afternoon with coyote hunters who were trying to attract a crowd. The ride she got convinced her that
she should spend her savings on flying lessons. She got her private pilot's license, and when the experimental flying training program for women pilots at Avenger Field became available.
she applied and was eventually accepted. After she graduated, she was stationed at Pecos Army Air Base in Texas, a basic training base. She flew as an engineering test pilot on the AT-6
and as an administrative pilot in the UC-78. Following the deactivation of the WASP, Lorraine completed a course in CAA Link trainer. She then worked as a Link trainer instructor in
Alaska for several years before marrying a career Air Force pilot and Ex-POW. After retirement, they settled down on a farm in East Texas and love living in the country under the bi
Texas sky!
[he mission of the National WASP WWII Museum: to educate and inspire generations with the history of the first women to fly America's military aircraft and who forever
changed the role of women in aviation: the Women airforce Service Piltos (WASP) of WWII. Read more about it at WASP on the WEB: http://www.wasp-wwii.org.