[Flying Beauty Keeps Shine] Page: 3 of 8
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which young pilot trainees could earn their wings.
Although there were equal numbers of both Fairchilds and Stearmans built in the 1930s and '40s, Stearmans
outnumber the Fairchild about 10 to 1.
"I think about 7,000 of each kind of plane were made, but the Stearman was used for crop-dusting after the war.
There was no real use for the Fairchild, and since it's mostly wooden, if it wasn't hangared, it deteriorated quickly,"
Johnson said. There may be as few as 250 of the old trainers in existence today.
As time marches on, the number of remaining WASPs dwindles, too. Thanks to e"orts like the WASP museum, the
role they played in America's war e"ort is starting to be recognized, but they're largely still underappreciated as a
group, Johnson said. "It's hard to put an exact value on the WASPs contribution. But, how many male pilots did
they free up to go fight overseas, who otherwise would have been stuck here ferrying planes around or training
pilots," Johnson said. "I don't think you can overstate what they meant to the war e"ort."
Johnson's plane features a painting of Fifinella - a helpful female "gremlin" who aided pilots - on one side of the
engine cowling, and a large number "87" on the other.
"That's the 'Buzz Num-ber,' " Johnson explained. "If any cadet decided to fly low and buzz his girlfriend's house or
something, the numbers would be large enough to read from the ground, and the pilot could be reported."
But surely none of the upstanding young women stationed at Avenger Field - those women daring enough to
volunteer to move to the middle of nowhere, to learn the 'masculine' art of flying at a time when women were far
from treated as equals -- surely none of those women would ever dream of buzzing a home or building, would
they?
With a knowing look that perhaps suggested otherwise, Johnson answered.
"Surely not."http://abilenereporternews.tx.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/check6929/php-script/fu.. 5/25/2012
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Kendall-Ball, Greg. [Flying Beauty Keeps Shine], article, May 25, 2012; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1076919/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.