Ann Griffin Gleszer
June 21, 1916 – July 7, 2011
Class: 44-W-9
Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.)
Assigned Bases: Cochran Army Air Field (Macon, Georgia)
Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6
“When I was 10 years old, Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic. He was my hero and model. Later on, Amelia Earhart showed me women could fly, too. When I was at the University of Connecticut, I saved all the money I could get for flying lessons. By the time the war broke out, I had graduated from the university and had my private flying license.”
Ann Gleszer from WASP Betty Turner’s “Out of the Blue and Into History”
Ann was a pioneering aviator, educator, and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Born in Columbia, Connecticut, to Frank and Catherine Golick, she earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Connecticut while also obtaining her private pilot’s license. She later worked as an air traffic controller at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
Following America’s entry into World War II, Ann joined the Army Air Forces’ WASP training program at Avenger Field, Texas. After seven months of flight training, she graduated with Class 44-W-9 and served as an engineering test pilot at Robbins Army Air Field in Macon, Georgia, flying BT-13 and AT-6 aircraft. Her wartime service shaped the rest of her life.
After the WASP program ended, Ann became a flight instructor and later a test pilot for aviation innovator Charles Kaman. In 1948, she was featured flying a Kaman K-125 helicopter in Life magazine.
Ann later married Thomas Griffin and lived in Switzerland with their two sons, becoming fluent in French and forming lifelong friendships. Returning to Connecticut, she taught French at Simsbury High School, where she organized student ski trips to Okemo Mountain, and later taught French and Spanish at Newtown High School until retiring in 1983.
Her second husband, Kenneth Gleszer, was a World War II Liberty ship radio communications officer, pilot, and flight instructor.
In 2010, Ann and her fellow WASP received the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of becoming the first women to fly American military aircraft during World War II. She also received the Connecticut Veterans Wartime Service Medal. Ann passed away in 2011, leaving a legacy of aviation, education, and trailblazing service that continues to inspire.
Sources:
Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas, WASP Collection
Fly Girls’ Post
WASP Final Flight
