Ann Ross Kary Anderson
March 6, 1920 – July 2, 1996
Class: 43-W-2
Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.)
Assigned Bases: Love Field (Dallas, Tex.)
Planes flown: AT-6, PT-19 and UC-78
Anna ‘‘Ann’’ Ross Kary Anderson was born in 1920 on her family’s homestead in Mellette County in South Dakota. Following high school, she attended the University of South Dakota. After her military service ‘‘Kary,’’ as she was known to her students, went on to instruct hundreds of future pilots and was one of the first female FAA inspectors. By the time she retired she had logged over 20,000 flight hours.
(From the 09-04-2010 Minot SD Daily News)
A former Minot pilot will be inducted in the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame in Spearfish, S.D., today. The late Anne Ross Anderson, who many knew as Kary Anderson when she lived in Minot, was born in 1920 in Mellette County, S.D., raised her family in Minot and gave flight instructions at the Minot airport for many years. In the 1940s, she was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, better known as WASPs, a distinguished group of female pilots who flew military aircraft during World War II. The female pilots flew noncombat missions so their male counterparts could be deployed for combat.
Anderson lived in Minot for 20 years, leaving in 1964 when she moved to Grand Forks where she taught ground school and flight instructions. She also was the first woman FAA inspector and was stationed in Grand Rapids, Mich. She also lived in California. She died July 2, 1996, in Idaho.
In March, Anderson and other WASPs were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian awards, for their outstanding service to this country. Patricia McBride, Anderson’s daughter of St. Paul, Minn., accepted the honor on behalf of her mother at the ceremony in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. McBride will be in Spearfish for the induction ceremony. McBride said the state of South Dakota this year dedicated Memorial Day in that state to the WASPs. The S.D. Aviation Hall of Fame was established to honor the pioneers and contributors to South Dakota aviation. “This has been a very thrilling and memorable year,” McBride said Thursday.
Sources:
Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas, WASP Collection
Findagrave.com
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE S10988
