Take a closer look at the lives and accomplishments of some of the WASP. New profiles are added regularly and will grow as the staff and volunteer of the CAF RISE ABOVE continue their tireless efforts to research and share the remarkable stories of these important American figures.
Marie Michell Robinson May 23, 1924 – October 2, 1944 Class 44-W-2 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, in September, 1943 Graduated: March 11, 1944 Training location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assignments:
Verneda G. Rodriguez McLean January 11, 1918 – March 19, 1982 Class 44-W-6 Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, C-45, UC-78 Assigned bases: Moore Army Air Base (Mission, Tex.) Verneda G. Rodriguez McLean was an American aviator and served
Barbara Donahue Ross March 25, 1920 – August 21, 2010 Class: WAFS Training Location: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: L-5, PT-17, P-39, P-40, P-47, P-63, C-47, A-20 Assigned bases: New Castle
Mary Eleanor Martin Sabota Class 44-W-3 February 5, 1918 – November 23, 1999 Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, AT-10, B-25, B-26, P-40 ,P-63 Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned bases: Dodge City Army Air
Adela “Del” Riek Scharr August 10, 1907 – March 11, 1998 Class: WAFS Training Location: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, AT-9, P-39 Assigned bases: New Castle Army Air
Dorothy E. Scott February 16, 1920 – December 3, 1943 WAFS “The Originals” October, 1942, Dorothy Scott was hired as a ferry pilot in the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of the Air Transport Command. On
Bettie Mae Scott (A) July 26, 1921 – July 8, 1944 Class: 44-W-3 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, October, 1943 Graduated: April 15, 1944 Training location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.)
Margaret June “Peggy” Seip June 24, 1916 – August 30, 1943 Class 43-W-5 Training Location Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Margaret Seip was a trainee killed in an accident on August 30, 1943 with her instructor Calvin
Helen Jo Anderson Severson November 2, 1918 – August 30, 1943 Class 43-W-5 Training location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) April 6, 1943 Fun fact: Number of Trainees: 124 trainees, 85 graduates. This was the first class
Dawn Seymour Class 43-W-5 “I wanted to serve my country in a very active way.”- Dawn Seymour Dawn Seymour graduated Cornell University in the Class of 1939. She was 22 years old, and while she
Marie Ethel Cihler Sharon (A) April 21, 1917 – April 10, 1944 Class 43-W-4 Entered Army Air Force flight training: February 14, 1943 at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas Graduated: August 7, 1943 Training location: Houston
Evelyn Sharp (A) October 1, 1919 – April 3, 1944 WAFS “The Originals” October, 1942, Evelyn Sharp was hired as a ferry pilot in the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of the Air Transport Command. On
Barbara “Puddles” Poole Shoemaker January 28, 1917 – September 23, 2008 Class: WAFS, The Originals Training Location: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: PT-19, PT-26, AT-6, AT-17, B-24, C-47, P-38, P-39, P-47, P-51,
Dorothy Fulton Slinn October 14, 1918 – February 11, 1985 Class: WAFS Training Location: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: PT-19, PT-26, BT-13, AT-6, A-20, B-25, B-26, C-47, P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47,
Elizabeth “Betty” Whitlow Smith December 29, 1920 -June 16, 2011 Class: 43-W-2 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) Planes flown: B-24, P-40, P-47, P-51,, PT-19, BT-15, AT-6, PT-17, A-24 Assigned bases: Love Field (Dallas, Tex.)
Nancy E. Nesbit Staples April 10, 1921 – November 10, 2006 Class: 43-W-4 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) and Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Planes flown: PT-19, AT-11, B-34, B-25, C-45, C-47, C-53, UC-78 Assigned
Alice Jean May Starr July 17, 1920 – June 28, 2023 Class: 43-W-4 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) and Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned Bases: Romulus Army Air Base (Mich.) Planes flown: B-25, C-47,
Betty Pauline Stine September 13, 1921 – February 25, 1944 Class: 44-W-2 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, September, 1943 Betty was born in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. She attended
Elizabeth “Betty” Wall Strohfus WASP, Class 44-W-1 “But what I loved was that the planes I flew never asked if you were a man or a woman; they flew just as well for me as
Dora Dougherty Strother November 27, 1921- November 19, 2013 Class: 43-W-3 Planes flown: AT-6, AT-11, A-24, A-25, BT-13, B-25, B-34, B-17, B-29, PT-19, PQ-8, L-4, L-5 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) and Avenger Field
Mary Jean Barnes Sturdevant September 28, 1921 – June 24, 2017 Class: 44-W-7 Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned Bases: Merced Army Air Field (Calif.) Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6 Mary Barnes Sturdevant was
Margaret Phelan Taylor WASP Class 44-W-5 September 20, 1923 – July 1, 2015 Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, AT-11 Base assigned: Stockton Army Air Base (Calif.) “I learned to fly to be able to join the
Shirley Slade Teer Class 43-W-5 April 4, 1921 – April 26, 2000 Planes flown: B-26, B-29 Assigned bases: Love Field (Dallas, Tex.) Dodge City Army Air Base (Kan.) Harlingen Army Air Field (Tex.)
Alta Corbett Thomas May 26, 1918- August 28, 2017 Class: 43-W-4 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) and Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned Bases: Camp Davis Army Air Field (N.C.) and Liberty Field/Camp Stewart Army
Marion R. Tibbetts January 5, 1915 – Nov. 28, 2001 Class 43-W-6 Planes flown: PT-19, BT-13, AT-6, B-24, C-47, UC-78 Assigned bases:Romulus Army Air Base (Mich.) and Greenville Army Air Base (Greenville, Miss.) Born January
Marian J. Toevs May 13, 1917 – February 18, 1944 Class: 43-W-8 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, July 10, 1943 Graduated: December 17, 1943 Assignment: Engineering test pilot Assigned bases:
Gertrude ‘Tommy’ Tompkins-Silver October 16, 1911 – disappeared October 26, 1944Class: 43-W-7Graduated: November 13, 1943Assignment: Ferry pilotAssigned bases: Love Field (Dallas, Tex.) and Pecos Army Air Base (Tex.)Planes flown: AT-6, AT-17, UC-78 Gertrude Tompkins Silver was
Mary Elizabeth Trebing December 31, 1920 – November 7, 1943 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, February 21, 1943 and training at Houston Municipal Airport, Texas Graduated: August 7, 1943 Assignment:
Margaret Ann Hamilton Tunner September 3, 1917 – October 13, 2009 Class: 43-W-2 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) Assigned Bases: Romulus Army Air Base (Mich.) Planes flown: P-47, P-51, P40, P-63, P-39, DC-3, B-17,
Florene Miller Watson December 7, l920 – February 4, 2014 Class: WAFS ”The Originals” Training Location: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: PT-19, BT-13, AT-6, P-38, P-40, P-51, P-63 Assigned bases: New
Mary Louise Webster June 30, 1919 – December 9, 1944 Class: 44-W-8 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, March, 1944 Graduated: October 16, 1944 Assignment: Administrative pilot, Engineering test pilot Assigned
Bonnie Jean Alloway Welz (A) June 22, 1918 – June 29, 1944 Class: 43-W-6 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, April 25, 1943 Graduated: October 9, 1943 Assignments: Tow target pilot,
Esther Manning Rathsfelder Shively Westervelt September 6, 1914 – December 1975 Class: WAFS Training Location: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: PT-19, PT-26, BT-13, AT-6, AT-17, AT-9, C-47, C-60, P-38, P-40, P-47,
Lucile Doll Wise August 1, 1920 – August 2, 2018 Class W-43-7 Planes flown: AT-11, B-25, C-45, C-60, UC-78 Assigned bases: Asheville Weather Wing HQ, (AACS) (N.C.) Kansas City, 23rd Weather Region HQ (Kan.) “Jacqueline
Rita Edna Murphy Wishchmeyer October 2, 1921 – May 3, 2015 Class: 44-W-3 Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6 Assigned bases: Dodge City Army Air Base (Kan.) and Craig Army
Virginia “Ginny” Hill Wood Oct. 24, 1917 – March 8, 2013 Class 43-W-4 Planes flown: BT-13, AT-6, B-25, B-17, P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47, P-51, P-61, P-63 Bases assigned: Long Beach Army Air Base (Calif.) Virginia
Betty Taylor Wood March 1921 – September 23, 1943 Class: 43-W-4 Entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, February 14, 1943 and at Houston Municipal Airport, Texas Graduated: August 7, 1943 Assignment:
Lillian “Jay” Glezen Wray Dec. 9, 1913 – August 4, 2013 Class: 44-W-9 Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, PT-19 Assigned bases: Goodfellow Army Air Field (San Angelo, Tex.) During
Mary Anna “Marty” Martin Wyall January 24, 1922 – March 9, 2017 Class: 44-W-10 Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned Bases: Goodfellow Army Air Field (San Angelo, Tex.) Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, PT-19
Frankie Inez Yearwood July 10, 1921- May 30, 2010 Class 44-W-10 Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13. AT-6 Assigned bases: Foster Army Air Field (Victoria, Tex.) Frankie Inez Yearwood was, quite literally, the last WASP on record. A