MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

--and it will be here SOON.

In the meantime, we've updated the EVENTS page. PLEASE visit to see if something fun is happening in your area--and then GO!

These special events celebrate the WASP, Military Aviation, and veterans across the USA.

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HELP WINGS ACROSS AMERICA AND WASP ON THE WEB
CONTINUE TO FLY HIGH

If you have not considered a tax deductible gift to Wings Across America, please do. Gifts may be made to Baylor University--for WINGS ACROSS AMERICA--to help us GROW our website, travel the Flygirls of WWII Exhibit, and continue to explore new ways to share the exciting history of the WASP.

Online since 1996 -- beginning with "YAHOO PICK OF THE WEEK" our website now has over 2,000 pages and reaches MILLIONS of visitors all over the world, inspiring them with the unique and colorful history of the WASP of WWII.

We have traveled this far on a wing and a prayer--one step, one story, one WASP at a time. We need your help. Your gift will make a difference.

THANKS for your support!

God bless you all,

Nancy Parrish, Director
Wings Across America
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LIVING LIFE ON THE ‘ RAGGED EDGE’

Wichita Falls, TX - February 8, 2008 - When she was 6 years-old, Jill Long, (EAA 721591) was at an air show and remembers telling her mother that someday she would perform in the sky.

“You can’t do that,” said a man who overheard. “You’re a girl.”

“How dare you tell her that!” Long’s mother responded. “She can do anything she wants to do.”

And Long has done just that.
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READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE on this extraordinary AIR FORCE PILOT, who happens to be a female!

See JILL on VIDEO!



Visit Jill's website


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FEBRUARY 16, 2008
Fort Wayne, IN Museum of ARTS Presents:

Girl’s Can’t Be Pilots: The Story of Margaret J. Ringenberg
Saturday, February 16
2PM
FREE

Margaret Ringenberg began her aviation career in 1943 during World War II when she became a ferry pilot with the Women’s Air Force Service Pilot (WASP). Although WASP pilots were not allowed to fly combat missions, they completed dangerous and important missions. The WASP disbanded in 1944 and Ringenberg went on to become a flight instructor. In total, she has logged over 40,000 hours of flight time and continues to race today, even completing the 'Round-the-World' Air Race in 1994 at the age of 72.

Click to read blog.

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WAI Honors Pioneer Hall of Fame Inductees For 2008
Five New Members To Be Inducted In March

Women in Aviation, International will welcome five new inductees into its Pioneer Hall of Fame during the closing banquet at the 19th annual Women in Aviation, International Conference in San Diego, CA. The Conference will be held from March 13-15, 2008.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

CONGRATULATIONS TO WASP MARGARET RINGINBERG, MICHELLE MALACHOWSKI, NANCY HARKNESS LOVE AND JERRIE MONK !
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NEW WASP EAA VIDEO CLIPS ONLINE
From the EAA



WASP ETHEL FINLEY
WASP DOT SWAIN
WASP B.J. BROWN
WASP JEAN MC CREERY
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WASP Evelyn Pinkert "Pinky" Brier, 44-W-9

Aviation pioneer Evelyn Pinkert 'Pinky' Brier

Evelyn Pinckert "Pinky’" Brier, a San Bernardino aviation pioneer who owned Tri-City Airport for more than 40 years, died Sunday at Redlands Community Hospital.

Brier, who was 98, died of pneumonia, according to officials at Montecito Memorial Park, which is handling her funeral.

PHOTO: Evelyn 'Pinky' Brier gets kissed by the mayor in 1938. Pinky flew the first air mail letter from Redlands. (A.K. Smiley Public Library)

Brier was the first American woman licensed as a flight and aerobatics instructor and was invited to join the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS) during World War II. She holds the record for the most take-offs and landings at Los Angeles International Airport.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Valley View Chapel, Montecito Memorial Park, 3520 E. Washington St., Colton. Interment will follow in the park.

(PLEASE CLICK FOR MORE COMPLETE STORY OF PINKY AND HER FLYING CAREER)

additional link to PINKY BRIER--OBITUARY ONLINE --San Bernadino Sun
additional link to PINKY BRIER--OBITUARY--SAN BERNADINO Press Enterprise

FLYGIRLS OF WWII -- An Exciting Way to Learn About the WASP

Waco, Texas. The Mayborn Museum Complex has extended Wings Across America's "Flygirls of WWII" exhibit until April 1, 2008.

This exciting exhibit, now on display in the Baylor area of the museum, has been an overwhelming success!

Since opening on September 15, 2007, "FLYGIRLS OF WWII" has been a resounding success, sharing the history of the Women Airforce Service Pilots with visitors from all over the world!

Here are just some of the locations from whence they came, as indicated in the Flygirls guest book:

Pine Hill, NJ
Rochester, NY
Beijing, China
Bradfield, Essex, Great Britain
Ft. Myers, FL
Denver, CO
Phoenix, AZ
Hyeres, France
Tucson, AZ
Louisville, KY
Indianapolis, IN
White Plains, NY
Overland Park, KS
Sioux Falls, SD
Perris, CA
Robertsville, MO
Athens, Oh
Canteusight, OK
Waialua, Hawaii
Havelock, NC
Australia
Broken Arrow, OK
Fairfax, VA
Fairbanks, AK
Silver City, NM
Navarre, FL
Countain, CO
Albany, NY
Dixon, CA
Twin Lake, MI
Santa Rosa, CA
Bailey, CO
Bagdad, KY
Ft. Myers, FL
Ripley, TN
Lake Charles, LA
Michoacán, Mexico
Park City, UT
Kuala Lemur, Malaysia
Wellington, New Zealand
Los Angeles, CA
Forest Lake, MN
Tilden, IL
Ina, IL
Brentwood, TN
Antioch, IL
Jonesboro, GA.

Of course, this doesn't include WASP visitors—from Marietta, Ohio; Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Denver, CO, Methuen, MA; South Lake, TX; Weatherford, TX; Ft. Wayne, IN; and Wichita Falls, TX. It also doesn't include visitors from more than 60 Texas cities. Of course, the numbers, the cities, the countries and the comments increase daily as this museum receives more than 100,000 visitors each year.

The guestbook at the exhibit has been filled with such encouraging words that are not only about the exhibit, they are about the WASP and their INSPIRATIONAL HISTORY:

"An inspiration to pilots everywhere" Betty Williamson

"I admire all the work you've done to educate people about the WASP. Thank you for sharing!" Maggie Ellor

"Another reason to be proud I was in the USAF!" Cathy Bohme

"Awesome. Their history should be taught in all schools!" Lillian & Joseph Ozun

"A very impressive display. You surpassed the WASP display at the Smithsonian." Megan Lotzenhiser

"A special thanks to the women who paved the path that all women pilots now walk" Lt. Col. Jill Long, USAF

"This exhibit rocks. The WASP were amazing!" Liz Price & Amanda Riordau,

"Thank you people who saved us" Bailey Stiff

"Magnifique" Evelyne Guinn, Hyeres, France

"Wonderful exhibit" Alice Dollahan, Retired USAF MSGT.

"In a world full of bad examples set for girls, these ladies are true heroines & icons!" Sonya Maness

"Invaluable for daughter's honors history project." Hinton family

"Way to go. I'm honored to visit this site" Catherine Moore

(Plus: These words appear MANY TIMES throughout the comments) "Awesome, great, amazing, sweet, impressive, outstanding, inspirational, informative, marvelous, wonderful, fascinating, superb, cool, Kool, wow, wowee!"

The Mayborn Museum Complex is open daily. MAKE PLANS to visit the exhibit before its too late!

ON A WING AND A PRAYER

Great article on Wings Across America that appeared in the November 07 issue of "THE WACOAN" magazine is now online as a pdf. For those of you who have wondered about who we are and why we do what we do, I encourage you to read "On a Wing and a Prayer."

Special thanks to writer Lynn Bulmahn and Executive Editor, Michelle Johnson.

Girl Scouts Visit the FLYGIRLS OF WWII Exhibit

The Central Texas Bluebonnet Council Girl Scouts visited the Mayborn Museum Complex at Baylor University on Saturday, January 12.

According to Mayborn Museum Weekend Education Coordinator, Cathey Trankovich, the Girl Scouts "special treat" was to meet a real live WASP and tour the Flygirls of WWII Exhibit.

Their personal tour guide was Associate Director of Wings Across America, WASP Deanie Parrish. "I want you all to know I'm so proud of each of you for being Girl Scouts," she said, "and guess what, over 65 years ago, I was a Girl Scout, too."

Parrish went on to say, "The one thing I remember learning from the Girl Scouts was about honor, and if you remember nothing else, I hope you will remember that."

The WASP was touched when, after the tour, one of the young girl scouts looked up and whispered, "you are my role model."

Days like this one are rewarding, indeed, as Wings Across America continues on their mission, to share the inspirational history of the WASP with generations.

To see photos of ALL the troops, click on the TITLE above.

Stay tuned for more news from WINGS ACROSS AMERICA.

WASP Betty Jane Williams --LA Times feature article

Betty Jane Williams took risks and pursued dreams during her long career in aviation. Now she working to establish a North Hills campus museum.

By Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 8, 2008



Betty Jane Williams never crashes and burns.

She was unshakable the time the DC-3 she was working on as a flight attendant was struck by lightning and then dropped 1,000 feet, sending passengers -- and their lunches -- hurling all over the cabin.

She didn't bat an eye when she was a World War II WASP pilot test-flying a supposedly repaired Army plane when its still-damaged wings sent it into a spin and then into a 9,500-foot dive. It ended only when she pulled its nose up while 500 feet from the ground.

And now the 88-year-old Williams is unfazed as she sorts through books and memorabilia and searches for a vintage airplane to convert into a mobile museum.

Plans for the unusual aviation exhibition are scheduled to be announced Wednesday at James Monroe High School in North Hills, where a permanent aviation and aerospace library is being established, starting out with some of Williams' own keepsakes.

Williams envisions taking an old DC-3 or similar plane, removing its wings and mounting it on a trailer that can be moved to middle and high school campuses and to career fairs.

The plane's interior would be remodeled to showcase displays that trace the history of aviation and aerospace exploration from Kitty Hawk to Mars and beyond.

"We'll let the kids sit in the cockpit and get the feel of the plane. It will be fabulous," Williams said Monday at her Woodland Hills home, which is filled with trophies from her own life in aviation.

Her love for flying started when she was a teenager in her native Pennsylvania. One day she saw a barnstorming pilot grab a fluttering handkerchief as he flew his plane upside down a few feet off the ground.

"I told my father I wanted to do that," she said. "But it was 1939 and we didn't have any money. One day Daddy saw something in the paper about a government training program for pilots, so I signed up -- me and 50 guys."

Williams was a private pilot for about a year before she joined tiny Canadian Colonial Airways as a flight attendant. That's when the 1942 jolt from above struck.

"We got hit by a bolt of lightning and we dropped a thousand feet without warning," she said. "I was tossed over three seats and landed in the lap of a passenger. Everybody on the plane, including the pilot and co-pilot, was throwing up."

It was an era when flight crew members didn't order passengers to fasten their seat belts. They politely offered, instead, "to help with the belts," Williams said.

"Back in those days stewardesses were like Miss America on the runways. The seams on our hose had to be perfect. We treated passengers like they were guests in our living room."

Williams returned to the cockpit after the outbreak of World War II. She joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots as a test pilot.

"I'd fly wrecked planes that had been repaired to make sure they were airworthy," Williams said. That's where she had her spiral-and-dive incident, high above San Antonio.

"It was an AT-6, a basic trainer, and the maintenance crew asked me when we were walking around the plane before takeoff what kind of flowers I wanted" at the funeral, she said. The ground crew watched in horror as the plane plummeted before Williams managed to pull up "without ripping the wings off."

"Those creepy crew chiefs never bought me those flowers," she laughed Monday.

Williams was a commercial pilot and flight instructor and created network television's first aviation show for CBS after the war. Later she worked for North American Aviation and then, for 20 years, at Lockheed Aircraft as a technical writer and in-house filmmaker.

She linked up with Monroe High last year after reading a newspaper story about the school's engineering and design program and its involvement with several dozen companies through the San Fernando Valley Aviation-Aerospace Collaborative.

Would the school like to have some of her hundreds of books, photographs and paintings? she asked.

Monroe High engineering teacher Lewis Chappelear suggested permanently installing an actual plane on the Haskell Avenue campus to draw attention to the collection.

"But we talked to the administration and they said that would take years," said Chappelear, 35, of Sherman Oaks. "So we thought, let's make it mobile and then we don't need to get all the permits. And it can be shared with other schools and career fairs and the Van Nuys Airport."

Chappelear said he and Williams have envisioned engineering students traveling with the plane museum and discussing aviation careers with other youngsters.

"When kids are in a teaching role is when education comes alive and they really learn," said Chappelear -- who last year was named one of five California Teachers of the Year for 2008. It was announced early today that he's one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year.

He said he has no doubt that Williams' DC-3 plan will get off the ground.

Neither does Williams.

"They're out there. And it doesn't have to be a DC-3," she said. Just something with a fuselage big enough to hold aviation displays and a look that is sleek enough to capture teenagers' fancy.

Her goal, she said, is to have the mobile museum on the road by her 90th birthday on April 2, 2009.

"Southern California is the birthplace of so much aviation. I want children to get the same passion for it that I have," Williams said.

"This is so exciting. I feel like I'm 30 years old again."

bob.pool@latimes.com

Ann Darr: WWII Pilot and Poet, 44-W-3

"I was raised in Iowa, a prairie child, and all we had was sky. My mother was killed in an auto crash when I was three. I was told I could see her again in heaven. The only way I knew to get there was to fly."1
" (in her own words from "Out of the Blue and into History" by WASP Betty Stagg Turner)

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Ann Darr, WWII pilot, poet, creative writing professor, radio broadcaster, and mother of three passed away on December 2, 2007 in Chicago. Ann was born in Bagley, Iowa in 1920, graduated from the University of Iowa in 1941, worked for NBC radio in New York, and was one of the first women military pilots to serve in WWII as a Women’s Air Force Service Pilot (WASP).

While with NBC radio in 1942 Ann was a writer and broadcaster for The Woman of Tomorrow. As a WWII pilot Ann was stationed in Sweetwater, Texas. Over 25,000 women signed up to join the WASPs and only 1074 earned wings. The WASPs flew over 60 million miles in every aircraft the Air Force had: small trainers, B-26s, B-17s, UC-78s, P-51 fighters, and the B-29 Super Fortress. By the time the WASPs were disbanded on December 20, 1944, 38 of the pilots died in airplane crashes. The first B-29 flight by the WASP’s was to show men who balked at flying it that this was a plane “even women could fly.”

Ann was a prolific writer and author of eight books of poetry: Flying the Zuni Mountains, St. Ann’s Gut, The Myth of a Woman’s Fist, Riding With the Fireworks, Cleared for Landing, Do You Take This Woman, The Twelve Pound Cigarette, and Confessions of a Skewed Romantic. Ann’s poetry readings criss crossed the world from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to Prague, Czechoslovakia.She taught creative writing up until the age of 80 at American University in Washington, D.C., the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD, and other universities throughout the country. She raised her family with her husband, George in Chevy Chase, MD.

In commemoration of the WWII Memorial Ann wrote an article for The New York Times Magazine, May 7, 1995, The Women Who Flew—but Kept Silent and for U.S. News and World Reports: The Long Flight Home: Women Served and Died in WWII. Now they are remembered.

While in her 70’s Ann toured Western Europe with other artists, writers, and musicians as a member of Point-Counter Point. This artistic troupe would float from city to city on a large river barge, dock, and then put on a day of cultural exchange with the local citizens. Ann once wrote to a friend what she wanted to appear on her tombstone: Late in life she ran away from home and joined the circus.

Orders
After I ran away from home and came back again, my Papa said go if you must but mind three things: stay away from water, stay off of boats, and don’t go up in an aeroplane. So first I learned to swim, then I learned to sail, and then I learned to fly.
A Poem from Flying the Zuni Mountains

Ann was stricken with Alzheimers and lived in nursing homes near her daughters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Chicago, Illinois over the past six years. Ann is survived by her three daughters: Dr. Elizabeth Darr, Worcester, MA, Deborah Darr (Kevin Shanley), Chicago, IL, and Shannon Darr-Longstaff, Eliot, ME.; grandchildren: Judson Lester, Vera Lester, Travis Longstaff, Taygra Longstaff, and many other great friends and relatives. A memorial service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in the spring.

Contact person:
Deborah Darr
ddebdarr@aol.com

Other links:

"The Long Flight Home"
"Flying the Zuni Mountains"
"Cleared for Landing"
"Love in the Past Tense"
DOD Article
Photo: Ann & her daughter, Deborah

WASP Doris LeFever Garrison, 43-W-7

Concord - Doris LeFevre Garrison, 91, of Concord, and recently of Framingham, died Friday, Oct. 12, 2007, after a short illness. Her husband of 60 years, John Leland Garrison, died in 2005.

Mrs. Garrison was born in Schenectady, N.Y., where her father, I.D. LeFevre, was comptroller of the General Electric Company. She graduated from Brown School and Mount Holyoke College, and received a master’s degree in teaching from Columbia University.

In World War II, Mrs. Garrison served in the WASPs (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots), a group of women pilots recruited by Jackie Cochran for non-combat flying missions. During her time in the service, Mrs. Garrison was a member of a tow-target squadron and a group that ferried B-25 bombers between Texas and California.

She was a resident of Rye, N.Y., for 40 years before moving to Concord 12 years ago. In Rye, she taught for many years at Rye Country Day School, and volunteered in the League of Women Voters and Planned Parenthood of Westchester. She was active in the Rye Presbyterian Church and a member of Manursing Island Club and the Apawamis Golf Club.

Mrs. Garrison leaves her daughter, Jeanne Garrison of Cambridge, and her son, John Mark Garrison of Sherborn; two grandsons and a sister, Jeanne Hauser, of Palo Alto, Calif.

Services will be private.

"FLYING HIGH"

A spotlight article on WASP Shutsy Reynolds and why she wanted to fly since age seven. PDF file of article, written by Margaret Clevenger for the NOV/DEC 2007 issue of Pennsylvania Magazine is now online. Click title to see the article.

TEXAS RANGER WING HONORS THE WASP

VETERAN'S DAY AIR SHOW -- WACO, TEXAS
November 10, 2007

The Veteran's Day 'TEXAS AIR FIESTA' was held at the air field at the Texas State Technical College, known during World War II as the Waco Army Air Field. It was at this air field that sixteen WASP were stationed during 1944. One of those WASP, Bette Mae Scott, 44-3, was killed July 6, 1944, just off the end of the runway.

The air show, with its ALL-GIRL ground crew, air marshalers and pyro team, was dedicated to the WASP. Marion Hodgson, 43-5; Jo Wheelis, 43-5; and Deanie Parrish, 44-4 were honored guests of the Ranger Wing. Nancy Parrish was their escort. They were given 'above and beyond' VIP treatment, including an impromptu ride down the flight line in a golf cart driven by Lt. Col. Jill Long, an Air Force A10 Thunderbolt pilot, veteran of Afghanistan, with over 3,000 hours. She is amazing! Jill was the FEATURED PERFORMER at the show, and not only dedicated her aerobatic 'show-stopper' in her "RAGGED EDGE" Pitts S2B to the WASP, the announcer kept broadcasting all the wonderful accolades she had written about the WASP. It would have made all of you proud! Jill's online site: http://www.raggededge.us/

Among those aircraft participating in the air show were Marine ONE and Marine TWO--and six blackhawks--the helicopters which are the official transporation & gunship escort when the President travels to Crawford from the airport. (One of those blackhawk pilots & crew chief were female.) The President was at his ranch just 30 miles West of Waco. Air Force One was parked directly across the tarmac and runways, clearly visible to the thousands of people attending the air show. Some pilots, who had planned to participate in the air show but whose aircraft did not have transponders, were not allowed to land in Waco because of the proximity of the President.

With the popular Wings Across America 'Fly Girls of WWII' WASP exhibit in the prestigious Mayborn Museum Complex and the terrific air show dedicated to the WASP, people all across Texas are beginning to know who the WASP were-and are!

It was a great day for the WASP and for Waco.
For more shots of the airshow, visit the Tribune Herald's slideshow!