Female WWII pilots get their due: Carol Brinton Selfridge of Santa Barbara [Photos]

The ceremony takes places on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Surrounded by statues of some of the nation's most treasured icons, nearly 200 women who served as military pilots during World War II as part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program will be on  hand to receive the  Congressional Gold Medal.

[For the record: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the women would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.]

Recruited to fill a manpower shortage among male fliers, 25,000 women applied. Nearly 1,100 completed training. This little-known band of female pilots -- the first women in history trained to fly U.S. military aircraft -- did everything the men did except participate in combat. They flew trailers so male soldiers could take practice shots at the targets they pulled along. They flew bombardiers so male pilots could practice dropping bombs. They flew test planes, delivered supplies and piloted every plane the Air Force had in its arsenal. By war's end, 38 had been killed -- their bodies returned home and buried at their families' expense.

In 1977, Congress finally granted them veteran status. This week, they finally get their due in Washington.

Sitting in the audience at the congressional ceremony will be 92-year-old Carol Brinton Selfridge. In an interview with the Ticket last week that she conducted on Skype, Selfridge reminisced about her adventures -- about the difficulty of finding a uniform to fit her 6-foot-tall frame, about soloing in a rare snowstorm at the base in Sweetwater, Texas, about the granddaughter who was so inspired by her story that she too became a pilot, now Lt. Col. Christy Kayser-Cook.

Asked for her advice to young women, she said, "Do what you want, and there's nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it. I did, and it all worked out beautifully."

Nine months before the war ended, the WASP program was disbanded. The female fliers were told to come home at their own expense and not to talk about their achievements.

Now, they are not only sharing their memories but their photos as well. Thanks to Selfridge's daughter Sharon Kayser, the Ticket is proud to present a sampling of family photos, below.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photos: At top, Carol Brinton Selfridge in 1944 at Victorville Air Force base, where, according to daughter Sharon Kayser, she flew bombardier cadets over the desert for bombing practice. "Many of the women needed to carry pillows out to the planes to sit up high enough," said Sharon. "She never had to worry about that."
Below, from top, Selfridge stands with two of the Women Airforce Service pilots with whom she roomed in the barracks.
Selfridge in uniform and her daughters Linda, left, and Sharon.
The pilot in flying gear.
Selfridge in more recent times.
And Selfridge with her granddaughter Lt. Col. Christy Kayser-Cook at Scott Air Force Base on Aug. 31, 2005, on the occasion of Kayser-Cook's promotion to lieutenant colonel. All photos courtesy of Sharon Kayser.

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Comments

[alwaysatrojan84]

These ladies were the quiet hero's from the greatest generation, Mom's, Dad's teach your daughters and sons about these hero's so that they may continue to serve as an inspiration to a new generation of Americans.

[Ricado]

These women deserve the honor they will receive in DC this week. A slight correction: It is not the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is awarded to an individual for extreme performance in combat. They will receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award the Nation can give.
I hope the Times will cover this historical event.

[R. Portser]

I would say it's about time! They should get a lot of back pay.

[jesus m. lopez]

Please, never forget Miss Clara Livingston. She flew w/Amelia and taught pilots.
She opened a small airport in Dorado, P.R. where she instructed civilian pilots and started the Civil Air Patrol; which inspired me to join the USAF in 1955.

[michael A.]

thank you ladies.

[Joyce Richards]

And never forget Marguerite Gambo Woods, the civilain pilot instructor used by the USA to train pilots in Hawaii. She was up in the air teaching a flight student on that Sunday morn Dec 7, 1941. She was featured in the film "Tora Tora Tora", in the opening Japanese attack scene, flying over Kolikoli Pass. She landed with lots of damage, she and her trainee surviving the attack. Marguerite helped to found the "99's", a group with membership of 99 female pilots. I believe the organization continues today!

[Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard]

The proper designation for the Medal of Honor is the Medal of Honor not the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is awarded in the name of the U.S. Congress and thus the mistake in referring to it as the Congressional Medal of Honor. Also, the WASPs were Federal employees and thus didn't rate veterans' status. This was granted to them due to political correctness and feminists who wanted to re-write U.S. history. A group that has been forgotten and been denied veterans' status for their role in those dark days that followed Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 was the Civil Air Patrol. For the first full year after Pearl Harbor, the aircraft and the men of the CAP sighted, followed, and sank a number of U-Boats. This is borne out from official German Kriegsmarine records captured by the U.S. after the war.

[Larry Seth Steinberg]

LtCol- My thanks for your reminder of the Civil Air Patrol & its role.
My aunt, Bert Sheintop Spector, flew out of Hartford, Conn, with her air club's private plane for the CAP. When CAP activities were curtailed, she joined the WASPs, trained at Sweetwater, Tex., and graduated in Class 44-W-4.
Had she lived another year, she would have been proud to be at today's ceemonies.

[Brian Guerin]

Many of these women went on to have careers in aviation. Marguerite Gambo Woods went on to start a flight school in Hawaii. Hawaii Country Club of the Air, her creation taught so many of us to fly, her generosity was responible for my being able to complete my flight training in 1976. "Ma Woods" as most of us knew her, let many of her students fly on 'credit', trusting us to pay later. A truely incredible women during and after the war.

[Leslie Hirahara]

I remember Ma Woods and Woody Woods very well during my initial flight training in Aolele Place, HIA (PHNL). I also like to tell Brian that he taught me well, and that I taught many pilots thereafter.

Aloha,

Les Hirahara
Honolulu, Hawaii