What was it like being the only female pilot at Douglas Army Air Base?
It was a little scary at first. They didn’t really have any experience with female pilots at the Douglas Army Air Force base in Arizona. There were 500 officers, who were either instructors or administrative personnel. They looked at me as an oddity in the beginning, but I had to show them that I could fly an aircraft, and I was assigned to engineer and maintenance department, where I did a lot of flying. They knew I could handle myself, and gained a lot of respect for me. I had occasions to fly with most of those officers from time to time. I made many friends, some of whom are still my friends today. Did you ever fly combat missions in WW II? If so, what was it like? WASPs didn’t fly combat missions in the war; we flew during World War II within the U.S. We felt very proud of doing our duty for our country. I was anxious to be part of the war effort. How old were you when you were a wartime WASP pilot? I was 23 and 24 years old. Were you ever shot at? No, during the war I only flew w
