Our 2010 Grand Marshals
Women's Air Service Pilots (WASP)
Flora Belle Smith
On October 21, 1924, in Sayre, Beckham Co., Oklahoma, Flora Belle Smith was born to Robert Jessie and Agnes (Duncan) Smith. Robel1 was born in Port, Washita Co., Oklahoma, and Agnes was born in Decatur, Wise Co., Texas. In 1930, the Smith family was living in Washita, Custer Co., Oklahoma. The family included one son, James Evan, and three daughters, Mary Lea, Flora Belle, and Agnes LaWanda Smith.
Flora Belle had always dreamed of flying, and she realized her dream by joining the Women's Air Service Pilots (WASP) in 1943. '"Jackie Cochran put an ad in the newspaper requesting young women who were interested in flying, to sign up and help with the war effort," Flora Belle recalled. At this point, she had never flown and needed at least 35 hours to qualify for pilot training. 139 Flora Belle's brother, James, loaned her the money (0 pay for flying lessons and started her on the road to Sweetwater, Texas for WASP training.
At Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, Flora Belle entered into Class 44-W-4. Out of the 98 women in her class who began the training, only 51 graduated. Fifty percent washed out of the program due to the rigorous physical training. For some, it was extremely tough waking up at 4:30 a.m . to be on the flight line, with marching, ground school, "white glove" inspections, and finally, the stress of flying.
Flora Belle soloed in a Fairchild PT-19 trainer. She had about six hours of night time when she switched to the Stearman PT-17 biplane trainer. Next, Flora Belle flew the North American AT-6 fighter trainer [her favorite "sweet flying" airplane]. The training in the Vultee BT-13 was her least favorite time. The airplane vibrated and shook more than the other planes. It was used in instrument training tor the pilots. After the BT-13 training, it was back to the A T-6, and in May of 1944, Flora Belle earned her wings.
After basic flight training, Flora Belle was sent to Foster Field in Victoria, Texas for her first assignment. At Foster Field, she was assigned to the Operations group, where she flew non-flying personnel to and from assignments. Next, Flora Belle was sent to Harlington, Texas. At Harlington, she learned to fly the Martin B-26 Marauder, towing artillery targets for gunnery school training. At Enid Air Base, in Enid, Oklahoma, Flora Belle's job included flying airplanes that had just been repaired. "We flew what they told us t0 fly, and did what they needed us to do, taking on the role of our nation's pi lots at home, while they were overseas fighting the war."
Flora Belle concluded her military service with over 500 flight hours in several different airplanes. She was glad when the war came to an end, but saddened when the WASP were deactivated in 1944, and not militarized. On August I, 1945, Flora Belle married Ralph Anderson Reece in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Together they had three children; Connie Kay, Cheryl Suzanne, and Russell Alan Reece. Ralph was a Colonel in the Army Air Corps stationed at Waller Field, Trinidad in the British West Indies during the war.
In 1946, Flora Belle and Ralph moved to California. She joined the WASP Fifinella group after the war, to keep in 'touch with her fellow pilots, and remains in contact with the many friends she made while in service. Fifinella, a spunky female gremlin, was the mascot logo designed by Walt Disney Studios and used by the WASP. Flora Belle remembered Jackie Cochran telling the W ASP, "You have to be better than the men to keep in competition, but always be a lady."
Flora Belle and her husband, Ralph, are both retired and live in Lancaster, California.
Excerpt from Dayle DeBry's book, "We Remember" ©2004
You can purchase Dayle's book here at Heritage Books
Irma "Babe" Story
On October 14, 1921 , Irma "Babe" Story was born in Burbank, Los Angeles Co., California, the daughter of Nathaniel and Irma (Spofford) Story. Nathaniel was born in Michigan and moved to California in 1899 to work for his uncle, Tom Story. Irma Spofford was born in New Hampshire and moved to Burbank around 1907, where she met and married Nathaniel ill January, I 908. Babe had three older siblings; two brothers, Alan and Thomas; and one sister, Esther (Story) Lee.
The Story family moved to the Antelope Valley in 1922, where Nathaniel worked for the Union Oil Company. Babe remembered that she always wanted to learn how to fly alter spending time with her brother at the old Lancaster airport on Avenue I and 10th Street West. He was learning to become a mechanic at the time, and Babe would tag along, running errands for some of the pilots in exchange for airplane rides.
Babe attended Lancaster Grammar School and graduated from AVJUHS in 1938. Alter three years of schooling at Antelope Valley .Junior College, Babe heard the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPT) was starting up. Aviatrix and businesswoman, Pancho Barnes, owned a flight school in Palmdale and was recruiting potential students, of which ten percent could be women. They had to fill the quota with qualified men, first. so Babe missed out on the first two groups as they were full. She was the number two girl 011 the list for the third group, with another girl signed lip ahead of her. Unfortunately for the other girl, she had an eye injury and could not pass the physical, so Babe jumped to the top spot, and in the spring of 1941, it was her turn to fly. She was one of only two women trained in the CPT Program, along with Meg Castle, both in the same class.
In June of 1941, Babe earned her private pilot's license in a 65 horsepower Porterfield, while under the instruction of John Barnes (no relation to Pancho). She went to work for Vega (part of Lockheed Aircraft) in September, 1941, as a riveter - not exactly what she had wanted to do. In September of 1942, the Air Transport Command issued orders authorizing the employment of women flyers, with the need for pi lots to fly new planes from factories to the military air fields, and for other training purposes. With World War II in full swing, the men were needed tor combat related duties overseas. With the help of aviatrix. Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran and Nancy Love, the Women's Air Service Pilots (WASP) were born.
News of the opportunity for women to fly, sparked women all over the United States to apply to the WASP. Babe filled out the paperwork needed to join, but her supervisors at Vega Aircraft, did not want to let her go. Babe received a telegram frol11 General Henry "Hap" Arnold, telling her to report for an interview in Los Angeles, if the interview was successful, she was to repol1 to Long Beach for an Air Corps physical. If she passed the physical, she was to report for training at Sweetwater, Texas. Babe passed the interview and the physical, and Vega had to let her go.
In April, Babe reported for training at Avenger Field, in Sweetwater. Ahead, was six months of primary, basic and advanced training, with two months in each phase of ground school and flight school, with single and l11ulti-engine aircraft training. One month prior to graduation, twenty-five students in Babe's class, along with twenty-five members from the preceding class, were picked to be sent on "special assignment." When the women received their orders, they were divided by height with the taller ones assigned to fly the B-1 Ts, those of middle height went to the C-60's, and the shortest, which Babe was, went to the B-26 "Widow-maker." The women were being trained to fly in the Ferrying Command: Two days after she earned her wings, Babe was off flying, with no break after training, as the women were needed to fly due to the severe shortage of men. No uniforms were issued, so the women in Babe's group flew to Dodge City, Kansas in civilian clothes, to be trained on the B-26. The training was experimental at that time, to see if the women could fly the big airplanes, including the B-26 bomber, which many of the men had refused to fly due to the numerous training accidents during take-off and landings.
After two months of training in Kansas, Babe graduated from 13-26 school, number one in her class, along with 10 other women. Alter the women soloed in the 13-26, a telegram was sent to Washington informing them of what the women had done. A reply was sent back stating, "No man could refuse to fly the b-26 anymore, and not lose their wings." Babe was allowed to go home, on leave, for a few days before her next stop at Harlington Army Air Base, in Texas.
Babe stayed with the 13-26 at Harlington, towing targets at the Aerial Gunnery School, while being fired at and making difficult maneuvers at over 300 miles an hour. She was at Harlington for about a year, until Congress disbanded the WASP program in December, 1944.
After taking some time off and several different jobs later, Babe was a flight instructor until 1949, then went into the crop dusting business as part-owner of Antelope Valley Pest Control, along with veteran Army Air Corps fighter pilot, Charles Dungan. In 1950, the WASP were offered a commission by the Air Force. Babe applied into the Reserves, but finally had to resign because she couldn't get enough points in while flying for Antelope Valley Pest Control. She retired at the rank of Major in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. After World War II, Babe was a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots. Babe flew tl.1r over twenty-one years for a living, and worked for Santa Fe Engineers as her final job before retirement.
It wasn't until 1977, when a special legislation was passed giving the WASP some military benefits. Babe joined the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the Ninety-Nines and keeps busy speaking to groups about her time with the WASP.
Excerpt from Dayle DeBry's book, "We Remember" ©2004
You can purchase Dayle's book here at Heritage Books
Marguerite "Ty" Killen
Marguerite "Ty" Killen got hooked on flight at age 9. She recalls a family road trip in Casa Grande, Ariz., when she was 9, where she and her brother watched as a pilot flying a Curtiss JN-4 aircraft - commonly called "the Jenny" - gave people rides for $5. Military flight instructors used the Jenny as the primary trainer for America's World War I pilots.
"The World War I Jenny. What a romantic-looking thing," Killen said. Her mother couldn't afford $5 for Killen and another $5 for her brother. The pilot agreed to a two-for the-price-of-one deal.
Killen learned to fly as a 15-year old in high school. She paid for her flying lessons by doing maintenance work around the hangar. She received her commercial and flight instructor ratings when she was 19.
Killen was a student at the University of Arizona when the United States declared war. She heard a radio announcement about recruiting women pilots, but she was 19 and the women had to be at least 25. The war reached a point where "they lowered the women's age limit," she said. She joined the war effort when the WASP age requirement was dropped to 19, signed up for WASP training and graduated in August 1944. She flew a variety of aircraft, including the Stearman PT-17, AT-6 advanced trainer, Beechcraft AT-11, the Vultee BT-13, and was a copilot in a B-24.
