The first pilot to qualify for the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron was Betty Huyler Gillies of Syosset, Long Island, New York. She entered the WAFS on September 12, 1942. Gillies at this time had 14 years of flying experience, running up a total of 1400...
A life-long Marylander of 95 year, Elaine Danforth Harmon was a role model, patriot, and World War II veteran. Born in 1919, she was the daughter of Dr. David Charles Danforth (a Baltimore dentist and professional baseball player with the 1914 Baltimore Orioles) and...
Hazel Ying Lee was the first Chinese-American woman to pilot aircraft for the U.S. military. After taking her first flight in 1932, she fell in love with flying and earned her pilot’s license later that year. Lee moved to China ahead of the Second Sino-Japanese War...
Like many other women who served in the WASP, Gayle Bevis joined the Civilian Pilot Training Program first–but to further her education, not because she yearned to fly. However, one flight was all she needed to fall in love with flying: “And when the...
