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Aviation Chronology: 1940s

  • Entries in grey refer to aviation and world events achievements not specific to women.

  • Entries in white refer to women's achievements.

  • Birthdates of female pilots/groundcrew, etc. are not given individual entries, but listed in the first entry for each woman.

  • Reference works are cited by code numbers, identified in the Bibliography.

  • Womens Air Service Pilots - 1940s.

    Name Date(s) Notes Bibliography
    1943 1943 1943
    1943
    Cornelia Fort March 21, 1943 American.
    Fort was killed in a mid-air collision near Abilene, Texas, while on a ferrying mission in a BT-13. She was the first casualty of an American woman pilot on active duty.
    Wings Across America
    Si-1
    Jane Dolores Champlin June 7, 1943 American.
    WASP trainee and her instructor killed in a night fight training mission crash in a BT-15
    Wings Across America
    Hilda Hewlett August 21, 1943 English.
    Hilda Hewlett dies, aged 79, in Tauranga, New Zealand.

    Le-1
    Hilda Hewlett August 23, 1943 English.
    Per her request, "the old Bird" is buried at sea.

    Le-1
    1944 1944 1944
    1944
    Francis Fortune Grimes March 27, 1944 American.
    Grimes' active duty assignment was to the 5th FG/ATC at Love Field, Dallas, Texas. She was killed shortly after take-off from Otis Field, Massachusetts in an A-24 attack bomber.
    Wings Across America
    Jayne Elisabeth Erickson April 16, 1944 American.
    While flying an AT-6, she was killed in a mid-air collision in the traffic pattern at Avenger on April 16, 1944.
    Wings Across America
    Majorie Doris Edwards June 13, 1944 American.
    WASP pilot, she died in the crash of an AT-6 near Childress, Texas, while on a cross-country training flight.
    Wings Across America
    Susan Parker Clark July 4, 1944 American.
    WASP, stationed with 334 Ferrying Group, Fairfax Field, Kansas City, MO. The BT-13 she was ferrying crashed near Columbia, South Carolina.
    Wings Across America
    Marjorie Laverne Davis October 16, 1944 American.
    WASP pilot, killed on a night flight while on a cross country training flight in an AT-6 near Walnut, Mississippi.
    Wings Across America
    Katherine ?Kay' Applegate Dussaq November 26, 1944 American.
    WASP pilot, was killed when the AT-6 she was flying on an administrative cross-country flight crashed on the night of November 26, 1944 near New Carlisle, Ohio.
    Wings Across America
    1948 1948 1948
    1948
    Blanche Stuart Scott September 6, 1948 American
    Blanche Scott flies as a passenger with Charles E. Yeager in a TF-80C - thus becoming the first American woman to fly in a jet.
    Le-1

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