[ARC5] [BoatAnchors] HamCom 2012, Plano, Texas Report

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Lawson" <w4rl at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [BoatAnchors] HamCom 2012, Plano, Texas Report

>> "Will for sure include a Women's Army Service Pilot section;
>> they don't get the recognition they deserve"
>
> Yes, again.  Can you imagine having a gal whose job was 
> crankin'n'bankin P-51's, P-47's and the like across the USA.

One of my favorite WASP stories:

The WASP and the B-29

In the summer of 1944, the 25-year-old U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. 
Tibbets had a problem. He was in charge of training pilots on the Army 
Air Forces' newest, biggest and most complicated bomber yet, and the 
task was turning out to be much more onerous than he'd anticipated. 
Tibbets' men were putting up unprecedented resistance. In point of 
fact, the pilots had every reason to be wary. The B-29 was not only 
much larger and heavier than any bomber the U.S. had flown before, it 
also hadn't gone through the years of operational testing to which 
Boeing had subjected its predecessor the B-17. Initially engine fires 
were one of the major problems. The planes' Wright engines were often 
called the Wrong engines. Part of the trouble could be traced to the 
engine cowlings that were too tight and often caused fires even before 
the planes had taken off. Although engine improvements were made over 
time, fires remained a problem throughout World War II.

Tibbets decided that the way to convince the men to fly the plane was 
to show that women could do it. The young Colonel recruited Dora 
Dougherty and Dorothea Moorman to be his demo pilots. Dougherty 
remembers that at that point, she had never even been in a four-engine 
plane before. Tibbets did not warn his new recruits of the engine fire 
problem. Instead he trained them to take off without the standard 
power checks. After three days, the colonel decided his women pilots 
were ready for their demonstration. For several days, Dougherty and 
Johnson ferried pilots, crew chiefs and navigators from the 
very-heavy-bomber base at Alamogordo, New Mexico across the state. 
Tibbets' plan was a terrific success: After watching the women fly the 
four-engine bomber, the men stopped complaining about the plane. Air 
Staff Major General Barney Giles brought the demonstrations to an 
abrupt halt after just a few days, telling Tibbets that the women were 
"putting the big football players to shame." Giles was also worried 
that an accident would unleash tremendous adverse publicity. The two 
women were sent back to Eglin Field, Florida, and never flew a B-29 
again. But the plane they'd demonstrated went on to play a decisive 
role in the Allied victory in World War II