Dawn Seymour | |
|---|---|
 Dawn Seymour at a commemorative event | |
| Born | July 1, 1917 |
| Died | July 18, 2017 (aged 100) |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | Women Airforce Service Pilot |
Dawn Seymour (July 1, 1917 - July 18, 2017) was an American pilot and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. [1] She would later lobby for military status for the Women Airforce Service Pilots as well as encourage recognition of their contributions to the war effort during World War II.
Seymour was born in Rochester, New York on July 1, 1917.
She was the first woman accepted into the Civilian Pilot Training Program at Cornell University. [2] In 1939, she earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell. [3]
During World War II, Seymour was a Women's Airforce Service Pilot, or WASP at Buckingham Air Force Base in Florida. [4] [5]
She actively campaigned for military status for the Women Airforce Service Pilots. [6]
Her 100th birthday party was celebrated at the opening reception of Women in Aviation International’s 2017 annual conference. [7]
Nancy Harkness Love, born Hannah Lincoln Harkness, was an American pilot and airplane commander during World War II. She earned her pilot's license at age 16. She worked as a test pilot and air racer in the 1930s. During World War II she convinced Colonel William H. Tunner of the U.S. Army Air Forces to look to set up a group of female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to air bases. This proposal was eventually approved as the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Love commanded this unit and later all ferrying operations in the newly formed Women Airforce Service Pilots. She was awarded the Air Medal for her work during the war and was appointed lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force Reserve in 1948.
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became trained pilots who tested aircraft, ferried aircraft, and trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during World War II. Despite various members of the armed forces being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing.
Nicole Margaret Ellingwood Malachowski is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and the first female pilot selected to fly as part of the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds. She later became a speaker and advocate on behalf of patients with tick-borne illnesses.
Hazel Ying Lee was an American pilot who flew for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II.
Ann G. Baumgartner Carl was an American aviator who became the first American woman to fly a United States Army Air Forces jet aircraft when she flew the Bell YP-59A jet fighter at Wright Field as a test pilot during World War II. She was assigned to Wright Field as an assistant operations officer in the fighter test section as member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots program.
The Women's Flying Training Detachment was a group of women pilots during World War II. Their main job was to take over male pilot's jobs, such as ferrying planes from factories to United States Army Air Force installations, in order to free male pilots to fight overseas. They later merged with the Women Airforce Ferrying Squadron to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Micky Axton was an American aviator who was a test pilot during World War II. Axton was "one of the first three Women Airforce Service Pilots to be trained as a test pilot" and was the first woman to fly a B-29.
Suzanne "Sue" Upjohn DeLano Parish was an American aviator. Parish was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II. In 1977, with her husband, Pete Parish, she was the co-founder of the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, later known as the Air Zoo, after the animal nicknames of the planes.
Dora Jean Dougherty Strother was an American aviator best known as a Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and B-29 Superfortress demonstration pilot. She was a U.S. military pilot, human factors engineer with Bell Aircraft, instructor at the University of Illinois and helicopter test pilot for Bell Aircraft.
Ola Mildred Rexroat was the only Native American woman to serve in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).
Elizabeth Strohfus was an American aviator and pioneering member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. Strohfus, one of just 1,074 female pilots to earn silver wings for the WASPs, flew noncombat missions from 1943 to 1944, often ferrying military planes throughout the United States. She also trained male air and infantry gunners at Las Vegas Army Airfield during the early 1940s. Elizabeth Strohfus was the recipient of two Congressional Gold Medals for her service in the WASPs and was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. She was believed to be one of the last surviving WASP aviators.
Elaine D. Harmon was an American from Maryland who served in the U.S. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. In 2009 she received a Congressional Gold Medal for her service as a pilot during World War II. As a WASP pilot, she has been accorded full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2016, Ms. Harmon was posthumously inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
Elizabeth Maxine Chambers was one of the first female pilots in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program in which women took on non-combat flying duties so more male pilots were available for combat. She was in WASP Class of 44-W-3 as part of the 318th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment. She became a pilot shortly after her husband lost his life while flying, despite the fact that she had a new baby, and was the only recent widow and mother to have served as a WASP.
Marie Odean Bishop Parrish, known as Deanie Parrish was a US air force pilot who served as a WASP pilot during WWII. She was known for being one of Florida's first female air force aviators. She joined the air force aged 21, and after earning her wings, worked as an engineering test pilot at Greenville air force base. She later retrained to tow target planes during training exercises.
Gertrude "Tommy" Tompkins Silver was the only Women Airforce Service Pilots member to go missing during World War II.
Elizabeth L. Gardner was an American pilot during World War II who served as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She was one of the first American female military pilots and the subject of a well-known photograph, sitting in the pilot's seat of a Martin B-26 Marauder.
Florence Shutsy-Reynolds was an American aviator. She served with the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. Later, she worked as a designer for the WASP organization store, creating jewellery and designs for the group.
Dorothy Eleanor Olsen was an American aircraft pilot and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II. She grew up on her family's farm in Woodburn, Oregon, developing an interest in aviation at a young age. She earned her private pilot's license in 1939, when it was unusual for women to be pilots.
Verneda G. Rodriguez McLean was an American aviator and served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. She is the first WASP to be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
Gwendolyne Elizabeth Cowart was an American pilot who served as a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) during World War II.
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