DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Avenger Field tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Nolan County, on a stretch of West Texas that the wind has never once left alone, there sits a place called Avenger Field — and the story stamped into its marker is one that deserves to be told slow and told right. Settle in.
This one's got range. In 1942, Avenger Field first opened its gates as a training base for British Royal Air Force Cadets. Then, from August of that same year through April of 1943, U.S.
Army Air Forces Cadets worked the runways. But the chapter the field is best remembered for hadn't even started yet. On February 21, 1943, something changed.
Women's Airforce Service Pilots — the WASPs — began training here in military aircraft. And they kept right on training until the final graduation day: December 7, 1944. Now, the program had a champion.
General H.H. Arnold — 'Hap,' they called him — started the WASP program with a clear mission: train women to fly every kind of mission short of combat, and in doing so, release male pilots for overseas duty. Four names are woven into the command structure of this thing.
Jacqueline Cochran served as director of women pilots. Ethel A. Sheehy was WASP staff field executive.
Nancy Harness Love held the role of WASP staff executive of the ferrying division. And Leoti Clark Deaton served as WASP staff executive for training bases. Four women, four roles, one extraordinary undertaking.
Now here's where the numbers do the talking, and they speak louder than any tall tale I could spin. Twenty-five thousand girls applied for WASP flight training. Twenty-five thousand.
Of those, 1,830 were accepted. And of those, 1,074 won their silver wings. The ones who earned those wings flew sixty million miles on operational duty.
Sixty million miles. And 37 of them lost their lives serving their country. Let that land before we move on.
The WASPs carried civil service status — not military status. That distinction mattered, and it wasn't small. But when the WASP program ended — when the allies were winning the war in Europe and the U.S. pilot shortage was past — the WASPs were granted eligibility to apply for reserve commissions in the Air Corps.
After the WASPs departed Avenger Field, the base went on for a short span of service as a missile base. And then it closed. The wind out here in Nolan County keeps blowing, same as it always did, same as it did when those silver wings caught the light over West Texas.
Sixty million miles. Thirty-seven lives. One field.
That's Avenger Field.
What the marker says
Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) trained here in military aircraft during World War II, from February 21, 1943, through final graduation day, December 7, 1944. Avenger Field first served as a training base for British Royal Air Force Cadets in 1942, then for U.S. Army Air Forces Cadets August 1942 - April 1943. The WASP program was started under General H.H. ("Hap") Arnold to train women to fly every kind of mission short of combat, releasing male pilots for overseas duty. Jacqueline Cochran was director of women pilots; Ethel A. Sheehy, WASP staff field executive; Nancy Harness Love, WASP staff executive-ferrying division; and Leoti Clark Deaton, WASP staff executive-training bases. Of 25,000 girls who applied for WASP flight training. 1,830 were accepted; 1,074 won their silver wings. The WASPs flew 60 million miles on operational duty; 37 lost their lives serving their country. WASPs had civil service--not military--status, but were granted eligibility to apply for reserve commissions in the Air Corps after the WASP program ended when the allies were winning the war in Europe and the U.S.A. pilot shortage was past. Avenger Field was closed after a short post-WASP span of service as a missile base. (1972)