Flying Higher: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II by Wanda Langley

Author:Wanda Langley [Langley, Wanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wanda Langley
Published: 2009-10-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

You Call This Plane Fixed?

Twelve members of 44-W-2 had assignments flight-testing repaired planes at various training bases. The military called these jobs "engineering testing,” "maintenance testing," or “aerial dishwashery.” And they called those who tested the planes, "engineering test pilots." The women test pilots checked out the damaged trainer planes before the male cadets flew them. And while these test pilots did not have to master planes as challenging as the B-26, their work had its own hazards.

After the mechanic repaired the plane, the WASP took the plane up to test it. To test, the pilot took the plane through certain routine maneuvers. If the plane performed satisfactorily, she brought the plane in and checked it off with the mechanic. The WASPs developed good working relationships with the maintenance personnel. The lives of the test pilots depended on the skills of their mechanics.

The WASP pilots also did another kind of test flying called "slow-timing." After 100 flying hours, mechanics pulled each plane from flight training. Mechanics took the engine out and gave it a thorough check. They replaced worn or stressed engine parts; sometimes they put a completely new engine in the planes. The test pilot had a different procedure for testing after the 100-hour check. She would take the plane up at the slowest possible speed, then fly the plane to an auxiliary field where she took the plane through slow-paced maneuvers. After twenty or thirty minutes of slow-timing, the pilot "opened 'er up," which meant she flew the plane at full throttle, and the test pilot flew the plane hard--in much the same way an inexperienced trainee might.

. At Napier AAB in Alabama, Kate Lee Harris and Leona Golbinec tested AT-6s. Kate Lee had an incident there that had an unintended, happy ending. One day when she was flying, she saw a storm approaching. She radioed the control tower to see if officials had called off flying. The man in the control tower said in a demeaning tone, "Why would we call off flying?"

The storm grew more ominous, and Kate Lee decided to go in regardless of whether they had called off flying. As she came in, a terrible dust storm hit. (By this time, all flying was called off.) The high winds tipped her plane on its nose. She feared that other incoming pilots would not see her and would land their planes on top of her. She sat there looking like a clown with two white spots around her eyes where her goggles had been; the rest of her face was covered with dust.

When the wind died down and the dust cleared, a Jeep drove up, and--as Kate described him--"a little shavetail Officer of the Day"--stepped out. Kate was livid--that is, if her skin could have been seen under the layer of dirt. Angry and scared, she exploded at the man. The little shavetail officer, Bob Adams, would become her future husband.

Leona and Kate Lee also ferried planes and base personnel to other bases. They taught instrument flying if needed.

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