The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-01-05

Then, 1t became a question Of
manpower, of availability of pilots to
keep pace with the output Of the pro-
duction lines. To meet this emer-
gency, the ferrying division decid-
ed to utilize the services of its quail
| fed and trained civilian women fer
rying pilots on the domestic section
of the 3'long, long trail"
Each male pilot released from the
1,800-mile trip from Niagara Falls to
Great Falls simply meant one more
male pilot for the long, dangerous
hop from Great Falls to Nome.
These women hadn't been flying
| fighter planes !. i. light ships had
been their assignments in the past
/. but they had long experience,
hours in the air and, with a short
period of transition training, they
were ready for the task.
It wasn't a glamorous one. The
ferry pilot of the Army's Air Trans
port Command is Woodworking in
dividual who lives out of his B-4
bag, spends long stretches of time
away from his home base, flies long
hours and encounters little of the
glamour, the heroics and the recog-
milton that come to the combat pilot.
These Women's Air Force Service
pilots were going to share that lot
with the men. So their story can't
be one of glamour either. It's.mere-
ly the record of a job well done.
By comparison with the number Of
male pilots engaged in the operation,
the WASPs were small group. But
by comparison, the job they did
equaled the performance of their
male partners.
They delivered from Niagara to
Great Falls sufficient planes to COM
pletely arm half dozen Russian
squadrons, and they did such
workmanlike job that their loss ra-
ito compares favorably with that Of
the men. In fact, only three ARA
cobras leaving Niagara with
WASP at the controls failed to
reach Great Falls.
The normal flying time from Nj
agara to Great Falls is approximate
| ly nine hours, but the lapsed time on
the average delivery probably is
three times that great, considering
/ that the ferrying division demands
| almost perfect weather conditions
for the operation of fighter aircraft,
and that winter through Minnesota,
the Dakotas and Montana and in
the Great Lakes region of the Mid
| die West often is far below the mini
mum required.
And when a delivery is complet-
ed from Niagara Falls to Great
Falls, the pilot must return to the
Third Ferrying Group, a 14-hour
ride on the special crewliners pro-
vided by the military air transport
section of the ferrying division for
just that purpose.
Yet, despite the ruggedness of the
trip, WASPs Of the Third Ferrying
group delivered Russia-bound fight
ers from Niagara to Great Falls in
single day, delivered three planes
in ten days, which is feat to equal
the best performances of their male
coworkers.
Barbara Donahue, commanding
officer of the Third Ferrying group,
WASP detachment at Romulus,
paced the delivery of Russia-bound
fighters for her detachment, with
nine to her credit, while WASP
Mary c. Johnson of the Third group
ranked second in the list of individu-
al achievement with seven as her
score.
WASP Ellen Grey is one Of the
few pilots who can boast of a one
day delivery from Niagara to Great
Falls, fight accomplished in eight
hours and Is minutes Of actual time
in the air, and an elapsed time of
approximately II hours. Consider
that five hours in the air is consid-
cred days work by the average
fighter pilot and that the usual de