Betty Gillies Betty Gillies ( January 7 , 1908 – October 14 , 1998 ) was a pioneering American aviator . World War II . The first pilot to qualify for the Women ' s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron was Betty Huyler Gillies of Syosset , Long Island , New York . She entered the WAFS on September 12 , 1942 . Gillies at this time had 14 years of flying experience , running up a total of 1400 hours to her credit , held various aeronautical ratings , and for two years ( 1939 – 1941 ) was president of the Ninety - Nines , an international club of women flyers formed in 1929 . When Nancy Love transferred to Love Field , Dallas , Texas to start a new WAFS ferrying unit , Gillies was made squadron leader of the WAFS assigned to the 2nd Ferrying Group , New Castle Army Air Base , Wilmington , Delaware . In early March 1943 Mrs . Gillies became the first woman to fly the Republic P - 47 Thunderbolt when she was checked out on the aircraft at Wilmington . The " check out " consisted of an explanation of aircraft systems , flight characteristics and emergency procedures . Since the P - 47 was a single seat aircraft , her first flight was also her first solo flight . One of the outstanding ferry missions accomplished by the original Squadron at Wilmington came in April 1943 , when four PT - 26s were delivered from Hagerstown , Maryland , to DeWinton , Alberta , Canada , a distance of more than 2 , 500 miles . Gillies was flight leader , and the other three pilots were Nancy Batson , Helen McGilvery and Kathryn Bernheim . The type of plane flown had a cruising speed of only around 100 mph . They left Hagerstown on April 18 , spent the night at Joliet , Illinois ( 697 miles away ) , spent the next night at North Platte , Neb . , after a run of 585 miles , then made a long hop of 846 miles to Great Falls , Mont . On April 21 they flew the remaining 275 miles to DeWinton , Alberta . All four pilots were back at the 2nd Group by Friday evening , April 23 , and were commended by Colonel Baker for their efficient and prompt delivery , which included not only the flying of the planes but also the paperwork involved in such deliveries , such as flight logs , gasoline reports and RON ( remain over night ) messages . On August 15 , 1943 , Love and Gillies qualified as first pilots ( i . e . aircraft commanders ) on Boeing B - 17s and made three deliveries together during the balance of the month . On September 2 , 1943 Gillies and Love departed Cincinnati on a ferry mission to deliver a B - 17F to England ; however , the mission was canceled before the aircraft left Goose Bay , Labrador . Gillies remained squadron leader of the Women Airforce Service Pilots assigned to the 2nd Ferrying Group at New Castle Army Air Base until the WASPs were disbanded on December 20 , 1944 . Betty and her husband B . A . Gillies had three children . One of her children died at age 4 ; her remaining son and daughter became commercial pilots , and four of her grandchildren become pilots as well . Also after the war , Gillies was a ham radio operator who , using her radio , connected phone calls to ships in the Pacific from her home in California . She had her huge antenna directed at the Antarctic and maintained contact with the staff and Navy personnel in Operation Deep Freeze who were stationed there for two year hitches . She also participated in the Navy MARS program under the call sign NNN0AYT .