Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Air heroines

And might I add way overdue honor!

Thank you all for your service.


Female WWII pilots get overdue honor
By Scott Huddleston - Express-News 
 
Whether it was landing in dense fog on low fuel or using hand signals to teach Mexican pilots to fly, the experiences of being a female pilot during World War II gave Holly Grasso stories to tell for a lifetime.

She is one of two San Antonians who will be honored Wednesday by Congress for their service as Women Airforce Service Pilots: civilian “WASPs” who tested or ferried aircraft and trained other pilots in the U.S. from 1942 to 1944.

Grasso was footloose and adventurous in her early 20s when she trained Mexican and Cuban pilots at Foster Field in Victoria. Interpreters helped with the preflight briefings, but because she couldn't speak Spanish, she had to use her hands to guide the trainees when they were in the air with her.

The rest of the story: