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WASP Wing, one of the 38 - Marie N Michell Robinson crash find


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Several years ago some friends and I (after much searching) went to a B-25 crash site in the Mojave. This is what the site looked like and the other photo is Marie's WASP collar insignia.post-169522-0-45945600-1501027275.jpg

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After months of looking a number of personal effects belonging to the pilot, co-pilot (Marie) and the flight engineer were recovered and returned to the families of the three who died. I was never able to find Marie's WASP wings and asked her brother if they had been returned at the time of her death. He responded he had two of her wings and gave me one as a thank you for all of the hard work. Her brother also gave me permission to make a cast of the bracelet I had found at the site (pictured)

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WOW!. I have found items from a WASP, but this is very special.

 

Al

Of all the things I have, this is near and dear to me. You go to crash sites?

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No, I go to estate sales.

Okie Dokie, That market must be thin by now. I had talked to Dawn Lettson of TWU at that time when I was looking for Marie's brother. The Texas Womans University (official depository for the WASP archives) had Dawn as the curator of WASP artifacts and she was on me to donate to them if Marie's brother could not be found and then she was on Marie's brother to donate what was found plus what he had to them. She had contact with all living WASP's and the families of WASP's looking to secure their items for the University. Marie's brother did donate everything to the Womans military museum near Arlington.

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On a side note the crash site is now a part of a secure government training site. A runway was expanded that runs next to the crash site. It is fenced off and no one is allowed in.

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Very nice. Everything I have seen her middle name was spelled Michell not Michele. What does the bracelet have on it?

 

...Kat

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Very nice. Everything I have seen her middle name was spelled Michell not Michele. What does the bracelet have on it?

 

...Kat "Marie Michele" is her maiden name. Robinson was her married last name. She was secretly married at the age of 20 two weeks before she died. I did find her wedding ring and sent it to her brother. I also found a number of coins. Her brother asked if I had found a 1924 silver dollar. I asked how he knew that. His dad had given it to her as a good luck charm. She was born in 1924.

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Birth: May 23, 1924

Detroit

Wayne County

Michigan, USA Death: Oct. 2, 1944

Victorville

San Bernardino County

California, USA trans.gif

WASP WWII

3035th AAFBU Victorville CA

 

 

She was the daughter of Roy Gilbert Michell, Sr and Ruth N Jackson. Ruth married second toMaurice E Zetterholm. Her brother was Roy Gilbert Michell, Jr. Just two weeks prior to her death, she had married Major Hampton Robinson, an Army surgeon whom she met in Dallas, Texas.

 

She graduated from National Park Junior College in Washington, DC.

 

She had obtained her pilot's license prior to entering the WASP training program.

 

She entered AAF flight training in September 1943 at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas and graduated on 11 March 1944. She had been stationed at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, and at Victorville Army Air Base, California. Her assignments included ferrying planes and the training of bombardiers.

 

Her roommate was supposed to fly, however, she was ill, and Marie Michell Robinson took her place. She died when she was co-pilotingB-25D #41-30114 that crashed in the mountains approximately 25 miles west of Victorville, California. The three crew members killed in the crash were~

 

1st Lt George D Rosado, Pilot, from San Diego, California

WASP Marie N Michell Robinson, CoPilot, from Washington, D.C.

SSgt Gordon L Walker, Crew Chief, from Fossil, Oregon

 

This aircraft wreck was more recently visited and documented by aviation archaeologist and wreckfinder G Pat Macha of www.aircraftwrecks.com

 

Her niece, Cheryl Marie Michell, has a website in honor of her aunt and the 38 WASPs who died in the service of their country at http://www.38wasp.blogspot.com/

 

She was one of only thirty-eight WWII WASPs killed while in the service of their country.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Family links:

Parents:

Roy Gilbert Michell (1891 - 1980)

Ruth Naomi Jackson Zetterholm (1895 - 1962) Burial:

White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery

Troy

Oakland County

Michigan, USA

Created by: B24CoPilotNiece

Record added: May 31, 2011

Find A Grave Memorial# 70677547

 

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Marie's brother had told me some story's about her. He was a Naval Aviator stationed in Florida. On leave he brought home a fellow pilot and the two of them hit it off. Marie decided to surprise and impress him the next time he visited on leave by getting her pilots license. Fate being what it is the, Naval Aviator was killed in a training accident in Florida. Marie kind of threw herself into aviation and became a Link instructor. When the WASP program started kicking into gear she had enough qualifications and was accepted into that program. The sad part is that she no limits on her potential and what should have been a very long life ahead of her. The WASP program was disbanded a few months after her death.

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For those of you reading this, of the 38 who died only 5 died in Calif. Of those 5 one is still missing. Gertrude Tompkins-Silver took off in a P-51 from what is now LAX and was never seen again. Pat Macha has spent decades trying to figure out what happened to Gertrude. The most likely theory is she went down in Santa Monica Bay after takeoff. A number of those crash sites are still around, long forgotten shards of metal. Anyone can do a google search and find out if one crashed in your state. Do your home work, get the mishap report and some news paper story's and maybe a coroners report and you have a good chance of relocating a long forgotten crash site.

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This is exactly what collection should be.

So much emotion in a small piece of metal that tells everything…

Congratulations!

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"Marie Michele" is her maiden name. Robinson was her married last name.

 

 

 

Yes but her maiden name was Michell not Michele. Her married name was Marie Michell Robinson. . Everything I have seen even the newspaper clippings shown from the accident spell it Michell.

 

Nice items and nice tributes to the women who served. The WASPS are my favorite subject.

 

...Kat

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Yes but her maiden name was Michell not Michele. Her married name was Marie Michell Robinson. . Everything I have seen even the newspaper clippings shown from the accident spell it Michell.

 

Nice items and nice tributes to the women who served. The WASPS are my favorite subject.

 

...Kat

You are correct in the spelling of her maiden name. When we went out to lay a small monument at the crash site with the Rosado family the plaque maker had also spelled her maiden name wrong. That spelling just stuck in my head.

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You are correct in the spelling of her maiden name. When we went out to lay a small monument at the crash site with the Rosado family the plaque maker had also spelled her maiden name wrong. That spelling just stuck in my head.

 

 

Thanks for laying the small monument and for recognizing these women who gave so much for our country. As I said, the WASP are my favorite subject!

 

...Kat

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CELESTIAL FLIGHT:

She is not dead --
But only flying higher,
Higher than she's flown before,
And earthly limitations
Will hinder her no more.

There is no service ceiling.
Or any fuel range,
And there is no anoxia,
Or need for engine change.
Thank God that now her flight can be
To heights her eyes had scanned,
Where she can race with comets,
And buzz the rainbow's span.

For she is universal
Like courage, love and hope,
And all free, sweet emotions
Of vast and godly scope.

And understand a pilot's Fate
Is not the thing she fears,
But rather sadness left behind,
Your heartbreak and your tears.

So all you loved ones, dry your eyes,
Yes, it is wrong that you should grieve
For she would love your courage more,
And she would want you to believe
She is not dead.
For you should have known
That she is flying higher,
Higher than she's ever flown.

by Elizabeth MacKethan Magid, WASP 44-W-2
copyright 1979

Marie and Elizabeth were BFF's. The two of them are pictured in the first post of pictures (top right). Upon hearing of Marie's death Elizabeth wrote this on the plane ride to Marie's funeral and read it at grave side. Since then it has been read at most all WASP funerals. Elizabeth had passed away a few years before we found the B-25 crash site. I had contacted her son Ken who had talked to Marie's brother some years before. Ken handed me off to former WASP Association president Betty Jean Williams. Between the two of them and with the help of L.A.Times reporter Gill Reza we were able to find Marie's brother. After all of this happened Ken was killed in a airplane crash and Betty has since passed away. Marie's brother is still alive last I heard and Marie's niece who was named after her keeps Marie's memory alive. When Ken sent me the poem it tore me up the first time I read it. It still does

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This is every thing recovered from the crash site. The pilots wing, wing and prop collar insignia, 1st Lt. collar insignia and wrist watch belonged to Lt. Rosado. We met the Rasado family family (including his wife) at Lt. Rosado's grave site at the Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego and returned those items. The items on the bottom left of the photograph were Marie's. The wedding ring, WASP collar insignia, wing and prop collar insignia, finger nail file, Bulova watch, bracelet, and that silver dollar above the B-25C. The ring on the far left belonged to Sgt. Walker. His grandson was named after him and he also serves in the USAF, he had found the story and contacted Pat Macha. Pat called me and that ring was returned a few years ago. My understanding is that Chief Master Sergeant Walker was granted permission to visit his grandfathers crash site.

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Amazing that all of those items were found after so many years. It is amazing that the crash site had not been checked years ago.

 

...Kat

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Amazing that all of those items were found after so many years. It is amazing that the crash site had not been checked years ago.

 

...Kat

The mishap report was misleading in the location of the crash site and the news paper reports were dead wrong. It did not crash in the mountains, it crashed on flat level desert after going into a flat spin. Marie's brother went to Victorville Army Air Base and spoke to the very people listed as witness to the accident in the mishap report. What he was told is not exactly what was stated in the mishap report. The witness in the P-39 saw the B-25 C doing touch and go landings at Grey Butte Aux 4. After lifting off from a touch and go the B-25C went into a flat spin. They did not have the altitude to recover. The crash site was very localized, indicating flat spin. The crash photo's also indicate a flat spin crash. The attitude of the B-25C was flat and level and there was no indication of a nose down attitude that would have indicated an attempt at recovery. I spoke to a pilot who has a B-25 that he shows. His thoughts were that upon take off one of the engines failed. He stated the B-25 is a fly by wire and you need real mussel to hit hard rudder and yoke opposite the engine failure to counter the spin if you do not have enough altitude to dive down and pull out. As to who was flying the B-25C at the time of the crash is unknown. The mishap report lists Lt. Rosado as at fault. In the end he had enough hours and training to recover. If he wasn't in command as pilot and let number 2 take control then he is still at fault as number 1.

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