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WASP wings I acquired!


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On 10/27/2022 at 8:55 AM, P-59A said:

Noelle, Congradulations on a very nice find!  Well done!

Thanks! And now I’m on the hunt for another one for a very dear friend who is starting pilot training, to give to her when she finishes.  Learning about the WASP ignited the desire in her, and she’s jumped in with both feet. ❤️

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8 minutes ago, Noelle said:

Thanks! And now I’m on the hunt for another one for a very dear friend who is starting pilot training, to give to her when she finishes.  Learning about the WASP ignited the desire in her, and she’s jumped in with both feet. ❤️

Noelle, I am not sure if any WASP crash  sites are in your state but its worth finding if there are. California has five but Gertrude Thompkins P-51 crash has never been found.

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21 minutes ago, P-59A said:

Noelle, I am not sure if any WASP crash  sites are in your state but its worth finding if there are. California has five but Gertrude Thompkins P-51 crash has never been found.

I’m the sort willing to travel.  If I were to find something, I’d reach to the families first to see if they wanted what I found.  Keeping things without trying first wouldn’t feel right.

 

I wish I knew where to even start to look for Gertrude’s crash.  I absolutely would search for it.  I just drove 6,500 miles from Washington to Santa Barbara to Bisbee, Arizona, to Sweetwater…for Avenger Field…to Houston and Galveston, to Oklahoma City…a museum there for women pilots…and home, so that I could go to Sweetwater and the museum there, and the museum in Oklahoma City, and to search antiques shops.  It makes me so sad to know that her crash has never been found, and in the crash never having been found, her never being laid to rest in any real way.  

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Before Covid I was going to loan Sweetwater Marie's wings for them to display. Roy, Marie's brother loaned the things we found at the crash site to the woman's military museum outside of Arlington.

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On 10/29/2022 at 10:01 PM, P-59A said:

Before Covid I was going to loan Sweetwater Marie's wings for them to display. Roy, Marie's brother loaned the things we found at the crash site to the woman's military museum outside of Arlington.

I was in Sweetwater just a couple weeks ago!  While there, I acquired a magazine signed by Shirley Slade, a reunion poster from 1986, and a book I wasn’t even aware existed.  I collect copies of every WASP book I find out about.  I’ll be going back in April for the next reunion.

 

If Gertrude went down in the bay, as I’ve heard hypothesized, then I doubt she’ll ever be found at this point, and that really guts me.

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