A two-class WASP?

[Noelle]

I was looking at a poster I have that over 50 of the WASPs signed, and noticed one 44-3/4.  Any clue what this means?  @Steve D. has a wings pin with 1/2/3 on it, and now I’m wondering if this means some women started in one class, and for whatever reason, finished in a later class or something.

[Allan H.]

Somewhere here on the forum is a photo of a wing with two class numbers that came with what I considered to be great provenance. I believe that the lady started with one class, but for some reason, was delayed in training and ended up graduating with the next class. You might look at some more WASP posts on the forum and see if you might be able to find it.

 

Allan

[Noelle]

7 hours ago, Allan H. said:

Somewhere here on the forum is a photo of a wing with two class numbers that came with what I considered to be great provenance. I believe that the lady started with one class, but for some reason, was delayed in training and ended up graduating with the next class. You might look at some more WASP posts on the forum and see if you might be able to find it.

 

Allan

 

I’ll see if I can find that know. Steve’s has 1/2/3 on it. I wonder if, if this is the case, who had his can be pinned down.  Do you know about how long ago that other one would have been?  Was her name given in the post?  Trying to figure out the best search terms.

 

[5thwingmarty]

Can you read the name?  The first name looks like Roby, and I found a roster of WASPs and in class 44-4 there was a Meriem L. Roby Anderson.  

 

It is possible she started in class 44-3 but became ill or had an accident that kept her from finishing but she was then allowed to slip to the following class and finish with 44-4.  There is a copy of the 44-3 book on the AAFcollection.info site, but not the 44-4 book.  She is not mentioned in the 44-3 book.

[Noelle]

3 hours ago, 5thwingmarty said:

Can you read the name?  The first name looks like Roby, and I found a roster of WASPs and in class 44-4 there was a Meriem L. Roby Anderson.  

 

It is possible she started in class 44-3 but became ill or had an accident that kept her from finishing but she was then allowed to slip to the following class and finish with 44-4.  There is a copy of the 44-3 book on the AAFcollection.info site, but not the 44-4 book.  She is not mentioned in the 44-3 book.

 

Meriem Lucille Roby Anderson.

 

Class 44-3 started in October 1943, and class 44-4 started in November 1943.  

https://twu.edu/library/womans-collection/collections/women-airforce-service-pilots-official-archive/research/training-classes/wasp-class-of-1944/wasp-class-44-w-3/

https://twu.edu/library/womans-collection/collections/women-airforce-service-pilots-official-archive/research/training-classes/wasp-class-of-1944/wasp-class-44-w-4/

 

In Out of the Blue and Into History, she said, “I entered the WASP October in 1943, Class 44-4.” 

 

So yeah, she started wit 44-3 and ended with 44-4.  I’m so curious why this is.

[5thwingmarty]

Based on this, there is no indication that she actually started in class 44-3.  When then began their training, they were put into classes which were assigned class numbers based on when they their would eventually graduate, so even though her training began in 1943 it was always in the training schedule for her class to graduate in 1944, as part of the 4th class to graduate that year.

 

This was the same as for male pilots in training, except for the men they generally had to attend three different schools to complete their training.  This is why you will sometimes find a set of class books from an estate that includes primary, basic and advanced books that all have the same class number.  The class number was what you were scheduled to be in when you completed advanced pilot training.  In some of those book sets you will find someone who slipped from one class to the next class because they became ill or had a recoverable injury.

[Noelle]

7 hours ago, 5thwingmarty said:

Based on this, there is no indication that she actually started in class 44-3.  When then began their training, they were put into classes which were assigned class numbers based on when they their would eventually graduate, so even though her training began in 1943 it was always in the training schedule for her class to graduate in 1944, as part of the 4th class to graduate that year.

 

This was the same as for male pilots in training, except for the men they generally had to attend three different schools to complete their training.  This is why you will sometimes find a set of class books from an estate that includes primary, basic and advanced books that all have the same class number.  The class number was what you were scheduled to be in when you completed advanced pilot training.  In some of those book sets you will find someone who slipped from one class to the next class because they became ill or had a recoverable injury.

 

Except 44-3 started their training in October, 44-4 started in November, she said she went in October, and is listed as graduating with 44-4, and in her own hand, she lists both and states it in her own word. 

At the Texas Woman’s University, the explicitly mention some some starting as many as two classes ahead of where they graduated. Eolyne Nichols and Martha Lundy are two who come to mind as starting in 43-2 and finishing in 43-4.

 

https://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p214coll2/id/4084

https://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p214coll2/id/4077

 

I have no reason to think she didn’t start with 44-3 and end with 44-4.

 

I found a couple more:

 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

As i mentioned in a previous post, the WASP either passed all their tests and graduated with their class, were close but missed out on some aspects of 

their progress and were held back for the next class or washed out and were dismissed. If you look at a yearbook, you will see this division of how the different women are listed.