Anna Flynn is one of nearly 1,100 Women Airforce Service Pilots who ferried military aircraft during World War II. She belongs to 136 female pilots who went on to fly the most powerful high-performance military pursuit aircraft at the time—the P-40 Curtiss Warhawk, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang.
In May of 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh left New York in a small single-engine plane and flew nonstop to Paris, becoming an overnight hero to the world and a personal hero to eight-year-old Anna Flynn. From that time on, Anna knew she would become a pilot - but it would take sixteen years and a number of roadblocks before her dream would begin to unfold.
At age 22, Anna moved to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where she worked as a riveter at Piper Aircraft and earned her pilot’s license. Later she also has been a flying instructor. However, any description would certainly include her curiosity and, perhaps, stubbornness. These traits helped set her sights on the "man's world" of aviation in its early stages.
"My father did not want me to learn how to fly. He didn't want me to leave home. So we kind of argued about it for a little while. And then finally he said, "Well, if you want to try it, go ahead. Always know you've got a home to come to. So he was pretty good about the whole thing. And I never realized until I had kids of my own, what he must have been going through."
Anna Louise Flynn: A Dangerous Job
"One day, I went to take off and I noticed there was this strong odor of gasoline, but I thought they had just refueled, so what could you expect? But it got worse. And I was taxiing out. When I turned around to take off, it got so bad I had to open the canopy. Then I noticed my feet were wet. Gas was pouring right into the cockpit."
“After the war, I just did not want to get out of the airplane. The very last flight, that was kind of handed me on a platter. We were at the going-away dinner that they gave us, and we got word that they needed one more WASP to move a P-47. Everybody wanted that one, so we drew straws. And I won."
Memoir by Anna Flynn Monkiewicz
Anna tells the story of her journey into the sky - from the wishful thinking of a child in 1927 to a woman who in 2010 stood with fellow Women Airforce Service Pilots in Washington, D.C., to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. At the age of 94, she published an e-book memoir: “My Piece of the Sky.” Anna Louise Flynn passed away on August 10, 2019, at age 100.
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Memoirs of an Executive Pilot in Europe
from VIP Transportation to Emergency Flights
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Piloten Ausbildung, Jobsuche und Berufsalltag
(in deutscher Sprache - print & ebook)
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