Airshows: Fallen Stars
It was a peaceful time in America as the decade of the 1940s began. Caro Bayley happened to be a woman graduating college in the early 1940s and someone who had a passion to fly. Little did her father know she would become one of the 25,000 women who applied to become a member of WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) and one of the fortunate 1,078 who went on to become a WASP pilot and a future president of the WASP organization not to mention the 1951 world woman aerobatic champion and the 1951 single engine altitude record holder when he funded her flying school after college graduation.
Caro began her working career at Patterson Field innocently enough; she worked in the message office. It was a good job and one that allowed her to easily build up hours and experience flying to earn a license. The storm clouds of WWII soon catapulted the importance of being a pilot into becoming a defender of our country. There was a serious shortage of pilots after December 7, 1941 as thousands of male American pilots were suddenly shipped overseas to fight. Training programs expanded to supply more pilots but it would take time. There was a third front of WWII and it was an equally important battle -- how to move airplanes between assembly lines, military bases and other locations around the United States. There were simply not enough pilots. The shortage was compounded by the need for talented pilots who could face serious dangers, too. The problems of sabotage, rudimentary weather forecasting, flying a new or rebuilt aircraft barely tested across long distances added difficulty to the dilemma. To solve the problem, after some initial hedging, the US government launched an experimental program to train women pilots known as the Women Air force Service Pilots or WASP. Caro Bayley, wanting to serve her country and being a pilot, became a WASP. She joined quickly, becoming a member of class 43-W-7 training in Sweetwater, Texas. She quickly began flying US war planes, fighters, bombers and cargo planes across the United States. The women flyers flew forty-four different types of airplanes in all types of weather conditions. They flew personnel and cargo; they delivered aircraft from factories to where ever they were needed. Although they couldn’t fly combat missions there are many stories of mock dogfights between a war hardened veteran returning to the states to train pilots and a WASP. When the veteran landed and found that they were in a mock dogfight with a woman their reply was often, you must be mistaken…if she was, she was a heck of a pilot. Caro ferried many aircraft and with experience wanted more excitement. She teamed with some other classmates moving to an even more dangerous WASP mission, joining a tow target squadron where she towed targets for ground-to-air and air-to-air gunnery practice. Reflecting back on 60 years of flying she said, “I fell in love with every airplane that came along, like the P-51, the B-24s, I love the P-47. Oh. We all loved to fly.” During her WASP flying experience she flew everything from the Douglas Dauntless (SBD and A24), and Curtis Helldiver (SB2C and A-25), the Republic Thunderbolt (P-47), AT-11 and the Piper Cub in defense of America.
When peace was on the horizon the WASP program was deactivated in December 1944. The deactivation wasn’t the most gracious; most WASP pilots were suddenly released on the 20th of December 1944. The male pilots could now handle the requirements. Finding a job wasn’t easy, Caro Bayley, now a seasoned pilot moved to Miami with five colleagues, all former WASP and started looking for a job. They rented a house, calling it the “WASP Nest” and began their job search. Finding a job was tough for pilots, especially women pilots, as the war drew to a close. Eventually, Caro found employment as an aviation mechanic. She explains that she wasn’t hired for her mechanical skills: “I was the only one small enough for certain jobs - inside the tail of a J3 Piper Cub for instance.” Her luck was about to change. Air Show promoters were looking for an edge in drawing a paying crowd. Show promoter, Jess Bristow bet that an air show piloted by pretty, experienced women pilots would be a huge draw. He offered Caro a pilot’s position. She jumped at the chance to fly regularly, particularly with the added thrill of being a vital member of an air show. She flew gliders and all sorts of aircraft including a Pitts Special over the next several months.The 1951 Miami Air Show was approaching which gave Caro the opportunity to think about winning two challenges: chase the light plane altitude record and compete in an International Aerobatic Championship. Most pilots considered either competition dangerous, after all air lines of the day didn’t attempt to fly at altitudes approaching 30,000 feet and the Women’s International Aerobatic Championships was tough and had been won by the same seasoned professional for the last three years running.
On the morning of January 4th, Caro left the comfort of the WASP Nest, weighing in at just 100 pounds and jumped into the cockpit of a Piper, PA-18. The aircraft was a standard 1951, two-place Piper Super Cub, with an unsupercharged 125 horsepower Lycoming engine. It was the aircraft widely advertised and used for industrial flying, crop dusting, spraying, and general aviation. If she was successful in exceeding the 24, 504 foot current record it would be a welcomed boost to Piper Aircraft public relations. Although she was flying from the Mac-Arthur Causeway between Miami and Miami Beach where the temperature was about 76 degrees she bundled up in fur-lined artic clothing to ward off the expected thirty four below zero temperatures at altitude. She prepared her oxygen tank and a barograph altitude instrument used to prove her assent and took off. There wasn’t a wind that day and she was able to fly her Piper Aircraft in a huge circle - Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Naples, down nearly to the Keys and back on her almost five hour climb to reach 30,203 feet. It was a record altitude flight for light aircraft and for Caro. Returning to earth tired, but successful at setting a new world’s record there was one more challenge to tackle that day, competing in the Miami Air Show, Women’s International Aerobatic Championship. Edging out Betty Skelton, the winner of the last three years, Caro won the 1951 Championship competition in her own Pitts. Ironically, Caro had once borrowed Betty Skelton’s Pitts airplane in an air show where she learned the difference the right equipment can make in winning. 
Caro’s competitive aviation career was short lived; she flew her last air show just eight months after her record breaking accomplishments. She continued to win different awards, including being one of Mademoiselle’s Magazine 1951 Merit Award Winners but more importantly Caro married in 1951becoming Mrs. Caro Bayley Bosca. She and her pilot husband raised a family including a daughter that she taught to fly competitively. She continued to enjoy life to the fullest and took on the formidable role as the president of the WASP organization representing more than 470 surviving members. All 1,078 women pilots of the WWII Women’s Air force Service Pilots organization, including the thirty eight who were killed in service gained veteran status for their 60 million miles of wartime flying in 1979. Caro and the WASP organization has been a fixture at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. This past July several former WASP spoke to a sizeable audience as part of the EAA Young Eagles program. Mickey Brown, a former WASP talked about her love of flying. She reminisced how she earned $12 a week working and paid $8 for each flying lesson. Marty Wyall talked about graduating in the last class of Women Air Service Pilots, and how she needed to persuade a military doctor to send her physical sheet in to the program. He finally did, and he warned her, “A lady shouldn’t use that tone of voice with a colonel.” After the session they made time to talk with individuals from the audience. It’s was a unique opportunity to talk with veterans, one on one.
Ken Burns recently pointed out that one of the reasons he produced “The War”, his recent WWII epic, was that more than 1,000 American WWII veterans are passing away every day. The opportunity to talk with the “Greatest Generation” is passing quickly. Unfortunately we’ve recently lost another veteran as Mrs. Caro Bayley Bosca lifted off calmly and peacefully for the last time this September. We salute her and all of the WASP.
By John Cilio a freelance writer, aviation historian and member of the Connecticut Lost Squadron Veterans Group. He lives in Sherman, CT. You can contact John at: questions@vintageflyer.com