Women Pilot Leaders – Getting the message out...
We had the opportunity to talk with a WASP, Dawn Seymour at the Geneseo Air Show this summer. She became part of the WWII, B-17 alumni when she, as a Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) embarked on a nine-week course to qualify seventeen women pilots in the giant bomber. Thirteen completed training to fly in non-combat areas. Many aviation experts of the time asserted that the feat was impossible but the WASP accomplished many seemingly impossible feats.
During World War II, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) flew sixty million miles from 120 airfields in the USA. The Air Force was looking for pilots to do some of the domestic jobs -- ferrying airplanes, testing airplanes, towing targets for anti-aircraft practice -- and to take the place of men who were going to combat. Seymour (her last name in 1941 was Rochow) flew B-17s and many other aircraft during the war. As the American pilot training programs caught up with demand and men pilots were no longer in short supply, the WASPs were deactivated in December, 1944. Deactivated as a formal organization, however, the spirit and energy of 1,074 WASP did not end when the Government didn’t need their services. After all, they were among a special group of 3,000 women who had a pilot’s license in 1941. They were and are strong-willed, independent and astonishingly motivated.
Seymour’s first flight was when Dr. Richard Parmenter, Director of Flight Research at Cornell University, took Dawn up in a yellow Piper Cub. The leaves had turned on a brisk 1939 October day and she felt the sense of freedom that only flying can give. She quickly became the first female in the Civilian Pilot Training program (CPTP) and the first to volunteer for the Flight Research Program at Cornell University. She was also the first female to graduate from CPTP. We talked on many topics and a special gleam radiated in her eyes when she talked about how women pilots are helping young people understand the benefits of working in aviation.
Dawn Seymour as a WASP
Credit: War Letters, Rochester Writes Home
Dawn Seymour summer of 2008
Credit Gilles Auliard
Seymour’s astonishing personal motivation is focused on how to encourage young people to learn about aviation. Seymour is a member of several groups of women aviators and one of her favorites is the Experimental Aircraft Association, (EAA) Women Soar. It is a program designed to help instill the attitude that “If you can dream it, you can do it” regarding personal ambition and careers. This special group works with girls in grades 8-12 inspiring them to explore their potential. With teachers, parents, and women who have achieved success in non-traditional careers, the girls are challenged to think about what it takes to become the next astronaut, test pilot, engineer, scientist, CEO, or award-winning journalist. They explore the answers to these questions in discussion with exceptional women from a variety of fields who encourage them to achieve a career limited only by their dreams.
Seymour remembered a recent presentation where she teamed with Astronaut Pam Melroy to talk with young people. Melroy served as Shuttle pilot on two flights and as mission commander logging over 38 days in space. Their mission was to talk to a large high school group about aviation. The problem; how to tie their individual experiences together for the audience? Ingenuity prevailed and Seymour started with introducing her piloting days as a WASP, stepping through the pilot take-off check list of the B-17 and at the right moment Melroy switched to her pilot lift-off check list of the Space Shuttle. Now the two aviation leaders were as one – the technology was different but the young people could easily understand these two women performed similar roles. The audience listened intently to the rest of the message.
The Ninety-Nines is another group Seymour actively participates in. The national group, organized into 20 regional Chapters, sponsor educational safety programs and aerospace education workshops for teachers, students and licensed pilots across the nation. They are known for co-pilot courses for apprehensive lightplane passengers and fear-of-flying clinics for airline passengers. The Ninety-Nines have historically sponsored more than 75% of Federal Aviation Administration pilot safety programs in the U.S. each year.
Seymour asked that we close with two messages – That each of us has a little voice inside that urges us to try. She encourages us to find a way and do the hard work it calls for. And she reminded me that people are often limited only by their fears. The 1940’s WASP motto helped to overcome any fear - “We live in the wind and the sand, and our eyes are on the stars.”
If you consider yourself young and are reading this, tell your friends about aviation and help them understand all of its benefits. If you’re a little more seasoned than young, consider sharing your experiences through a group like the Ninety-Nines or your local EAA chapter. Help someone else reach for the stars!
By: John Cilio
Contact him via: questions@vintageflyer.com