Item:
ONSV22SDN05

Original U.S. WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots W.A.S.P. Document Heavy Grouping With Photo Album Containing 43 Pictures From WASP Class 44-7 - Mary Ann Walker

Item Description

Original Items: One-Of-A-Kind Grouping. Now this is a fantastic grouping! The grouping consists of nearly every document, certification, ID Cards, song books, WASP booklets and many more that Mary Ann Walker received during her time in the WASP, both during WWII and the reunions after the war. This is the most documented group attributed to a WASP pilot we have ever seen, and it even comes with a personal photo album loaded with pictures!

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became trained pilots who tested aircraft, ferried aircraft, and trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during World War II. Despite various members of the armed forces being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing.

WASP was preceded by the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Both were organized separately in September 1942. They were pioneering organizations of civilian women pilots, who were attached to the United States Army Air Forces to fly military aircraft during World War II. On August 5, 1943, the WFTD and WAFS merged to create the WASP organization.

The WASP arrangement with the US Army Air Forces ended on December 20, 1944. During its period of operation, each member's service had freed a male pilot for military combat or other duties. They flew over 60 million miles; transported every type of military aircraft; towed targets for live anti-aircraft gun practice; simulated strafing missions and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASP members lost their lives and one, Gertrude Tompkins, disappeared while on a ferry mission, her fate still unknown. In 1977, for their World War II service, the members were granted veteran status, and in 2009 awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

The binder in this grouping is loaded down with an incredible amount of information pertaining to the service of Miss Walker. The binder contains newsletters, “enlistment” records, service information, rosters, her personal ID cards and certificates with photos, the history of WASP and many more.

The manila folder is her Individual Flight Record and contains her flight logs, aircraft types, units and more. She completed Transition Flying requirements per the AAF Regulation on October 26, 1942.

The Following Are The Aircraft Types She Was Certified To Fly:
- PT-17 (Boeing-Stearman Model 75): The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman, or Kaydet, it served as a primary trainer for the United States Army Air Forces, the United States Navy (as the NS and N2S), and with the Royal Canadian Air Force as the Kaydet throughout World War II. After the conflict was over, thousands of surplus aircraft were sold on the civilian market. In the immediate postwar years, they became popular as crop dusters and sports planes, and for aerobatic and wing walking use in air shows.

- BT-13 (Vultee BT-13 Valiant): The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic (a category between primary and advanced) trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the BT-13 in USAAC/USAAF service was known as the BT-15 Valiant, while an identical version for the US Navy was known as the SNV and was used to train naval aviators for the US Navy and its sister services, the US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard.

- AT-6: The AT-6 was built originally to compete in the 1937 U. S. Army Air Corps as a basic combat aircraft. 180 aircraft were ordered for the U.S.A.A.C., and the British Royal Air Force ordered 400. Experience showed that it was a mediocre combat aircraft but an excellent trainer, so it was reclassified as an Advanced Trainer. Nicknamed the Texan, it trained most of the Allied fighter pilots of World War II and went on to become arguably the best fighter training aircraft of all time.

- UC-78B (Cessna AT-17 Bobcat): The Cessna AT-17 Bobcat or Cessna Crane is a twin-engine advanced trainer aircraft designed and made in the United States, and used during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engine trainers and larger multi-engine combat aircraft. The commercial version was the Model T-50, from which the military versions were developed.

The AT-8, AT-17, C-78, UC-78 and Crane were military versions of the commercial Cessna T-50 light transport. The Cessna Airplane Company first produced the wood and tubular steel, fabric-covered T-50 in 1939 for the civilian market, as a lightweight and lower cost twin for personal use where larger aircraft such as the Beechcraft Model 18 would be too expensive. A low-wing cantilever monoplane, it featured retractable main landing gear and trailing edge wing flaps, both electrically actuated via chain-driven screws. The retracted main landing gear left some of the wheels extended below the engine nacelle for emergency wheel-up landings. The wing structure was built around laminated spruce spar beams, truss-style spruce and plywood ribs, and plywood wing leading edges and wing tips. The fixed tailwheel is not steerable, but can be locked straight. The Curtiss Reed metal fixed-pitch propellers were soon replaced with Hamilton Standard 2B-20-213 hydraulically-actuated, constant-speed, non-featherable propellers. Power was provided by two 225 hp (168 kW) Jacobs L-4MB engines rated at 245 hp (183 kW) for takeoff. Production began in December 1939.

This is an incredible grouping, perfect for the WASP collectors! WASP items of this caliber are extremely difficult to find in today’s market, and we more than likely will never encounter another like it.

Comes more than ready for further research and display.

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