Flight gives woman historic view
The daughter of a World World War II service pilot recreates her mom's role.

Nancy Salisbury slid her cloth flying cap and headphones over her blowing hair after climbing into the vintage cockpit of a yellow 1945 AT-6D.

She chattered with nerves.

Salisbury stuck her fingers through an opening in the canopy and waved to her family as the rumbling World War II trainer taxied for takeoff.

Three minutes later, Salisbury was in the air, where she finally understood why her mother loved this so much.

"Wow! That's great. I didn't say any bad words or anything, but I closed my eyes, Salisbury said after landing 30 minutes later and stepping off the wing at the end of her flight.

Salisbury paid nearly $500 for her trip aboard a North American Texan the same plane her mother flew in World War II. The restored trainer was provided by North American Top Gun, an airplane experience company in Florida.

"I thought of her a lot, Salisbury said of her mother. "I wish my mom could have seen me fly it.

Salisbury's mother, Mary Helen Gosnell, died in 1995. After her death, Salisbury researched her mother's role in an elite group of women in World War II.

As a child, she listened to story after story about her mother's experience, but was bored by them, not knowing the significance.

"Not until she passed away did I understand what she'd done.

In 1944, her mom, already a pilot, joined the civil wing of the U.S. Army Air Corps.

She was among the first women to fly military aircraft and became part of a group known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

Pilots such as Gosnell ferried airplanes from aircraft manufacturers to military bases and from base to base. The women's duties freed up men to fly combat missions overseas.

Since the wing was a civil branch, the families of women who died during service to the war received no compensation.

Gosnell flew domestically with pilot Paul Tibbets the year before he gained fame as the pilot who dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.

Once the war was over, military officials said they no longer needed women to fly, so the pilots returned home.

Salisbury has traveled to WASP reunions to meet people who knew her mom. She also appeared at two Oklahoma City air shows to display information about her mother and fellow WASP members.

The only thing Salisbury hadn't done was experience flying in the noisy old airplanes her mother flew.

She heard that North American Top Gun would be visiting Oklahoma City's Sundance Air Park this month, so she drove from Woodward to sign up. She paid $497 to ride 30 minutes in a restored AT-6D.

Once in the air, Salisbury flew the plane briefly, got to raise the landing gear and survived an aileron roll a slow maneuver that offers a good view of the Earth upside down.

Salisbury reported a few queasy moments and weak legs but was so inspired by the ride that she vowed to do it again.

"It was wonderful. I can see how my mom liked it, Salisbury said.

"This next year, I'm going to do it again. Maybe I can get my daughter to do it with me.

Information

For more information on Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), go online to www.wasp-wwii.org, call the National WASP WWII Museum at (254) 710 7202, or e-mail nancy@wasp-wwii.org.

Archive ID: 2438448