by Ella Carey
THE COMMITTEE: So is this a personal revisiting for you, Mrs. Forrest? Are you simply here to try to reconnect with your long-lost friends? How could you truly have been sisters-in-arms, then, in the true military style, if your time there was so easily forgotten by your fellow WASP?
EVA FORREST: I do not believe that my fellow WASP could have forgotten our time together at Sweetwater. I believe that they felt the same bond during wartime as I did. But I was involved in an accident in the winter of ’44 that killed one of my close friends, Helena Cartwright, a fellow WASP. I worry that I did something wrong in that accident. I have been unable to recall the details of what happened, and I have tried to reach out to my WASP friends. But I have never heard back. What if I broke our military-style code of putting my WASP sisters before myself? I worry that they washed me out.
Winter mist curled over the empty plains as the cold weather unfurled over Texas. Inside, the hangars were freezing. Trainees and teachers started coming down sick. But the girls flew the final hours they needed to graduate, bundled up in their leather flying jackets, woolen collars turned up to protect their necks. Their cheeks were flushed red with the cold, where four months earlier, they’d burned from the relentless sun.
Dan’s replacement did not do anything to help morale. Their new flight instructor was an entirely different type of man.
Bob Sutton first addressed Eva’s flight group on an exposed outlying airfield, his light-brown hair immaculate in spite of the icy breeze. His blue eyes were cold. “I know you women are nearly graduating. You must be clever girls to get this far. However, the fact is you’re going to have trouble when you graduate. You’ll either be target towing while our men shoot up at you from the ground, delivering new planes from factories to bases, or testing planes that have been repaired. It’s all very well for you to have flown the three training planes here, but many of you won’t be strong enough to fly the bigger planes that we need you to fly.”
Eva sensed Bea tensing up.
“Women simply don’t have the strength.”
Bea cleared her throat. “I disagree, sir.”
Swift as a cat, Bob rounded on her, frost curling from his mouth. “You have a problem?”
Their class had enjoyed a good run with instructors so far—Reg, Dan, and Hank had taught the women on the base with an attitude of respect, but gossip abounded about the way WASP were treated on some of the military bases across the country, and those bases were where they all were about to be sent. With only thirty percent of their class washed out so far, class 43-W-8 was working extra hard to remain focused and get through the last tests.
Eva had heard tales of past instructors who had washed girls out for very little reason, sometimes almost nothing at all. And that was the last thing they needed when they were so close to the end of their training. She admired Bea for standing up to Bob, but at the same time, she didn’t want a touchy instructor’s ire to ruin her opportunity to contribute to the war.
“I presume you are talking about bombers, sir?” Bea went on. Her tone was measured, calm. “Are you saying that we will not be strong enough to test or deliver them?”
“You’ll struggle to fly them. It will be impossible for women of your height, in particular.”
Bea rose up to her full height of five foot three. “We can prop ourselves up on parachutes and employ blocks under our feet to reach the pedals.”
“This is the air force.” Bob Sutton made no effort to hide his smirk. “Not some circus outfit.”
“And we are professionally trained pilots.”
“You are trainees. The multiple-engine aircraft are far heavier than what you’ve been training in here.”
Nina piped up next to Eva. “Sir, our strength training and ground school have prepared us to handle a multitude of planes. We will be ready to fly every type of plane in the military. Unlike male pilots, we are ready to fly every type of aircraft there is.”
He let out a snort. “You women have no idea what you’re in for, frankly. You can’t just strap on your high heels to reach the pedals. When it comes to planes like the B-17, men struggle to fly them. They land covered in sweat. You need to be aware that what you are facing will be impossible.”
Helena raised a hand. “I don’t think there’s any reason a woman couldn’t fly a four-engine bomber, sir. In fact, I understand that it’s already happening on some of the bases. If the men do not want to test-fly repaired planes, then surely it should be a source of relief that women are prepared to take on that job.”
Bob Sutton pressed his hands to his forehead.
Eva felt her mouth twitch.
“Class, today I want you to do check rides—stalls, lazy eights, turns, chandelles, and forced landings in the advanced trainer. You can come up with me first.” He pointed at Bea.
When Bea followed Bob up to the advanced trainer, she turned around to the four of them in their group and sent them a shrug.
“What a big cheese,” Nina said once he was out of earshot.
Rita stood silent and stiff on Eva’s other side, her face pale in the cold. Eva glanced at the dark shadows that tarnished the delicate skin under her eyes.
Eva huddled in the open field with the others. In the warmer weather, they’d study in the outlying fields or use the time to write a letter home. But today, the windchill factor was below freezing, and they kept each other close.
“Bea got a ninety-seven on her math test again, and one hundred percent on navigation,” Helena said. “I can tell you, if I’m sent to the same base as she is after graduation, I won’t be complaining. She’s one smart girl, and she won’t take anything lying down.”
“As was Nancy,” Nina said.
“I so miss that girl’s wonder at the world,” Rita murmured.
Eva turned to her, glad to hear her voicing her feelings and thoughts openly with them. “I take comfort in the fact that she must be watching over us,” Eva said. “And every time I go up there, I feel closer to my sister too.”
Rita smiled, but the expression did not reach her eyes.
Bea brought the plane down in a perfect landing.
Amid the rattle of the prop engine, Rita reached out a hand and held tight on to Eva’s own. “It’s friendship that’s gotten me through this terrible time. Thank you,” she said when the advanced trainer’s engine turned quiet. “Every day I miss him. I want to scream and shout at him being taken away. But I’m getting through.”
Eva squeezed Rita’s hand back, but across the windswept, freezing field, she could see Bob Sutton singling her out as his next victim. He was appraising her. Eva only hoped he knew she’d been getting top grades in her flight tests so far.
He marched over, stopping right in front of them with a click of his boots.
“Eva Scott.” He murmured her surname like he was toying with a dying mouse.
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s see you fly.”
Eva tried to kid herself that she had nothing to worry about. They had only a handful of night-flying exercises to carry out and pass, along with meteorology finals in ground school. In total, Eva had only another ten hours of flying time left before graduation.
The problem was, since he’d replaced Dan, Bob Sutton had given out more unsatisfactory marks—U’s—for check rides than all the other instructors put together. He’d washed out eight girls so far.
“What are you waiting for, woman?”
Eva stood up, collected her helmet and goggles, and moved toward the plane.
“Good luck flying in this wind,” the mechanic on duty said.
The wind had worsened since Bea went up, and for one fleeting moment, Eva wished she were home. Sunny California seemed like a long-gone dream right now.
Eva carried out her preflight inspection and climbed up onto the wing. She slipped into the front cockpit with Bob Sutton behind her and pulled the hood down. She stared at the instrument panel. She would not be nervous. She would not let this instructor spook her in any
way. Eva frowned at her hands, turned on the engine, and willed herself to complete her flight without a hitch.
The takeoff was smooth even though Eva’s hands shook. She’d do this for Nancy’s and Dan’s sakes.
She carried out the required exercises, keeping her concentration fierce, shutting off one of the engines as they’d been instructed, and correcting the plane in a second as she’d been taught.
Finally, she landed and turned to face Bob Sutton in the rear cockpit.
His eyes were still narrowed, but there was a new glint of admiration in his look. “Fine form, Eva. Well done.”
Eva turned away from him, raised her brow, and lifted the canopy over the cockpit. She went back to the waiting girls.
Nina came toward her. “Rebecca Marsh failed this morning. He washed her out. With only a couple weeks left. Someone’s spreading the story.”
Eva caught the fear in Nina’s eyes, knowing that it was fear for Rita that worried her. Rita was flying as if she were against something every time she went up.
“Rita.” Bob Sutton looked up from the clipboard that he kept attached to him like a vise. “Proceed to your flight.”
Eva ran a hand over Rita’s thin shoulder. The tall girl went to the plane. And from the time Rita took off, she executed every one of her maneuvers in the most glorious way Eva had seen.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE COMMITTEE: Mrs. Forrest, how is your accident relevant to our decision to make WASP part of the military? We refute that you are here for anything other than personal reasons.
EVA FORREST: The WASP records have been locked away since 1944. No one can access them, because they are not military. Those records would contain the answers that I need about the accident. They would tell me whether or not I did the right thing by my fellow WASP and my sister pilot, Helena. And opening the records would make such information available not only for me, but for others as well. It would ensure that the WASP were part of history if historians could access our records and learn our story.
“Telling Ma to bring my woolen two-piece outfit, black pumps, and my silver studs for graduation.” Nina sat upright on her bed, frowning at the letter she was writing home.
“Sounds fearful smart,” Bea said.
“I’m gonna be terribly smart.” Nina grinned right back at Bea.
“That’s if we graduate, with Bob Sutton on the prowl.” Helena stopped folding her clothes for a moment. “He’s on the warpath, and none of us are safe.”
“Nonsense, I’m graduating. I don’t care how hard-boiled Bob Sutton gets,” Nina said. “Evie, our moms will only need tweeds or something to wear when they come, right? My ma wants to know.”
“Tweeds sound perfect. I’ll tell Mom the same thing.” Eva hated to think what her mom would make of Sweetwater.
“My ma says she and your mom have rooms on the same floor of the Blue Bonnet Hotel,” Nina went on.
Eva glanced across the bay to Rita. All this talk of moms was not sensitive toward her. Chances were, Rita was not going to have anyone come watch her graduate next week.
Helena changed the topic. “Did you hear? They don’t announce where we’ll be sent until after we graduate.”
“Dang it, that’s frustrating,” Nina said. “Evie, if we’re separated, it’s going to be mighty strange for us. I can’t imagine it, to tell the truth.”
“I’d love to be with you girls too.” Helena put the last of her clothes away in her wardrobe and smiled, almost shyly, at Eva. “If the three of us were posted together, that would be grand.”
“We could do with some organizing from you, girl,” Nina said, still glaring at her own handwriting.
A shadow passed across Helena’s face.
“We’d value your friendship.” Eva kept her tone reassuring. “You know we would, Helena.”
Helena’s smile was full of relief.
“Don’t know if we can request anything, but if we can, I’d like to fly cross country, either in California, Arizona, or Florida,” Bea said.
“Sounds like a dream, flying cross country, better than doing short ferrying trips. And all the time in the world alone,” Rita said.
“Imagine the lack of relief tubes.” Nina closed up her envelope and placed it on her bedside chest.
“As long as I’m not sent to Camp Davis as a starting point, I don’t mind where I go,” Bea said. “Forty thousand men and fifty WASP? Not for me.”
Eva stood up, suddenly feeling confined in the room. Outside, it was a clear Texan winter day, but freezing. She drew her cardigan around herself and stood for a moment on the front step of the barracks, raising her face up to the blue sky and the winter sun that shone down on Avenger Field. It was hard to imagine what going home would be like. Her mom’s letters had been practical, perfunctory, and brief. Her dad wasn’t a keen writer. He’d tacked on notes to her mom’s letters, telling her he was hoping she was okay and that he missed her. She was looking forward to seeing them both, but she hoped her mom would cope with the news of her next assignment.
“Okay?” Nina stepped out the door to stand next to her.
“Just a little uncertain.”
“Going back home throwing you off?”
Eva let out a soft chuckle. “You know, I’m a strange mix of wanting to go home and thinking I’m going to miss Sweetwater. I’ve become so very used to being out here.”
“I’ll miss Avenger Field.” Nina folded her arms and sat down on the step. “I think it’s the uncertainty, the not knowing where we’ll all end up that’s throwing me. And going home will be grand but strange. I feel like a different girl after the last few months. The reality of what we’re doing has hit me. We’re about to go off and do what we’ve been trained to do. I never thought I’d be a flygirl for the war.”
Eva sat down cross-legged next to her. “Talking of flygirls and flyboys, I had a new letter from Harry. He tells me Lucille is throwing a party in the ballroom at some swanky Hollywood hotel while we are home. It’s gonna be on the night we arrive, and he sounded like it was gonna be a big deal.”
“Evie? You don’t think . . .” Nina turned to Eva. “Surely not.” She sounded more decisive now. “This is Harry. Smart, sensible Harry. He wouldn’t do anything rash.”
“It’s wartime,” Eva said, staring out at the bleak barracks. “Folks are making decisions much faster than in peacetime. It’s understandable. Just hard, thinking about it, you know.”
“Lucille’s wrong for Harry. What’s she doing toward the war, anyway?”
“I have no idea. Sometimes, I want to just tell him I’m here, you know? But it seems a stupid plan when he’s smitten with Lucille.”
“I understand. But I think he’s being a fool.” Nina let out a snort and stared at the brown grass. November rains hadn’t been enough to turn anything green out here. “Well, here’s another suggestion. What if you meet someone swell on an air force base?” Nina nudged Eva with her elbow. “Hmm?”
“All I want to do on an air force base is fly planes. Problem is, I haven’t met any man who comes close to Harry. I don’t want to compromise, but the situation with Harry is impossible. I’ll have to learn to live with it.”
A plane buzzed, lonely in the clear sky.
“Well.” Nina stretched out her legs. “I for one am going to look out for some handsome guy for you, someone to make our Harry jealous. Much as I love him too, he needs to see what he’s missing.”
Eva chuckled. “Oh, Nina. With men and women being so separated during wartime, I think we are extra susceptible to turning people into dreams because they’re not there. But I do feel something deeper for Harry. And that’s all there is to it.”
“I could always thump him over the head and tell him to look at the beautiful Evie properly, not just see you like some kid sister around the block.”
“I’d die if you did that.”
“I know you would . . . makes you wonder whether Rita’s philosophy was right, though, doesn’t it?”
> Eva sat in silence for a moment. “I’ve been thinking that.”
A breeze stirred up the trees around the bay. “I’m awful glad you offered to bring Rita home,” Eva said.
“Oh, it’ll be a gas. Hollywood’s full of military boys. Flyboys, marines. We might all meet beaux. But you are the most beautiful of the three of us, so I still think it’s likely to be you who does.”
Eva threw out a laugh. “Stuff and nonsense. If anyone deserves a beau, it’s you.”
Nina let out an infectious giggle like the schoolgirl Eva had known for years. “Oh, I’m holding out for the real thing, just as much as you are. I swear I’m never settling for some idiot. Jeepers, I’d rather spend the rest of my life nailing rivets than running around doing housework after some drip!”
Eva clutched Nina’s arm, and Nina burst into a gale of giggles.
Deedee stood up on a podium in the hangar. Her blond hair was pulled back neatly, and she wore her dressy navy suit.
“Class Forty-Three-W-Eight, you have conducted yourself with excellence. Overall, you have one of the lowest washout rates of any group. We want to keep it that way now that graduation is so close.”
“So do we,” Bea muttered. “So do we.”
“I know there has been a lot of speculation among you about where you’re all going to end up. I cannot tell you which bases you’ll be sent to, but I can tell you that the majority of you will be utility pilots.”
“Polite way of saying we’ll be test pilots for repaired airplanes.” Bea’s mutterings were just loud enough for their bay mates to hear, not loud enough to disturb Deedee’s talk. “Darn it. But if that’s what we have to do, then I’m not going to complain.”
As for airplanes, many of the girls were keen to fly huge bombers and get started on the big four-engine airplanes, but Eva still much preferred the nifty single engines. She had no desire to lumber around in a bomber all day long.
“Many of you will be hop-flying planes when they’re fixed and ready to go back into combat,” Deedee said. She scanned the class. “Only a very select few will be sent to carry out target towing and searchlight practice. As for ferrying, again, there will only be a small group of you doing that. You’ll all receive your postings when you are on leave after graduation.”