Women in War

Civil Air Patrol lead the way in many aspect, long before the Tuskegee Airman CAP lead the way but was it the strong hearted men no........ it was the ladies...."To The Ladies" HIP, HIP, HOORAY........

As per our conversation:

Between 1982-1995 I had the opportunity to serve as a member of the National Historical Committee. During that period, I did historical research and wrote a number of things, published for the committee and CAP nationwide.

The recent CAP service during the War on Terror made me think of how things have changed. As you pointed out in 1941-42, we had to organize and train. In 2001 we were on the scene to help as we could.

One thing struck me, as I remembered my research into the article We have a Charley Roger. The article dealt with the bombing of the U-boat off the NJ coast. Part of the research required my contacting Mrs. Gill Rob Wilson as well as the Chief maintenance officer of Base One. While, I'm still looking for the letters, I remember that Mrs. Wilson explained that she and Wilson who had been appointed to work with the Coastal Patrol project flew the first trial patrol flights and she continued to fly, until someone decided that the duty was too dangerous to permit women to participate in such missions, where they might be shot down or captured by U-Boat crews. She and Wilson moved on as he became (?) Executive or Administration Officer under Colonel, later B/G (posthumous.) Johnson.

CAP female officers flew on all other Wartime mission. I believe one died on a Courier Service mission out west. However, to the best of my research Mrs. Pilot Officer Wilson Was the only one to fly active duty over the coast in search of U-Boats.

I remember that she remarried after Wilson's death, but I also regret that I do not remember her Married name. Note She did send me a note when I received the GRW award. Can't find that one either.

Semper Vi,

LTC Allan F. Pogorzelski, CAP

 
Willa B. Brown
(1906-1992 )
The first African-American woman to get a commercial pilot's license, Willa B. 
Brown was born January 21, 1906 in Glasgow, Kentucky, U.S.A. She received her 
bachelor's degree in 1927 at Indiana State Teacher's College. For a while she 
taught school in Gary, Indiana and then, in 1932, after having divorced her 
husband and changing her mind about teaching, she moved to Chicago, Illinois. 
Influenced by the aviatrix Bessie Coleman, Willa Brown started taking flying 
lessons in 1934. Soon she became a member of the flying club, the Challenger Air 
Pilot's Association, and the Chicago Girls Flight Club. She also purchased her 
own airplane. In 1937 she received her pilot's license and that same year, she 
received a master's degree from Northwestern University. 
Also in 1937, she co-founded the National Airmen's Association of America with 
her flight instructor, Cornelius R. Coffey. The Association's goal was to 
promote African-American aviation. In 1938, they started the Coffey School of 
Aeronautics, where approximately two hundred pilots were trained in the next 
seven years. Some of those pilots later became part of the 99th Pursuit Squadron 
at Tuskegee Institute, also known as the "Tuskegee Airmen". 
Brown lobbied Washington for inclusion of African-Americans in the Civilian 
Pilot Training Program and in the Army Air Corps, and, in 1941, she became a 
training coordinator for the Civil Aeronautics Administration and a teacher in 
the Civilian Pilot Training Program. The following year, she became the first 
African-American member of the Civil Air Patrol. She also promoted aviation on 
the radio and taught it in high schools. In 1972, Brown became a member of the 
Women's Advisory Committee on Aviation in the Federal Aviation Agency. 
Willa B. Brown died July 18, 1992. 
Contributed by Danuta Bois 
Bibliography:
The Book of African-American Women: 150 Crusaders, Creators, and Uplifters by 
Tonya Bolden, Adams Media Corporation, 1996