Saw a photo essay at the Sacramento Bee on the UK's Red Arrows and their first woman pilot, Kirsty Moore. A poster thought she was the first woman aerobatic pilot ever. Not so, that honor, for a military aerobatic team, goes to Major Nicole Malachowski of the USAF Thunderbirds.
Then there was this article from Planenews.com:
http://planenews.com/zlmn
Search Begins for Last Lost Woman Pilot of WWII
WASP Pilot Gertrude Tomkins Silver Crashed off California Coast in 1944
On Tuesday [Oct 8, 2009], a crew of archeologists, divers, sonar technicians and volunteers began a search 65 years overdue, to find the wreckage of the plane that carried Silver, the only missing and unaccounted for member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, an elite, all-female flight squadron formed at the height of World War II.
"Of the 38 WASPs who lost their lives, she's the only one unaccounted for," said Pat Macha, a retired teacher-turned-aviation archaeologist who is leading the search, from aboard a search vessel in Santa Monica Bay.
"That's a big motivator," he added. "These women played an important role in our history and their next of kin still want resolution."
The search continues today...
And Pat Macha, leading the search, will appear February 6, 2010 at the Planes of Fame musuem in California to talk about his quest to find Silver.
http://www.planesoffame.org/pressreleases.php?ID=117
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