Nadine Bernice Ramsey (1911–1997) was an American aviator who became one of the first two women to fly mail for the US Postal Service. She was a Women Airforce Service Pilot and one of only twenty-six WASPs to pilot a Lockheed P-38 Lightning during World War II.

Family and early life

Ramsey was raised in Illinois and Kansas.[1] Her father worked as a "wildcatter" in oil fields and was often away from home.[2] Ramsey and her younger brother, Edwin, often witnessed their father hitting their mother.[2] When she was seventeen,[2] her father was arrested for spousal abuse[1] after Nadine and Edwin had to drag him away from their mother.[2] That night, he committed suicide in his cell.[1] After his death, Ramsey's mother raised the children alone.[1] To help support her family, Ramsey dropped out of school and became a secretary.[2] After work, she would go to the nearby Beechcraft plane factory for flying lessons.[2] At first, she kept her lessons a secret from most people, believing a woman pilot would be considered scandalous.[2] She gave flying lessons to Edwin, who described her as “an expert, instinctive flier.”[2]

Ramsey's mother, Nelle,[3] was a cosmetologist and dermatologist.[1] Her brother became an officer in the US Army and a guerrilla leader in the Philippines during World War II.[1]

Aviation career

Ramsey became an aviator in 1937,[4] making headlines when she flew a Kansas airmail route on May 19, 1938.[5] She and Charlotte Frye were the first women to carry mail for the Postal Service.[5] On May 22, she flew in an airshow in Hutchinson, Kansas.[6]

By 1940,[7] Ramsey was living in Manhattan Beach, California, where she advertised and sold Taylorcraft airplanes.[8] She also carried passengers for a fee.[8] On September 2, 1940, Ramsey was flying over the mountains near Lake Henshaw with a passenger named Gertrude Snow.[7] As she tried to land, the plane's landing gear hit a tree, causing it to nosedive.[7] Snow received "fractures of both arms and a badly mangled leg".[7] Ramsey was treated for "possible serious internal injuries".[7] Her back and several of her ribs were broken, and she was badly concussed.[2] One of her legs was nearly amputated, but a friend, claiming to speak for her family, had Ramsey transferred to an LA hospital where doctors saved the leg.[2] Edwin dropped out of law school to care for her while she recovered.[2] By December, Ramsey could walk, and by February, she was flying again.[2]

Ramsey joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots in 1943.[9] She graduated with the 43 W-5 Class[10] on September 12, 1943.[9] Ramsey went on to pursuit school, where she learned to fly fighter planes, graduating on May 1, 1944.[11] As a WASP, Ramsey piloted PT-19, BT-13, UC-78, AT-6, P-39, P-47 P-51, and P-63 planes.[10] She was also one of the twenty-six WASPs who flew a Lockheed P-38 Lightning.[12] Ramsey was initially stationed at Love Field, Texas, but asked to be transferred to the Long Beach Army Air Base in California,[4] where she ferried fighter aircraft and was an instructor in "preflight transition".[13] After the WASPs were disbanded, she stayed on the base as an attaché to the Sixth Army Ferrying Group.[13]

In 1945, Ramsey bought her own P-38, an Army surplus, in Kingman, Arizona.[2] The plane cost 1,250 dollars.[2] Ramsey flew her P-38 for two and a half years, selling the plane when she could no longer afford to maintain it.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Woo, Elaine (16 March 2013). "Edwin Ramsey dies at 95; WWII Army cavalry officer in Philippines". LA Times. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Ramsey, Edwin (1990). Lieutenant Ramsey’s War. New York: Knightsbridge Publishing Company. ISBN 1574880527.
  3. ↑ "Ed's Mother Nelle, Wichita". Edwin Price Ramsey. December 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  4. 1 2 "WASPs seek status". Independent Press-Telegram. 10 October 1976. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 "Woman Pilots Mail Plane From Wichita". The Hutchinson News. 18 May 1938. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Thirty Ships Expected In Air Show Today". The Hutchinson News. 22 May 1938. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Women Hurt". Santa Maria Times. 3 September 1940. Retrieved 4 April 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 Kaseman, Betty (2005). Prop Wash: For The Love Of Flying. San Diego, California: Black Forest Press. pp. 61–64. ISBN 1582751358.
  9. 1 2 "Wives And Sisters Of Missing Men Go Into Air Service". Big Spring Daily Herald. 12 September 1943. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Nadine Ramsey, 43-W-5 Classbook Photograph". Texas Women's University. 2014.
  11. ↑ Byrn Rickman, Sarah (2016). WASP of the Ferry Command: Women Pilots, Uncommon Deeds. University of North Texas Press. p. 253.
  12. ↑ Bledsoe, Larry W. (2017). The Few: Women Who Flew the P-38. BOOKBABY.
  13. 1 2 Reece, Ruth (18 September 1949). "Women with Wings". Independent Press-Telegram. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
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