Thanks for the Memories
Your editorial “Air Warriors” from the June issue made me think of a fun experience in my long life. My husband was stationed at the Lackland Air Force Base Hospital in 1960/61. I joined the Lackland AFB aero club and went into serious training to get a single engine private pilot license. I ran into a bit of hostility but not a lot. On my required three-leg cross country, I called the first station in Austin to my landing instructions. After closing the mike it rang quite soon and the tower voice said “is this a woman”?
My instructor was really hard on me, trying to get me to quit. He bet me I would flunk out the first written test and maybe the flight check. I made sure that didn’t happen and when I had my ticket I took my husband for a ride. So unusual, the San Antonio TV station sent a photographer and showed it on the evening news. My first issued license had the sex question answered with an “M.” I wanted to keep it but my instructor insisted I return it for one that said “F.”
All that to tell a big headline of my adventure. A man who hung around the airport had a P-51 that he had converted to have a second seat. He thought my success deserved something special so he let my instructor take me for a ride. Wow! My instructor called me shortly after to ask if I would fly the next night with him to take his 3-year-old daughter to his parents in Odessa.
His wife was about to have another child, so of course I went. I do love night flying. When we got back to Lackland and were putting the plane to bed in the hangar, I said “Danny, after all the fits you’ve given me, why did you ask me to fly with you?” He almost grinned and said, “Special cargo, I needed a good pilot.” You can’t get a better thank you than that.
Then a couple of years later when I was the only woman pilot in the Suffolk County AFB aero club, the Wing Commander (Francis Gabresky) let a pilot take me for an F-101 ride. Very illegal of course, but he was about ready to retire so obviously he didn’t worry. The aero club has a couple of T-34s which were fun to fly.
My interest in flying started when I was a stewardess with American Airlines in 1957/58. We flew close to the end of the era of DC-6s and -7s. Thanks for making me remember. Dotty Blacker