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Jill Sutton McCormick
JILL SUTTON McCORMICK,
born in Philadelphia March 11, 1916. Professor in the School of Aviation Technology.
Professor McCormick, instructor and original organizer of the Professional Pilot Program at Purdue University began flying in
1940.
World War II found Professor McCormick
in the experimental Cadets' school, WASP
(Women Airforce Service Pilots). She was
accepted into the WASP with 100 hours of
cross-country flying. Up until this time, flying cadets had all been men.
WASP training was identical to the men
cadet's school except that the women had no
combat training. They were to take over
domestic flying duties for the men so that
more male cadets could be sent overseas for
combat duty.
The women graduated from the experimental WASP school and were assigned to
either Ferry Command or the Training Command. As one of the 1071 graduates, Professor McCormick was assigned to the Ferry
Command (the 2nd Ferrying Group, New
Castle, Del.). Her job was to go to aircraft
factories and ferry planes throughout the
United States and Canada. In the 22 months
that Professor McCormick served in the
WASP, she flew 23 military planes. These
planes were military training, cargo, and
fighter planes. She accumulated 1200 hours
of flying time in the 22 months she served in
the U.S. Army Air Corps.
Her most narrow escape, during her flying
with the WASP, was when taking off from
Baltimore'Harbor Airport in a single engine -
Douglas Dive Bomber. The engine of the
plane detonated immediately after take-off
and she was forced to ditch the plane in the
Chesapeake Bay and swim about 300 yards to
shore. In her haste to get away from the
plane, she forgot to take off her seat pack
parachute which gave her a bit of a handicap
for swimming. Her most frightening moment
of this experience came when she realized
that she would have to control her body as she
was bringing down the plane to keep from
hitting a bomb site located right in front of
her. This was because she had no shoulder
straps. To keep from doing this, she swung
her head to the right when she hit the water
and hit her face on the instrument panel
causing minor abrasions to the side of her
face.
After it was confirmed that Professor
McCormick had no serious injuries, she was
immediately ordered to Norfolk, Va. to pick
up the same type of plane that she had just
crashed in. Professor McCormick proudly
asserts that the accident rate for the women
cadets was the same as that of the male cadet.
"In other words, we were just as good as the
men".
An added note: From time to time, while
on active duty, the WASPs were sent to
transition schools to upgrade themselves as to
aircraft. that they were qualified to Ferry.
One of the schools we were sent to was
"Pursuit School". Today, it would be known
as "Fighter School". There we were checked
out in the 5 single engine Pursuits: the P-47
- P.51 - P.39 - P.63 - and P-40.
Being based in New Castle, Del. most of the
WASP Squadron was sent to Republic Aviation on Long Island to ferry P-47s or to
Republic Aviation in Evansville, IN to ferry
P-47s. Jill's hairy experience in a P-47 was
when she picked one up in Evansville and
ferried it to Newark, N.J. Haflway along the
route Jill had a run-a-way prop so had to turn
off the electricity. This meant no radio communications and a fixed pitch prop. Newark
was always a mad house 'cause so many planes
terminated there. And especially if one
arrived from 1630 on. This was just about
the time of Jill's arrival. The Tower kept
sending Jill a green light when she was on
base leg. When she was ready to turn on final
a pilot on a long final or straight in approach
would cut her off. This kept happening until
the fuel warning light came on. Then Jill said
"to Hell with the next bum" and proceeded
to cut him off! This time it was make it or
ditch it and she had just been through that
routine. The fastest Jill ever flew in a Jug was
401mph. Actually she was only indicating
250 mph but must have been in a low jet
stream 'cause the distance was 522 miles. She
flew this trip with Helen Mary Clark who
unfortunately is dead so, now it can't be
proved.
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Pilot Name
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Biography Summary
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John Abbotts
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P-47 transition followed at Pocatello, Idaho and Greenville, Texas after which he was assigned to the 56th Fighter Group in England. When the news of his arrival reached Berlin, Hitler retired to his bunker with his cyanide capsule and revolver. Eva found the news equally depressing.
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Asa A. Adair
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He returned to the States in August of 1944 after participating in the invasion "D" Day. He flew P-63's, P-51's, F-80's, T-33's, F-84's, T-38's, P-47's in numerous assignments during the following twenty years in in, Japan, U.S.A. and Europe before retiring after twenty-six years of Active Duty.
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Edward B. Addison
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The 507th Fighter Group, equipped with P-47N's, won the Presidential Unit Citation for destroying 32 Japanese aircraft in the air on one mission to Seoul, Korea. The average flying time for raids to Korea and Japan would be 7 to 9 hours flying time. In a total of 31 months, the 507th not only provided top cover for B-29's, but also
dive-bombed, napalm-bombed and flew low-level on strafing missions.
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Levon B. Agha-Zarian
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It is rumored that he, took his primary training on a flying rug. He flew Spits, briefly, in England, but as the, war moved to the East, he was sent to India as a Sgt. Pilot and first saw action from Ceylon, flying the Curtiss P.36, the Brewster Buffalo, and the Hurricane. At this point he might have opted for the rug! This was at the time of the fall of Singapore and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse.
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George N. Ahles
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Posted to A-20 light bomber squadron Barksdale Field, Louisiana. . Group moved to Hunter Air Base Savannah, Georgia. Qualified for Pilot training November 1940. Entered Aviation Cadets January 1942. Presented wings November 1942 class of 42-J. Married Mary Louise while in Advanced Pilot Training at Craig AFB, Selma, Alabama, September 1942.
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Roy J. Aldritt
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Shortly after the group moved to France he ran into some unseen flak and was forced to make a nylon descent behind the lines; some evasion and a lot of luck had him back with his unit
in 24 hours.
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Eugene J. Amaral
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After graduation from Stonington High School he enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in December 1942 and was called to active duty in March, 1943. He received his wings and commission at Spence Field, Georgia as a member of the Class of 43-C.
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Talmadge L. Ambrose
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Flew 84 missions thru VE Day, was downed by 22mm ground fire over Siefried Line. He destroyed 11 enemy aircraft, 9 known confirmed in air and on
ground, including 4 FW 190-D's in one afternoon over Hanover, Germany, April 8, 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross,
Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 17 man, Oak Leaf Clusters, Good Conduct Medal, Pacific Theatre and European Theatre Meda1s with 5 Battle
Stars and Unit Citation Medal.
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John C. Anderson
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After P-47 transition he was assigned to the 406th Fighter Group, 512th Fighter Squadron. (E.T
.0.) He flew 56 missions through January, 1945 destroying supply routes, bridges, and railroads; he also flew close support missions with the ground forces, with attacks on tanks, artillery and enemy positions.
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William Anderson
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It was not always flak,two ME-109's beat the hell out of me one day. The central controller called me and said "Basher-Red Leader do you have contact Bandits," I replied, "I sure do, I'll bring them over the field in 3 minutes, they're chasing me home." Got all the usual medals including two Belgium and two French but one I'm most proud of is the Silver Star -it is the greatest.
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