Charlyne Creger - WASP Class 44-10 - Avenger Field Texas - 1944

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World War II saw women enter the civilian work force as never before to generate the production that sustained American forces in the global conflict. The war not only brought on unheard of technological changes, but sweeping social ones as well. When the men came home they found that things would never be quite the same. For a small cadre of elite women pilots this would be especially true.

I'm sorry to report via her friend Tommye Kelly that Charlyene has passed away on New Years day 2004.

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Charlyne Creger was born on Christmas Eve 1918 in Noble Oklahoma, a small town of about 300 people. Her father Charles was a blacksmith and mother Rosa was busy raising her family of 6.
Charles & Rosa Creger - Noble, Oklahoma 1926.
Times were hard working families in rural Oklahoma and the family often did not have the $10 for the monthly rent on the house. Noble was the kind of small town where everyone was related in some way and as Charlyne says "You couldn't do anything without everybody knowing about it" She was the middle sister of 4 daughters and she had 2 brothers. "The one sister just older was the pretty one. The one younger was born pre-mature (3 pounds), and raised in a box with warm bricks surrounding her to prevent hypothermia. She was talented and cute, the runt of the litter, but a real attention getter. Needless to say I fought for position." Charlyne held her own with the boys as evidenced by this little bit of forgotten advertising history she shared. "The Baby Ruth candy company was trying to get into the chewing gum business, they would fly over the small towns in planes dropping packets of gum with tiny parachutes over groups of kids. "I had to fight the boys for mine and I won more often than not. I ate the gum but I still have that little packet and parachute." There was no radio in the Creger home and newspapers were not common in those small towns. She describes herself as a bit of a dare devil for a girl. "I jumped cotton bales, indian wrestled all my boy cousins, climbed trees, jumped off roofs onto old matresses and beat the boys at most sports. I was a real tom boy."

The family moved to Norman Oklahoma and here Charlyne got her first airplane ride. Wiley Post was from Oklahoma and lived in Lexington near the Cregers. In those days, before he had wide acclaim, he took people up in his airplane (a old surplus Cannuk, A Canadian built Jenny) for pennies a pound. Charlyne didn't have a penny but still wanted to go up. He told her the seat belt was too big to hold her in. So she doubled up with her cousin Dorthy and off they went in an open cockpit bi-plane .. . She was 8 1/2 years old at the time. "If my memory is correct, he advertised for a bakery offering a free ride for ten bread wrappers. We never had what southerners called 'light bread' (store bought) We had home made biscuits made by mama and/or papa. I do not have a photo of the event as we did not have a camera. Besides, my folks didn't know I was doing this!"

As she grew older Charlyne showed an aptitude for art, something she shared with her mother. She wanted to be a commercial artist but her mother discouraged this and steered her daughter towards a career in teaching. That was considered an acceptable profession for a young woman in those days and one that would enable her to support herself. Charlyne did finally enroll in college as a physical education major. Her career path took her to some unusual turns. "I modeled and was a dancer with a well known dancing group from Oklahoma City which took us to many states.

When war broke out her younger brother joined the Marines. Eventually he fought at Iwo Jima. (The same island where Earl Tigner served. Charleynes brother may have often seen Earl taking off in his P-61. It can be a very small world. See the 7th AAF page) Charlyne wanted to do something to support him by being in the service, but the WAC's were not what she wanted. Much of the family was involved in the pre-war economic boom that was starting as aircraft plants and the supporting sub assembly work sprang up in and around Norman. Her mother rolled bandages for the Veterans Association, her older sister worked at Tinker Army Air Field, and both Charlyne and her just older sister worked at Douglas Aircraft. "I made 56 dollars a week at Douglas, working 5 nights. That was a lot of money in those days." She put that money to good use.

In the effort to expand the WASP (Womens Air Service Pilots) as soon as possible, their leader Miss Jacquline Cochrane a noted pilot with several records to her name dropped the entrance requirements to 35 hours of flight time and a private pilots license as a minimum for applicants to the program. Charlyne immediately took flying lessons at a nearby airfield to Tinker. Here, her brother in law taught civilian pilots. For $6 an hour she rapidy built up her 35 hours in a high wing PorterField and applied.
"In the middle of the night the phone rang and a person on the other end, I can't remember who said 'Can you be here on Monday?' I got there by a bus and was accepted to the class of 44-8. I hoped to one day fly one of the P-38's " 22 other WASP's eventually trained at this same location to qualify for acceptance. Her Douglas Aircraft employer tried to get in the way by refusing to release her. Since it was still a free country there was little they could really do to stop her. Charlynes parents were afraid for her but did nothing to encourage or discourage her. "By that time I was pretty independent so I think they knew I would do what I wanted"

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Charlyne made it to Avenger field and began the ground school training that eliminated many of her peers from the program. Physics exams were given to the recruits on entrance day.

Charlyne: "There were too many applicants when the entrance requirements were dropped to 35 hours and a private pilots license. It was said that those with many hours of flying time had difficulty learning to fly 'the army way'. To weed some out, applicants were given a full day of exams on physics. With the help of some of the naval recruits I must have made out Ok." Upon her arival Charlyne and her class arrived just in time to see the results of one of the few crashes to occur at Avenger. Two pilots had collided over the field. One was crushed in the wreck of her AT6 while the other attempted to bail out at low altitude and hit the ground before the chute could open. The recruits were shown the blood and impact marks on the ground. Charlyne: "I don't remember the cause; however, the rest remains rather vividly in my memory."
That was enough for a few. Another student from the class of W 4-9 was also killed. Charlyne: "Marge Davis was killed trying to make a forced landing at Memphis Tennessee. It was night time. Those on the ground lined their cars up with their lights on to aid in the landing on an open field. I was told that she hit a high line and crashed. She was in the bay next to the 'john' that we all shared." The students had no rank or title when some one wanted your attention the usually said "Hey You" She was then taken through the ground school basics of aircraft mechanics and learned do disassemble and re-assemble an engine. It was during this time that Charlyne began to experience headaches and was sent to the hospital interupting her training. She returned to join class 44-9 and was hospitalized again before returning to join the final class of 44-10. It was surprising that the selection board did not wash her out for this. [note: In 1972 she discovered that all the time she had been allergic to the dust that swirled around the base.] Charlyne: "If I had not washed back and if I had graduated from W-8 I would have been flying bombers. The 'tall ones' flew anything but pursuits (fighters). I would have given most anything to fly either. I was tall, but tall men flew pursuits."

During this time Charlyne says "The support for each other was always there, there was no fighting, we were at each other beck and call, there was a lot of loyalty." The Chief Establishment Officer was Mrs. Leoti Deaton. From an old Texas family with a Red Cross background she was responsible for the womens well being and was to many, more of a mother than an administrator. She often had to defend herself to Jacquline Cochran when bad press was made about the WASP. Charlyne: "She was from the Clark family. He brother was Dr. Lee Clark, founder of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Hospital in Huston Texas. She was a fiesty little no-nonsense mother to us all."

The recruits were not allowed off base very often and the Barracks were referred to as Cochrans Convent. The locals reaction to the WASP's was mixed. Avenger Field had been home to British Airforce cadet pilots in training up to August of 1942. Many of the local belles enjoyed this exotic company. US airforce cadets replaced them until April of 1943. The arrival of the Wasp made Avenger field the only (for a time) military co-educational flying field in United Stated history. Some locals welcomed them into their homes, while others were suspicious. Now all the men were gone and these women dressed in a masculine manner had invaded the area. "Charlyne remembers that some of the stores in town would not take a check from a WASP and rumors about them were rampant. Some prostitutes set up business in the town claiming to be WASP's. As a result the WASP recruits were restricted to base and the prostitutes false story was soon found out by the towns folk. "I don't know how many there were but we were not allowed to go to the Blue Bonnet hotel. Jackie, (Ms. Cochran)was very protective of our image. Also, we were in what is called 'the Bible Belt' - no hootch (liquor) - no stimulating thoughts or actions!"

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Her first aircraft was the Stearman
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the older single wing PT-19's had been replaced and the Stearman was a step up. The civilian instructors treated them fairly well as she recalls. They would give a recruit a check ride and then the military check pilot would repeat the procedure. It was often these check pilots that could be a problem.

Eric was drawn by Charlynes friend Gene Davis. "Gene dreamed up Eric. He sat on your wing and messed up your check ride, getting you washed out." Unfortunately, Eric eventually got to Gene.

Check rides could be nerve wracking for any recruit, but the WASP trainees had additional problems to face. One Captain who made no secret of his distain for the WASP was nick named Captain Maytag becaused he washed out so many of his students. Another instructor washed out a trainee who refused to go out with him. Miss Deaton who had control over the trainees in all areas except their flight training had to appeal to the flight board over the incident. Charlyne was responsible to do all the pre-flight checks of her aircraft. In her class she did not have to fuel her own plane as by that time there were sufficient flight line crews available to do this. For some of the recruits they may have been better off doing this chore themselves as a later paragraph will show.

The trainees did get out on occasion for dances and dates. But there were always risks and they were held to a much higher standard of conduct that their AAF counterparts. Punishment for infractions or low scores was the dreaded "wash out" board. Asked if she ever got close to this Charlyne relates. "I was out on a date at Big Spring and he had car trouble.
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Charlyne and a date in Texas....... Jitterbugging with some of the soldiers in Norman.

We got back 68 minutes late. You only got 70 minutes total in the program. I had to go before the board. We were under military rules of discipline and swore the same oath of allegiance that the military recruits did. Sharing one bathroom with a dozen or more other women was difficult. "Twelve girls to a common john and a shower. We never seemed to have any problems though. There were the SMI's Saturday Morning Inspections with the white glove. One of the girls got out of the shower late and had to stand at attention in the nude." [note: the inspectors were men at the time ] One of the girls Gene Davis used to put snakes in the girls beds and tied a fake spider on the door know to keep the bed check patrol away. "We played cards and sang a lot. We would steal all the light bulbs and mirors and then sell them to the next class to generate funds." [Note: The base was run a bit like a company store. On pay day all items and allowances were deducted from their pay, often the women found they had little cash to spend even if there were a close place to spend it. Remember they were still civil servants!] "The only real advantage we had was that our flight time was not limited, we could fly more often." [note: Efforts to get them militarized were constantly being pressed by Miss Cochran and Mrs. Nancy Harkness Love.]

Training continued and with each absence for headaches Charlyne would be assigned to the the ready rooms and did a lot of renovations to them
...

until the time her new class caught up to her. Her best friend during this time was Lillian Ruth Dixon "She looked a lot like Carol Lombard and was from my home town. She was in class 44-9 and was about 10 years older than I, she passed away in 1975." They were required to wear the mandatory Urban's Turbans to keep their hair in place. This exercise was discontinued when Major Urban departed. Says Charlyne "The turbans made up look like displaced nuns, and the goggles we had to wear made us look like sunburned owls".

Charlyne soloed finally when an older barnstormer instructor took over her training. Her earlier instructor had taken a liking to his charge and would keep her out for hours, giving Charlyne and her fellow recruit only a few minutes of flight time. Charlyne took to sitting in her cockpit at night just rehearsing the cockpit check!
AT-6 Transition Flight instructors, dispatcher, check pilots--on the flight line at Avenger Field.

(Emmert, Givens, Mayer, Ramsey, Baker, Foster, Moore, Rowe, Hight, Wanamaker, and Reinhart)

The new instructor took her out one time and on a landing got out and said, "you will either solo of kill yourself, one or the other will happen." Charlyne took off and hit the landing circle perfectly.
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I asked what was the tradition at Avenger when a pilot soloed, as it was different between services and airfields.

Charlyne: "The new pilot was thrown into the wishing well and we would ring the bell on the field" Another part of the tradition for some was to throw pennies into the well before the solo ride. If the trainee succeeded she could take two out after her dunking. One for her self and one for her trainer.
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The well near the barracks and Charlyne after her solo

Charlynes training continued in the Vultee BT13. It was a clodhopper per Charlyne but necessary to transition to instruments. It was referred to as 40,000 nuts and bolts in a lose formation. She spent lots of time in a link trainer
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at 4 am because of the limited slots for its use. Charlyne worried most about night flying. "When flying under the hood you at least had a buddy pilot and could throw back the hood on final approach." Her longest flight was to Blythe California from Avenger. On the trip she got lost. "I was completely lost and finally trimmed the plane and waited to come out of the clouds in the hopes of getting an idea where I was. I saw a barn with Safford Arizona painted on it and tried to land at Mothan Army Air Field but kept getting the red light (wave off). It was a military base and they did not want me to land there. I eventually tried to re-plotted my course on my map. .though I dropped my pencil into the bottom of the cockpit. I made it to Blythe and had my first drink of whiskey that night" Asked about unauthorized flights or combat maneuvers Charlyne recalls going with a friend on a lark. "We filed a flight plan and then went to New Mexico instead flying about and having a good time, but then we had problems getting back. My friends gas supply was getting very low. We went on slow time with me at her side letting her know that I was going down with her for a forced landing. My friends plane landed and ran out of gas on the taxi way. It was stupid and we were lucky" Charlyne on some of the washout stories. "There was a pair of twins in the class of W-8 who eventually washed out. "You could not tell them apart and one was going to wash out so her sister took her place in the tests and areas where she was having trouble. They might have gotten away with it but they talked too much about it and were caught. Both were washed out and Miss Cochran made them both pay back the cost of their training.
Charlyne relates a fact that I was not aware of from all accounts I have found. The Cadets were still not welcome at Avengerfield even late in the training schedule when Charlene had arrived. Charlyne "I believe that part of this was also due to so many fake forced landings by the fly boys from Big Spring Texas" Sabotage was carried out by base staff where ever the WASP were stationed. Many wanted the women out. Sugar in the gas tanks was one of the games the men played. Says Charlyne "Miss Cochrane did not want it discussed and did not allow an investigation so it was never made public. We were targets for controversy" The recruits were aware of the political swirl around them and they knew that eventually they would be disbanded.

Background data......

A Capsule history of the WASP from the American Heritage Airpower Museum:
In Early 1943, when the first class of Women's Flying Training Detachment graduated in Houston, the program was combined with the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and became known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots. They moved to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas and began using a nine month curriculum designed to qualify pilots to ferry aircraft from the factory to their points of embarkation from the US.

Generally, 180 hours of flying were required, in addition to 115 hours of ground instruction. However, as the experience level of the trainees declined, the course was expanded and revised. These women studied primary, basic and advanced flying, instrument flying, as well as mathematics, physics, navigation, radio code, aircraft and engines, weather, and aeronautical equipment maintenance.

Unlike other women who served their country in a military capacity during World War II, militarization as anticipated for the WASPs was never realized. The thirty-eight women who died in the line of duty were buried without military honors.(Honor Role) One is still missing. The surviving members often had to pass around a hat to pay funeral expenses. When in December 1944 the last class graduated, political pressure was brought to bear and the WASP were disbanded. The WASP did not receive the same benefits of other veterans when the war ended. The G.I. Bill of rights were not extended to them to pay for schooling or low interest housing loans.

In the mid-1970's, newspapers announced that the Air Force planned to train its "first women military pilots." In objection to this lack of recognition, the WASPs campaigned for several years for the military recognition they deserved. This recognition came in 1977 when Congress declared the WASPs were indeed veterans of World War II. Official military acceptance came from the Air Force in 1979. In 1984, each WASP was awarded the Victory Medal. Those who served for more than one year were also awarded the American Theater medal. They did however recieve medical care at the VA hospitals but nothing else.


During WWII, distinguishing emblems were an important way for military units to express spirit and unity. Walt Disney, designed Fifinella for the WASP. Fifinella was a spunky little female gremlin with long eyelashes, hip boots, and gossamer wings, who came zipping merrily out of a bank of clouds. Her job was to scare off male gremlins who were widely known to cause aircraft malfunctions.

With her mother, sister and neice looking on, General Arnold who had come down to see the last class of WASP graduate, pinned on her wings. After the graduation ceremony Charlyne flew all the hours she could get as she knew the curtain was about to fall. She ended her WASP career with approximately 200 hours. "Just about that time we had run out of planes and supplies." Politics had finally done the WASP in. War losses, as bad as they were turned out to be less than anticipated. With the wars end seemingly in late 1944 on the horizion many men were being turned from the Air corps to the infantry. Many resented and blamed the WASP all the more for this. Charlyne: "That Louisiana congressman was a real enemy of the WASP. He suggested we should take off those glamour uniforms and all be nurses" Her last flight was ferrying an Air Force officer from Waco texas in an AT6 Texan with only 5 hours flying time on it. "Someone sure trusted me, but I bet he said a few 'Hail Marys'. It was a flawless flight and a perfect landing. Quite a final farwell." On December 20th the WASP were disbanded and Charlyne traveled to Waco with a girl friend who had a car. From there she returned home like the other WASP. No travel arrangements were made for them, no vouchers, they drifted off singly and in small groups to a world that little recognized or cared about what they had done. She returned home and for about 6 weeks found the re-adjustment difficult. For Charlyne just getting used to having a private bathroom took some re-adjusting to.

For a short period of time she managed to get a job with a friend Lillian Ruth Dixon, flying worn out Pt-19's
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Lillian Ruth 'Dixie' Dixon

from Air Force bases in Arkansas to a salvage company in Nevada for auction. "They were in real bad shape. We carried a case of oil and had to stop almost every hour. We had to spiral the plane to gain the altitude to get it accross the mountain peaks. We were paid $150 or $250 I can't remember which to do that job, but it ran out pretty quickly. I had one offer to fly a C-47 down to Bolivia but would have had to fronted the expenses to get it down there. I did not have the money for the gas. You could but a new AT6 (Texan) for $75.00. I know a few who bought one. Once the war was over, it was hard getting a job with out any college education.

"Classmate Betty Fulbright and I planned to be smuggled into England to fly Spitfires.
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Spitfire XIX and Betty Fullbright

We were warned when getting to Chicago that we were civilians; that a war was on, and that no doubt we would end up in prision. Home we went." Charlyne linked up with the Red Cross. " I joined the Red Cross hoping to dodge bullets and find my special friend serving as a surgeon. He was part of a M.A.S.H. (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit in France. I was to ship out on the day a cablegram arrived at 0400 saying to stay put. He had traded a case of champagne to get a seat on a transport to Washington DC where I was. I resigned by 0430 and ran for the elevator. We finally met there."

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