Apr 6, 2003 By Joyce Koballa 6 min read

Local woman was one ofAs one of the first licensed female pilots in the United States to fly military airplanes during World War II, Florence Shutsy-Reynolds has carried with her a distinct valor for the last 80 years. From aerobatics to aeronautics, the gutsy Connellsville native is one of the nation’s first 1,100 women pilots who trained to fly non-combat flying missions as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

The organization was formed in December, 1943, to fill the labor shortage by ferrying aircraft for the then-Army Air Force. The WASP also towed targets for gunnery practice, flew tracking missions and conducted smoke-laying, not to mention flying simulated bombing missions, studying radio control and flight-testing aircraft.

“I was born with the desire to fly,” said Shutsy-Reynolds, who was the first woman in the area to earn a pilot’s license at the Connellsville Airport upon graduation through the government’s civilian pilot training program (CPTP).

Shutsy-Reynolds recalled that Sunday trips to the airport with her father when she was five or six were the beginnings of her lifelong dream to fly.

On one of those trips, Shutsy-Reynolds said she was taken by a World War I “Jenny” that had flown into the airport and pleaded with her father to let her go for a ride, but he couldn’t afford it.

“It was only $2, but $2 was a lot of money, at the time,” said Shutsy-Reynolds.

When she was 8, Shutsy-Reynolds said she sat down to dinner one night with her family and let them know just what she intended to do. “I said that I wanted to fly and everyone laughed,” said Shutsy-Reynolds.

But, that’s exactly what she went on to do.

Shutsy-Reynolds said she read about the CPTP in the local newspaper and enrolled shortly after graduating from Dunbar Township High School in 1940.

“I was lucky because I was in the right place at the right time,” she said.

Although the CPTP program included six months of training, Shutsy-Reynolds was able to tackle it in two months. In fact, her excellent performance as one of the top five in her class in the initial ground-school program enabled her to win a scholarship for the school’s flight portion.

According to Shutsy-Reynolds, the ground-school program, which was conducted at the former Connellsville High School, provided courses on aerodynamics, navigation and weather.

In 1941, Shutsy-Reynolds earned her pilot’s license, just before the government – seeing a need to train more men for combat – closed the program to women in anticipation of World War II.

With her license in hand, Shutsy-Reynolds said she could not wait to take her flying to new heights and after, reading the local newspaper, saw an advertisement for the WASP, then under the direction of Jacqueline Cochran.

At age 18, Shutsy-Reynolds wrote faithfully to Cochran every weekend, in hopes of being accepted, but later learned a woman had to be at least 21 years old in order to join and have at least 200 hours of flight time as one of several requirements. “They never recruited. You just applied,” said Shutsy-Reynolds.

Then, one day, her persistence paid off when the government decided to lower the age to 181/2 and Shutsy-Reynolds said she notified Cochran. Shortly afterward, she received a telegram from Cochran to report for training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, which housed the only all-female training base in the history of the U.S. military.

“It’s the only place where I know that you can choke on the dust and be up to your knees in mud,” said Shutsy-Reynolds.

While more than 25,000 women applied to join the WASP, only 1,830 were accepted into training – and one of them was Shutsy-Reynolds.

The WASP was formed from two earlier predecessors, the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), an experimental squadron of experienced women pilots employed to ferry aircraft for the Air Transport Command, and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), a training program established to supply pilots for the squadron.

Although the program’s motive was to train women to fly military aircraft, the AAF had hoped that by utilizing female pilots they would release male pilots for other missions, primarily combat. The AAF also wanted to test whether women were able to serve as military pilots in a national emergency.

Prior to her arrival in Texas, Shutsy-Reynolds said she underwent an interview in Cleveland, Ohio, and from there was required to take a physical in Harrisburg, each at her own expense.

Following a six-day train ride to Sweetwater, Shutsy-Reynolds found herself stationed at the base in a barracks labeled J2.

“It was at the bottom of the list,” said Shutsy-Reynolds.

Of 160 potential women pilots in her class, she said only one-half ended up graduating. “Being in the CPTP program taught you discipline, so I knew that it wasn’t going to be a piece of cake,” Shutsy-Reynolds added.

Training to be a WASP, however, was not as glamorous as some people might think, according to Shutsy-Reynolds. If a trainee “washed out,” Shutsy-Reynolds said they had to be off the base by sundown. “You were always on that edge,” she added.

The program, which was experimental, lasted for nearly 23 weeks, while the number of hours of flying and ground school varied for each class, some as many as 500 hours.

Although the women pilots received just about as much training as their male counterparts, acrobatics and combat flying courses were eliminated and replaced with more navigation and instrument training.

Throughout the war, more than 2,000 women pilots flew more than 60 million miles in 77 different types of aircraft, while 38 of them lost their lives in the course of duty.

Compared with male civilian pilots, WASPs had no military status, received no injury or death benefits and were paid $250 a month and $6 per day for any time spent away from the base.

For those who were killed, Shutsy-Reynolds said the WASPs would take up a monetary collection to help defray funeral costs, while Cochran paid for the uniform of the person escorting the body and the expenses to send the body of the deceased home.

In June, 1944, Shutsy-Reynolds graduated from the program and was assigned to a training base at Merced, Calif., for the next six months until the WASP were deactivated by the government because of political pressure and the increased availability of male pilots.