WAFS: Iris Cummings Critchell and Nancy Love
Iris Cummings Critchell
Iris Cummings Critchell was an aviatrix and an Olympic swimmer (1936 in 200 m breaststroke). Iris started flying airplanes in 1939 and in 1940 was in the first Civil Pilot Training program. In 1941 Iris taught in the Civil Pilot Training program. Dec 1942, Iris went to Houston for Army Air Corps training and entered the WAFS (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron), later known as the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots).
Air Transport Command 6th Ferry Group. Image from: Library of Congress
"I simply learned all I could about the flying experiences of the real women pioneers. There were at least six of them who were flying from the 1929 period on, of whom I had the privilege of working with or flying with or knowing in some activity more than ten years later when I started flying in 1939. Several I worked with after WWII. I held them each in a high level of respect and learned a lot from them."- Iris Cummings Critchell: Interview with Keri Kittleson
1936 American Olympic Women's Swimming Team. Image from USA Swimming.org
January 17, 2015. Olympic Athletes from Nine Decades of Games. "While many in the audience knew Louis Zamperini personally, Iris Cummings Critchell was actually a teammate of his at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin." Zamperini not in photograph
Images from: Lee Roth
Iris at the Bates Aero Club. Image from: Library of Congress
Nancy Love
1942 Nancy Harkness Love posing in front of a PT-19A trainer aircraft 1942 Image from: Texas Woman's University
1930, at age 16 1/2, Nancy earned her private pilot's license. She loved air racing but ended up at Gwinn Aircar Company and was offered a job as a test pilot. She was a member of the Civil Air Patrol and started the WAFS program. She was known as a great leader in dealing with the government and her pilots to have the best program possible without putting the focus on herself.
"Colonel William Turner of the Air Transport Command Ferrying Division soon noticed Love's skills as a pilot, and she used the opportunity to present the idea of a women ferrying organization once again. Several months later, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, WAFS, was born with 29 initial members, and Love was placed in command of the new squadron." -Peter Chen, WWII Data Base
"Colonel William Turner of the Air Transport Command Ferrying Division soon noticed Love's skills as a pilot, and she used the opportunity to present the idea of a women ferrying organization once again. Several months later, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, WAFS, was born with 29 initial members, and Love was placed in command of the new squadron." -Peter Chen, WWII Data Base
"I knew Nancy Love. Nancy Love served us Ferry pilots as an outstanding real leader. She was a born leader. She was a very remarkable lady who did a lot of flying in the early 30’s and early 40’s and was very well prepared. She had been a test pilot for the FAA and CAA and had done a lot of unique flying in the Boston area for many many years. We were all pleased and honored to be serving under Nancy Love."- Iris Cummings Critchell: Interview with Keri Kittleson
circa 1943-1945 Pilot Nancy Harkness Love and WAF co-pilot Betty Huyler Gillies, the first women to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Image from: United States Air Force
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1944 WASP Nancy Love in the cockpit of Fairchild PT-19 trainer, Image from: United States Army Air Force
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