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Air Command and Staff College student serves on WASP museum board

  • Published
  • By Kimberly L. Wright
  • Dispatch staff writer
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. --  The Women Airforce Service Pilots, the first civilian female aviators to fly for the military, serve as an example of service before self that continues to inspire female military aviators today. An Air Command and Staff College student, herself a B-1 instructor pilot, is so inspired by the example of the WASP that she is now serving on the board of directors of the National WASP World War II Museum in Sweetwater, Texas, the site where the WASP trained and lived during World War II.

Maj. Bridget McNamara is the only active-duty representative of the military on the board and one of two female aviators on the board.

Her focus as a board member is to tie in the current military to event and activities going on at the museum. Through her efforts, the museum has a liaison with nearby Dyess Air Force Base. "Education, awareness and of course honoring the WASP is the fundamental reason why we do what we do," she said.

Major McNamara's journeys to Sweetwater began in 1998 after she graduated from pilot training, before the museum was created. "They had their wishing well still there and a walk of honor, but that's really all there was," she said. She revisited the area when she was assigned to Dyess in 2005.

"I call it my pilgrimage to Sweetwater," she mused. "They had actually, just in Memorial Day weekend of that year, opened up the museum."

She immediately volunteered, and through her association with the museum's many activities, became well-known to the board members, who nominated and elected her to join their ranks in 2007. She is serving a three-year term, but she can continue to serve until replaced, "which is nice, because I hope to be involved in the museum for as long as I'm able to," she said.

The museum, almost five years old, is continuing to grow, educating the public and honoring the service of the WASP, said Major McNamara. "As the museum is growing, one of the things we're doing is continuing community outreach, more community education programs," she said. One traveling exhibit of sorts is called Fifi's suitcase, which was named in honor of Fifinella, the female gremlin WASP mascot created by Disney. "It's a trunk with all kinds of WASP paraphernalia and information that goes out to all the local elementary schools and junior high schools," she said.

The museum's future will include a larger facility, she said. "We have an architect. He already has a design for a larger facility complete with an observation control tower so you can still look out on the still-active airfield, 3D interactive-type displays, and of course the exhibit collection of WASP items."

One of the largest projects Major McNamara has helped coordinate at the museum was Operation Fifinella in September 2008, a fly-in of WASP to the museum in Sweetwater in concert with the WASP's last formal annual reunion held in Irving, Texas. "We flew approximately 40 WASPs from Irving, Texas, into Avenger Field in Sweetwater as part of their reunion," she said. "It was the largest fly-in of WASP to Avenger Field since they left in 1944." The WASP flew in donated aircraft, from general aviation aircraft to warbirds. Major McNamara reported it was a sight to behold. "It was really special to see all these WASP descend on Avenger, coming out of airplanes," she said.

The military provided active-duty personnel to greet and escort the WASP during their visit to Sweetwater. "I wanted to get as many female aviators whether they were enlisted or officer, no matter what their aircrew position was, to greet them, salute them, stand at attention as they came off the airplanes, and then individually escort each of these WASP throughout their time at Avenger Field," she said. The activities culminated with a wings exchange between the WASP and the current female aviators. "The WASP loved it," she said. "They thought it was great, especially when they were being greeted by these young aviators, especially the young women aviators. They thought it was the coolest thing, and it was pretty darn cool to see."

During their service to the country more than 60 years ago, the WASP flew more than 60 million miles for their country in a variety of aircraft and on a multitude of noncombat assignments. Thirty-eight WASP were killed in the line of duty, and buried without military honors, with families and friends handling burial expenses.
Though the WASP were barred from full military status and could not become officers, the WASP's service to the country eventually paved the way for integration of women pilots into the armed services. The WASP received veteran status in 1977.

The WASP received a belated honor July 1, with the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to its members. The bill signing was attended by three WASP and by Air Force Maj. Nicole Malachowski, the first female Thunderbird, who was among those instrumental in garnering the honor, according to the Web site of Wings Across America, a WASP history and advocacy organization. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who sponsored the Congressional Gold Medal legislation in early 2009, recently presented the Texas native WASP members with a commemorative copy of a bill awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony Nov. 11 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas.

Major McNamara saluted the surviving, high-spirited WASP members, who share a common spirit with the aviators of today. "When you speak to a WASP you could swear that you're talking to a 22-year-old and not a great lady in her eighties," she said. "It's really incredible, and so that spirit that they have is a common spirit that you see in aviators today, and all women of service and our young folks in service. It's that spirit of adventure. We're doing something really cool, and we're enjoying what we're doing. ... They took what they knew how to do best and what they love to do to serve their country. That's exactly how I feel. I think that bond ties generations."

Flying has been a lifelong ambition for Major McNamara, and being an Army brat, she was eager to serve the country while doing something she loved. "I don't think there was ever much of a question for me that I wanted to go into the service," she said. "Of course, flying in the Air Force seemed like the most logical choice. I couldn't imagine doing anything else right now."

For more information on how you can join the organizations striving to honor the legacy of the WASP, please visit the WASP Museum Web site at http://waspmuseum.org and the Wings Across America Web site at http://wingsacrossamerica.us/wings/.