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Mary Lou (Colbert) Neale was born in 1915 in Juneau, Alaska. She was living in the Washington, D.C. area in 1941, and (as a "military brat") kept a close eye on pilot Jacqueline Cochran’s efforts to convince General “Hap” Arnold to bring females into a program as military pilots. The Civilian Training Program opened up to women (after Eleanor Roosevelt questioned the dictum of "boys only"), and "1 girl for every 10 boys" became the rule from late 1939 to 1941. Mary Lou had the Primary (which led to the private pilot license) and the Secondary (aerobatics) courses under her belt before they closed it down to females due to the necessity to train male combat pilots.
When Jacqueline Cochran finally got the go-ahead to select 25 women pilots for this "experimental” program, (following the regular Air Corps Cadet training course and with some 450 flight hours and the required Commercial license) Mary Lou was the first to apply. Mary Lou was in Class 43-1, which started in Houston,Texas on Nov.15th, 1942, and was among 23 female pilots who graduated in April 1943. She was assigned to ferrying bases and in the course of the WAFS/WASP program for 26 months, flew a variety of warplanes. She was checked out in all the trainers, fighters and most of the bombers. Mary Lou established and was the Acting C.O. of the WASP 21st Ferrying Group in Palm Springs, CA. She served as ferry pilot until the last hour on the last day (December 20, 1944), when all WASP flying was halted. Mary Lou and all other WASPs were declared military veterans in 1977 for the vital role they played in the war effort. |
