Sharp, Evelyn, 2nd Lt

One of the first female pilots in America, Lt. Sharp was, in the late 1930's, the youngest aviatrix in the nation. Learned to fly in her home town, Ord, Nebraska, making her first solo flight at age 15. She got her private pilot's license on her 17th birthday, and a year later had a commercial transport pilot's license, and began flying mail between towns in central Nebraska, as well as barnstorming rodeos and country fairs.

She taught flying in South Dakota and California. Then, in 1942 she was one of the first 23 women chosen for Army Air Corps' new Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Her military task was to fly newly built military aircraft from West Coast manufacturers to the Eastern US for shipment to war zones. On April 3, 1944 an engine blew up in a new P-38 she was piloting over Pennsylvania. It crashed. She was killed. The airport at Ord, Nebraska is called Sharp Field in her memory.

"Celestial Flight"��
���~ WASP, Elizabeth MacKethan Magid�


She is not dead -
But only flying higher,
Higher than she's flown before,
And earthly limitations
Will hinder her no more.

�There is no service ceiling,
Or any fuel range,
And there is no anoxia,
Or need for engine change.
Thank God that now her flight can be
To heights her eyes had scanned,
Where she can race with comets,
And buzz the rainbow's span.

�For she is universal
Like courage, love and hope,
And all free, sweet emotions
Of vast and godly scope.

�And understand a pilot's Fate
Is not the thing she fears,
But rather sadness left behind,
Your heartbreak and your tears.

�So all you loved ones, dry your eyes,
Yes, it is wrong that you should grieve,
For she would love your courage more,
And she would want you to believe
She is not dead.
You should have known
That she is only flying higher,
Higher than she's ever flown.

�

Lt. Sharp was buried in Ord Cemetery, Ord Valley, Nebraska.

�

Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) flew non-combat missions during World War II to free men for combat. Although the Air Force trained only about 1,200 WASP, they had an enormous impact on World War II aviation.

�����Women pilots assigned to the Air Transport Command ferried forty-three types of aircraft, including small primary trainers, the fastest fighters, heavy transports, and huge bombers, from factories to bases throughout the United States and Canada. They towed targets, took meteorologists up for weather observations, transported equipment, broke in engines, and flew as couriers.
 

�����WASP went through AAF Training Command primary, intermediate and advanced training at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. Their twenty-seven week curriculum was the same as that given to aviation cadets. They received additional transitional instruction at the air base to which they were assigned.
 

�����Although WASP were on Civil Service status, they were entitled to the privileges of officers when on an Army base and had to conform to military regulations when on duty. WASP wings were the standard AAF silver wings with a lozenge in the center.
 

�����The mascot on their patch was called Fifinella; she was cute, agile, and always ready to take up the flying challenge. This epitomized the spirit that was the WASP who served this country very well in a time of need. Their contributions are documented and stand for spirit that made this country the great nation we are.�

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