A few years ago, the director had everybody pick a person from Buffalo County's history to "be" at the festival as part of the children's scavenger hunt. The kids had to find the people wearing wristbands, asked who they were, and learn about that person's life. Every year since, I have been Evelyn Sharp, aviatrix and local heroine, which made my next book for Operation: Nebraska Author so important to me.
Last October, while attending the Nebraska Writers Guild Fall Conference, I happened to notice a book on an authors table that had a picture of a woman pilot on it. When I read the title, Sky Rider: The Story of Evelyn Sharp, World War II WASP by Dr. Jean A. Lukesh, I knew it was going home with me. Unfortunately, I had to wait a few hours because Dr. Lukesh was not at her table at the time. In fact, I pounced on her as soon as the conference was over while she was packing up her table and ended up taking up about fifteen minutes of her time. In the course of our conversation, I found out that she was a historian and had written a number of books on notable Nebraskans and Nebraska Adventure, the textbook that all Nebraska fourth graders use while learning about our state.
Back to the book.
Sky Rider is about Evelyn Sharp, one of the first, youngest, and most experienced female pilots that our country has seen. She was born in Wyoming and after moving around a lot when she was young, her family settled just up the road from me in Ord, NE. It was here where she decided she was going to "drive an airplane."
A stroke of luck when Evelyn was fifteen had a flight instructor offering to give her flying lessons in exchange for a room at her parents boarding house. Evelyn's drive from that moment on was toward one goal: to spend her life flying. With quite a bit of turbulence to get through, Evelyn went on to own a succession of planes, gather a number of different licenses (instrument and commercial being just two of many), and eventually join the 99s, a national organization for female pilots (she was the youngest in Nebraska). From there, she became a flight instructor for the Civilian Pilot Training Program (she was the youngest instructor in the country), even training men who would go on to be pilots in the military.
With WWII looming on the horizon, Jacqueline Cochran called upon other members of the 99s to join her to create a group of women pilots with the job of ferrying military planes all over the US and Canada just like they were already doing in England. While Cochran's group did not get military approval, Evelyn was later asked to join a similar group that was organized by Nancy Harkness Love, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). At just shy of 22 years old, Evelyn became one of the "Originals," the first 25 women who passed the training and requirements to join the WAFS.
Evelyn worked hard to prove that women pilots could do everything the male pilots could do. She qualified to fly large transport planes like the C-47, bombers like the B-25 Mitchell, and attack planes like the A-20 Havoc. She was even one of the first women to become certified to fly pursuit planes like the P-51 Mustang and the P-38 Lightning.
The WAFS were so successful at proving their skills that the military decided to bring them into the fold. The WAFS were combined with Jacqueline Cochran's group and renamed the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).
Evelyn would go on to become the WASP in command at the base in Palm Springs, CA for a short time before it was turned into a pursuit base and she was transferred back to Long Beach. She began training to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress so she could pass the Fifth Rating which was the highest rating a female pilot could get.
Before she could complete her training, she was given the order to fly a P-38 from Long Beach to a base in New Jersey. The trip would take five days. While most of it was smooth sailing, she ran into some bad weather on the second to the last day of her trip and had to put down. The last day of her trip started well, the plane was in good working order and the weather was clear. She took off just before 10:30 in the morning. Shortly after take-off, one of the engines stopped. She did not have enough altitude to use her parachute so Evelyn did all she could to put the plane down safely, but it was not enough. When she landed in a field near the airport, the landing gear punched through the bottom of the plane, knocking her seat loose and up through the canopy. Evelyn was killed on impact of a broken neck.
She was 24 years old.
Even to this day, Evelyn Sharp is a favorite daughter of Ord and of Nebraska. Just a few years after her death, Ord renamed their airfield to the Evelyn Sharp Field and there is a monument there dedicated to her that features two propellers, one from her first plane and one from a P-38. Her name also appears twice in the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame, first on her own, and second included in the 19 names of WASP pilots from Nebraska.
While Sky Rider was written for kids ages 11-12, I enjoyed learning about Evelyn Sharp and all of the amazing things she was able to accomplish in her short life. I definitely recommend it for really anybody wanting to learn more about Evelyn herself, the evolution of the WAFS and the WASPs, and the history of women in aviation.
Dr. Jean A. Lukesh has done nearly every job you can think of in the book industry from librarian, media specialist, teacher, writer, editor, and publisher. She has won many awards for her writing including the Nebraska Library Association 2010 Mari Sandoz Award.
Other Books by Dr. Jean A. Lukesh:
Lucky Ears: the Real Story of Ben Kuroki, World War II Hero
Wolves in Blue: Stories of the North Brothers and their Pawnee Scouts
Secret Brother: the Story of Solon Borglum "Sculptor of the Prairie"
My Name is Shawnee: A Horse Story with Photographs
and many more
