Silver Gertrude Tompkins - Seized by the sun: the life and disappearance of World War II pilot Gertrude Tompkins

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Copyright 2017 by James W. Ure

All rights reserved

First edition

Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 978-1-61373-587-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ure, James W., 1939 author.

Title: Seized by the sun : the life and disappearance of World War II pilot Gertrude Tompkins / James W. Ure.

Description: First edition. | Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press Incorporated, 2017. | Series: Women of action | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016047279 (print) | LCCN 2016050005 (ebook) | ISBN 9781613735879 (cloth) | ISBN 9781613735886 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781613735909 (epub) | ISBN 9781613735893 (kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Silver, Gertrude Tompkins, 19111944. | Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.)Biography. | World War, 19391945Participation, Female. | World War, 19391945Aerial operations, American. | Air pilots, MilitaryUnited StatesBiography. | Women air pilotsUnited StatesBiography.

Classification: LCC D790.5 .U74 2017 (print) | LCC D790.5 (ebook) | DDC 940.54/4973092 [B] dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016047279

Interior design: Sarah Olson

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

To Cassandra, Demetria, Forrest, Jesaia, and Winonna

The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldnt it be? It is the same the angels breathe. Mark Twain

O riginally called the Air Service, todays US Air Force has undergone several name changes. It became the Air Corps in 1926, and the Air Corps became an element of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) on June 20, 1941. USAAF continued to exist under command of the US Army until 1946the time during which Gertrude Tompkins served. Readers will see frequent references to the army being in command of the air force.

The United States Air Force became an entity separate from the army on September 18, 1947. For the sake of simplicity, in this book air force will be used.

Womens Airforce Service Pilots are correctly abbreviated with the acronym WASP, in the singular. However, over time, books and stories written by WASP have added the s to the end of the word. It has become common usage to say and write WASPs, which is frequently used in this book.

Note that England and Britain are used interchangeably.

PROLOGUE

T he new P-51D Mustang fighter plane rested on the Mines Field runway with its nose lifted to the sky. The shiny aluminum craft reflected the Southern California light, in spite of a haze that filtered the suns rays.

A woman with gray eyes walked toward the aircraft. Her curly dark hair bounced lightly against the collar of her leather flight jacket. As a Womens Airforce Service Pilot, or WASP, Gertrude Tompkinss job was to fly this sleek plane across the country to Newark, New Jersey. From there it would be shipped to Europe for combat against Nazi Germany. It was brand new, one of 45 Mustangs that North American Aviation would have manufactured that day at its Los Angeles plant.