Wasp of the Ferry Command by Sarah Rickman

The story of the WASP who ferried aircraft for the Air Transport Command is the real WASP story, in the opinion of this author/historian. Usually it is overshadowed by the popular, glamorized version of the WASP story — the story of Jackie Cochran’s 1,000 girl pilot recruits and their trials and tribulations.
My presentation is about the 303 WASP of the Ferry Command, and in particular about the 126 WASP who ferried pursuit aircraft like the P-51 from the factories to the docks for shipment abroad. The P-51s those women delivered throughout 1944 ended up escorting American bombers all the way to Berlin and back, protecting them from German attack. Ultimately this key factor led to the defeat of Nazi Germany May 8, 1945.

Sarah Byrn Rickman, a former journalist, has been researching the WASP — the women who flew for the U.S. Army in World War II — and following their activities for 23 years. She has five published books about the WASP. Her newest book — her second WASP novel — is Flight to Destiny. The story won the Greyden Press Best Novel Competition in 2013, and was published in June 2014.
Sarah serves as a WASP historian and the editor of the WASP Newsletter for the WASP Archives at Texas Woman’s University. She is a licensed sport pilot, who with her husband, reside in Colorado Springs.

Program format is in a casual, buffet style dinner setting at a cost of $17. Reservations are suggested by Friday prior, 10 a.m.

We welcome visitors who enjoy Western history!