Oral history interview with Meredith Rolfe Campbell

Item description

Primarily documents Meredith Rolfe Campbell's service in the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) in 1943 and her experiences in New York immediately following. Campbell briefly discusses her childhood in rural Montana, including her father's jobs, the first time she saw a plane, and her early desire to fly. She summarizes her experiences as a teacher in White Sulphur Springs and efforts to earn her pilot's license. Campbell describes working at an airport in Tucson, Arizona, (probably Davis-Monthan), learning about the WASP program, and her supervisor signing off on hours she hadn't flown so she could be eligible to join. She discusses meeting Jacqueline Cochran, being turned down because of a dental problem, and working at Flying Training Command headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, until she could get it fixed. Notable subjects from her time at Fort Worth include General Barton Yount, gender discrimination, pranks, and meeting baseball player "Red" Rolfe and actor Bill Holden. " Topics from her training at Avenger Field include: the Fifinella logo; uniforms; flying the B-26; fellow WASP; Yankee Doodle Pilot; typical training tests; ground school; social activities; her flight accident; parachuting out; Assen Jordanoff's Flying and How to Do It!; her injuries and treatment; being moved back to another class; and getting washed out. " Campbell also discusses her activities following her service. Topics include: moving to New York City; working for the Jordanoff Aviation Corporation; writing captions for Time magazine; being offered a part in Dark Victory; and the overcrowding of New York City once the war ended. She also shares her reasons for leaving the city and moving to Longview, Oregon; moving to San Diego, California, with her second husband; starting a WASP exhibit at the San Diego Aerospace Museum; and a fallout with her fellow WASP because of it. Other topics include: Amelia Earhart; WASP reunions and publications; what she loves about flying; and religion.