Oral history interview with Nancy Mayes

Item description

Mayes primarily discusses WASP training, working overseas with the Red Cross and Air Force Pacific Command, and her experiences in the Air Force Reserves, GE, and as a WASP veteran. Mayes details her mother's experiences teaching and being a university housemother and living in Paris, France; the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; her interest in flying; her brother's death in 1942 as a military pilot; and remembrances of President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. " Topics related to Mayes' WASP service include a Life magazine feature on the WASPs; interviewing with Leoti Deaton, the WASP Establishment Officer; the number of WASP trainees "washing out" living in barracks; a typical day of WASP training; a memorable instructor, Lieutenant LaRue;"forced" landings at Avenger Field by male pilots; drill instruction; Texas sandstorms; freeing a man to fight; cross-country flights; instrument training;"zoot suits" WASP uniforms; various duties of the WASPs, including ferrying, instructing, and target towing; and the WASPs disbanding shortly after she finished training." Mayes describes her decision to join the American Red Cross (ARC) and her brief stateside orientation; traveling overseas to the Philippines; flying on an air force plane in the Philippines; and working in Red Cross clubs. She discusses her desk duties with the Air Force Pacific Command (PACUSA); her living quarters in Tokyo; climbing Mount Fuji; and her contact with and impressions of Japanese people. Other topics include Mayes' duties in the Air Force Reserves; traveling to Fayetteville for Reserves training; her opinion of women in the military and in combat; WASP deaths during training; being the only woman in her reserve unit; and her involvement the Women Military Pilots Association, Inc. (now Women Military Aviators).