Cornelia Fort
Encyclopedia
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) later called Women Airforce Service Pilots
Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots and its predecessor groups the Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron were pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces...
, who became the first female pilot in American history
History of the United States
The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...
to die on active duty.
Early life and career
Fort was born to a wealthy and prominent Nashville, TennesseeNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, family; her father, Rufus Elijah Fort, was a founder of National Life and Accident Insurance Company
National Life and Accident Insurance Company
The National Life and Accident Insurance Company is a former life insurance company which was based in Nashville, Tennessee.National Life and Accident began in 1900 as the National Sick and Accident Association, a mutual company...
. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
in 1939. After college, Fort would join the Junior League of Nashville
Junior League
The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. is a non-profit organization of 292 Junior Leagues in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States. Junior Leagues are educational and charitable women's organizations aimed at improving their communities through volunteerism and...
. She showed an early interest in flying, ultimately training for and earning her pilot's license in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
Pearl Harbor attack
While working as a civilian pilot instructor at Pearl HarborPearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Cornelia Fort inadvertently became one of the first witnesses to the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
that brought the United States into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. On December 7, 1941, Fort was in the air near Pearl Harbor teaching takeoffs and landings to a student pilot in an Interstate Cadet
Interstate Cadet
The Interstate Cadet is an American two-seat tandem, high wing, single engine monoplane light aircraft. Around 320 of these aircraft were produced between the years of 1941 and 1942 by the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation based in El Segundo, California...
monoplane. Hers and a few other civilian aircraft were the only U.S. planes in the air near the harbor at that time. Fort saw a military airplane flying directly toward her and swiftly grabbed the controls from her student to pull up over the oncoming craft. It was then she saw the rising sun
Rising Sun Flag
The is the military flag of Japan. It was used as the war flag of the Imperial Japanese Army and the ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy until the end of World War II...
insignia on the wings. Within moments, she saw billows of black smoke coming from Pearl Harbor and bombers flying in. She quickly landed the plane at John Rodgers civilian airport near the mouth of Pearl Harbor. The pursuing Zero
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
strafed her plane and the runway as she and her student ran for cover. The airport manager was killed and two other civilian planes did not return that morning.
Military service
With all civilian flights grounded in Hawaii, Fort returned to the mainland in early 1942. She made a short movie promoting war bondWar bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...
s that was successful and led to speaking engagements. Later that year, Nancy Love recruited her to serve in the newly established Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, precursor to the Women Airforce Service Pilots
Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots and its predecessor groups the Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron were pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces...
(WASP). She was the second woman accepted into the service. The WAFS ferried military planes to bases within the United States.
Death
Stationed at the 6th Ferrying Group base at Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, Cornelia Fort became the first WAFS fatality on March 21, 1943 when another plane being ferried by a male pilot struck the left wing of the BT-13 she was ferrying in a mid-air collision ten miles south of Merkel, Texas
Merkel, Texas
Merkel is a town in Taylor County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,637 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Abilene, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Merkel is located 17 miles west of Abilene near the Interstate Highway 20....
. At the time of the accident, Cornelia Fort was one of the most accomplished pilots of the WAFS. The footstone of her grave is inscribed, "Killed in the Service of Her Country."
Legacy
Cornelia Fort was portrayed in the film Tora, Tora, Tora by Jeff DonnellJeff Donnell
Jeff Donnell was an American film and television actress. Born Jean Marie Donnell, she grew up in South Windham, Maine...
.
The Cornelia Fort Airpark in East Nashville is named after her.
See also
- Women Airforce Service PilotsWomen Airforce Service PilotsThe Women Airforce Service Pilots and its predecessor groups the Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron were pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces...
(WASP) - Women Airforce Service Pilots BadgeWomen Airforce Service Pilots BadgeThe Women Airforce Service Pilots Badge is a decoration of the United States Army that was issued during the Second World War. The badge created for the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP , was awarded to more than a thousand women who had qualified for employment as civilian, non-combat...
- United States Army Air ForcesUnited States Army Air ForcesThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
- Women's Army CorpsWomen's Army CorpsThe Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the US Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554, and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943...
(WAC) - United States Army Air ForcesUnited States Army Air ForcesThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
- United States Air ForceUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Further reading
- Brinker Tanner, Doris. "Cornelia Fort: A WASP in World War II, Part I," Tennessee Historical Quarterly volume 40 (1981), pp. 381–94; "Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator, Part II," Tennessee Historical Quarterly volume 41 (1982), pp. 67–80.
- Fort, Cornelia. "At the Twilight's Last Gleaming: Personal-Experience Narrative of a Member of the WAFS," in The Army Reader, ed. Karl Detzer, Bobbs-Merill, 1943, pp. 313–16. Also in Woman's Home Companion, June 1943.
- Regis, Margaret. When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II. NavPublishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-87732-05-0