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Daughter of the Air: The Short Soaring Life of Cornelia Fort (Transaction Large Print Books) - Softcover
In Daughter of the Air, Rob Simbeck paints a vivid portrait of Army pilot Cornelia Fort—a passionate, brave, intelligent, and charming woman—and provides insight into the political and social atmosphere of her era. He cites Fort’s letters and diaries, various historical documents, and interviews of people who knew her personally and also flew with her.
Cornelia Fort’s (1919-1943) barrier-breaking life included membership in the first trained women’s flight squadron, the WAFS. In a remarkable coincidence of fate, she was flying over Oahu on the morning of December 7, 1941, and was one of the few to witness the bombing of Pearl Harbor from the air. Her brief career was marked by the prejudices of the era toward women pilots.
Raised on her parent’s Nashville estate and educated at a prestigious finishing school, Fort cast off her role as a member of Southern aristocracy to become a pilot. She persevered in her courageous career despite rampant prejudice toward women, noting "because there were and are so many disbelievers in women pilots, especially in their place in the Army, all of us realized what a spot we were in. We had to deliver the goods or else." Tragically, it was a male pilot’s practical joke that clipped her wing and sent Fort into a fatal spin. This biography is a must read for historians, military specialists, or those interested in the role of women in the military.
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About the Author:
From Kirkus Reviews:
Rob Simbeck is a Nashville, Tennessee-based writer whose papers have appeared in numerous periodicals and newspapers, including Rolling Stone, Nashville Scene, Field and Stream, Guideposts, Kansas Quarterly, and The Washington Post. He is also the author of 50 Seasons: A History of the Nashville Symphony and Tennessee State Symbols.
A biography of aviator Cornelia Fort, from her wealthy Nashville (Tenn.) childhood to her pioneering career as a pilot and early death. Simbeck, a seasoned professional writer, has consulted letters, books, and articles of the time, interviewing many of Fort's family members and friends. Born in 1919, she grew up on her family's farm with three older brothers and a younger sister, leading an active, privileged life bound only by the strict rules of her father, a medical doctor, successful businessman, and major landownerfirst citizen of the city. After watching the country-fair daredevil acts of early barnstorming aviators, the father made his sons take an oath never to take up flying, but he never reckoned on Cornelia, his feisty debutante-to-be daughter. Against her father's wishes, she attended progressive Sarah Lawrence College and relished the lifestyle of the rich and famous in nearby New York City. After her father's death, she broke away from her family's social restraints and took flying lessons from a veteran aviator, becoming hooked on the freedom of the skies. Later she found herself as a licensed instructor with a student in the air over Pearl Harbor as the Japanese struck. After landing, Fort and the student jumped out and ran for their lives as the plane was riddled with bullets on the ground. Simbeck describes the early days of the US entry into WWII, as about 100 experienced female pilots were invited to form the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), to transport training planes from factories to air bases to free up men for combat training. Fort tragically died at 24 while trying new formation flying. As the war ended, the 1,100 female pilots were discharged as WASPS (Women's Airforce Service Pilots). An unusual story of a gallant young spirit who loved her country and died in its service. Another tribute to the ``greatest generation'' of WWII. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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- PublisherRoutledge
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 1560004614
- ISBN 13 9781560004615
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages241
- Rating
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