She flew the swift P-51 and the capricious P-38, but the heavy, four-engine B-17 bomber and C-54 transport were her forte. This is the story of Nancy Harkness Love who, early in World War II, recruited and led the first group of twenty-eight women to fly military aircraft for the U.S. Army.
Love was hooked on flight at an early age. At sixteen, after just four hours of instruction, she flew solo a rather broken down Fleet biplane that my barnstorming instructor imported from parts unknown. The year was 1930: record-setting aviator Jacqueline Cochran (and Love s future rival) had not yet...