Dorothy Ann Lucas Oral History

title:

Dorothy Ann Lucas Oral History

creator:

Lucas, Dorothy Ann (Smith) (1922 December 4 - )

subject:

Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP)

description:

Dorothy Ann Lucas (formerly Smith) was born on December 4, 1922 in Norfolk, Virginia. She had been working in Washington, DC with the War Department during the early stages of World War II before joining the Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program. A friend told her about the program in 1943, and since they didn’t want to join other military branches they decided to look into the WASPs. She was only 20 at that point in 1943 and had to be 21 to join, so she spent the few months before her 21st birthday getting in the required 35 flight hours. In that time, the age limit was lowered to 18 in the summer of 1943 and both women signed up. Her friend’s parents wouldn’t let her go to Sweetwater, Texas to join the WASPs, so Lucas went that way on her own. Very early on in her time there, she received a call informing her that her brother, a B-17 navigator stationed in Africa, had died overseas. Although she considered leaving, she held on and completed her training and graduated in WASP Class 44-W-7. She then got orders to Moore Field in Mission, Texas and was assigned to a gunnery squadron as a tow-target operator, with the occasional administrative flight as well. Her job was mostly to fly an AT-6 with a target attached by a cable for cadets to use to learn aerial gunnery. She was never afraid they were going to shoot her, but she did worry that the cadets might accidentally fly into the cable connecting the target to her plane. She met her husband, who also trained pilots, while they were both stationed at Moore Field. He remained in the Air Force after the war ended, so they lived all around the world together with their five children. If the Army had asked her to be a combat pilot, she would’ve said yes in a heartbeat since she had the same training as any other second lieutenant military pilot. Because they weren’t officially in the military, when Lucas left the WASPs in 1945 she didn’t have a formal rank. After the WASPs were formally recognized as veterans in 1977, she was awarded an American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and Congressional Gold Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Weigand, Cindy

date:

2003-08-07

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

584; 2003.584

source:

Weigand | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

056096

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-45

rights:

Unrestricted