TDIH: Evelyn Sharp, aviator

She served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II.

On this day in 1944, a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots is tragically killed. Evelyn “Sharpie” Sharp has been called “Nebraska’s aviatrix.” At just 24 years old, she was among the youngest of the WASPs serving our country during World War II.

Her path into aviation had been a bit unusual.

Evelyn’s name at birth was Lois Crouse. Her parents had gotten married too hastily when her mother got pregnant—then they got divorced just as quickly. Evelyn was thus adopted by John and Mary Sharp when she was mere weeks old.

Her parents tried their hand at farming and moved around a bit, but by the time Evelyn was 15, they were living in Ord, Nebraska, and operating a boardinghouse. The country was then in the midst of the Great Depression, and one of the boarders—a flight instructor—was having trouble paying for his room.

He offered to pay his debt by teaching Evelyn to fly. Thus it was that Evelyn took her first lesson early in 1935. She was a natural and soon had her pilot’s license, too.

Her life would never be the same again.

Evelyn’s father soon convinced local businessmen to sponsor her. In return for a small plane, she advertised for them while on barnstorming tours. She became a bit of a celebrity and made money by taking people for rides. She served as an airmail pilot for a bit—one of the first women to do so. She also became a flight instructor, teaching more than 350 men to fly.

When she was 20 years old, she was one of only 10 female instructors nationwide.

By then, war was looming. Would America enter World War II? It was still uncertain, but a reporter asked Evelyn if she would help. “Certainly!” she responded cheerfully. “There’s plenty of things a woman flier can do to help the aviation branches of the services. I’ll do everything I can.”

She soon had her opportunity.

In 1942, the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron was formed, and Evelyn leapt at the chance. Within a year, the WAFS merged with a similar group, forming the new Women Airforce Service Pilots. The WASPs helped the war effort by filling domestic aviation needs and freeing up male pilots for combat.

The women flew every type of plane the Army Air Forces owned, including powerful fighter planes and heavy bombers. They made test flights of new or repaired aircraft, and they transported cargo. They towed targets so the men could practice. They were even flight instructors.

Evelyn was among the best, and she was good enough to fly virtually any plane in the military. She was one of the youngest pilots, but when she joined, she already had more flight hours under her belt than many of the other women.

Unfortunately, experience couldn’t save her from what happened on April 3, 1944. She’d been tasked with delivering a Lockheed P-38 to Newark, New Jersey.

Evelyn took off from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, at 10:29 a.m. She was barely in the air when black smoke began belching from one engine. The plane stalled, then fell to the ground. It had been in the air for about one minute.

“I was stunned,” another WASP said upon hearing the news. “Evelyn was such a good pilot. Of course, later, we heard what happened to her.”

“It had been only nine years,” her biographer concludes, “since she had taken her first flight . . . . But in that short time, she had left indelible memories in the hearts and minds of those who knew her. . . . Evelyn did not let role expectations, struggles, or disappointments stand in her way. She earned the reputation of being one of the finest pilots in the nation . . . .”

Yet another member of the Greatest Generation, giving everything she had to give.

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