(If you want to know more in depth about her, I suggest reading one of her books in the works cited list.)
Betty
Greene: An Amazing Woman
"My mind leaped for joy at the
thrilling thought!” said Betty Greene of her reaction as she was
discovering where to go in the world and how to make a difference (Greene
10). Born in Seattle, Washington in
1920, Betty Greene grew up with a passion for flying (“Betty Greene –
Missionary Pilot”). World War II’s Women’s Airforce Service Pilots
(WASPs) greatly affected the outcome of the war and the role of women during
and after. Specifically, Betty Greene
inspired many other women through her work as a WASP and the founding of
Mission Aviation Fellowship.
Born to Gertrude and Albert Greene, Elizabeth
Everts “Betty” Greene grew up in a Presbyterian home with a family that
encouraged her wherever she went. In a
family of four kids, she had two older brothers and a twin brother. Ever since she was very young, she had a
passion for flying. For her sixteenth
birthday, she received one hundred dollars from her uncle. She excitedly used the money for a few flying
lessons. In 1937, she went to the
University of Washington to study, to her disliking, nursing. She studied hard, but after only the first
quarter she asked her mother to let her drop out. Dropping out was not something that the
Greene’s did, so she stuck with it for one more quarter, finished the semester,
and then dropped out. At this point, she
didn’t know what to do with her life.
She knew she loved flying, animals, and had a passion for God, but she
didn’t know what she could do that would include one or all of these
topics. While she was wondering, she
visited an older, trusted friend and explained her dilemma. Her friend simply responded with suggesting
combining “flying with [her] love for God” (Greene 10). She was thrilled with this thought and
couldn’t believe that it had never occurred to her. Her only problem was how to do this. While trying to figure out this problem, she
came across a pilot training course and immediately enrolled. After quickly achieving her private pilot’s
license for float and regular planes, she returned to college and gained her
bachelor’s degree and a major in cultural sociology. When she was close to graduating, she read an
article in the paper about the Women’s Flying Training Detachment, later to be
called WASP. She became one of over
25,000 other women who applied (Lewis). She
quickly applied and was eager to get started, but had to wait for her approval
into the course. In February, she was gladly
admitted.
In 1943, after
Betty was accepted into the Women’s Flying Training Detachment, she arrived at
Avenger Field and graduated after six months.
Betty excitedly approached the WASP training field with a “love
for flying, a sincere desire to serve [her] country and the ultimate objective
of using [her] flying skills in Christian missions” (Greene 12). Her
first day at Avenger Field came on a morning in March. She was already assigned to a sleeping area
called a “bay” that was shared between six women with one bathroom. There were over a hundred women spread
throughout multiple bays. After settling
into camp and changing into their uniforms, the women were ordered to line
up. After finding the men’s giant green
uniforms, called “zoot suits”, the women rolled up the pant legs and waddled
over to the line. Standing at the
back of the line due to her tall height, Betty Greene looked around at the 130
women who had come from across the nation (Benge 36). A male officer showed up and ordered the
women to attention. However, the women
had no training to know what to do, so it was a hysterical sight. Looking at the officer’s expression, the
women realized and decided that it was time to be serious. They began learning what they had gotten into
and found that only about one third of all the women will persevere and graduate
from Avenger Field. After a few days,
they fell into a daily routine. The
morning began strictly at six o’clock.
Next were breakfast, roll call, and a barrack’s inspection. The rest of the morning was consumed in
learning flying techniques. In the
afternoon, they marched, worked through obstacle courses, and did some flight
simulation exercises. They also studied
many different courses including physics, aerodynamics, meteorology, and
navigation for five hours a day. This
continued until ten o’clock at night when they would flop into their cots and
get some sleep before it all happened again the next morning (Benge 39).
As careful as they
tried to be throughout the training, there were some accidents. While Betty was there, at least one included
the death of a woman and her trainer. Betty
learned from those mistakes and decided that she would be as careful as
possible no matter what. While going
through all of this training, she still had a direction that she was working
toward: incorporating flying into missionary work for God. She decided to write an article for Power, a Christian magazine for
teenagers, which described her thoughts and feelings on this topic. The article quickly gained popularity and she
wrote another article for His
magazine. With this inspiration, she
continued her training and September quickly came along with graduation
day. After many speeches, she graduated
as a true WASP.
A week after
graduating, she and two of her good friends were sent to Camp Davis. At Camp Davis, her job included flying low
along a very specific route allowing the men to practice tracking the plane and
constantly knowing its exact location, flying at night to give the men
spotlighting practice, and pulling a large flag with a target on it through the
sky behind her giving the men antiaircraft target practice. This last job was obviously the most
stressful and dangerous of the three, but Betty followed her orders and flew with
her training officer. Bombs began
exploding all around her, while her uninterested, accompanying officer
slept. When a bomb came dangerously
close to the plane, he suddenly jolted up and awake. He shouted orders through the radio and the
exploding fell back to the target rather than the plane. After many weeks, she and her good friend Ann
Baumgartner received a notice stating that they were being reassigned to Wright
Field, Ohio.
In January 1944,
she reached Wright Field and waited to hear what was in store for her
there. She was greeted by Colonel
Randolph Lovelace II, M.D., director of the Aeromedical Laboratory (Benge 53). He immediately began explaining why she was
there and what role she will be filling.
He explained that she, and the other base members, will be testing new
high-altitude equipment. He stated that
they will be flying at 40,000 feet, an incredibly dangerous feat at the
time. Being a sensible man, Colonel Lovelace
explained that he had already been to that altitude and jumped with a
parachute. He ended up going unconscious
for part of the fall and suffered a frostbitten hand, but, ultimately, he
recovered and was fine. After learning
the rest of the details about her job, Betty began simulation tests to determine
her own capabilities. Dressed in all her
gear, near the end of the first week, Betty performed her first high altitude
flight. She went up to 35,000 feet and
waited to see how she and her gear would react.
An accident and close call left one of the airmen unconscious causing
them to immediately drop to safer altitudes.
Tests continued with frigid temperatures and open aircraft doors giving
her great experience with high altitudes.
In addition, these tests helped to eventually create the equipment to
make flying at these altitudes a safe and frequent occurrence today.
Then, in July
1944, Betty received a letter from Jim Truxton about an organization called the
Christian Airmen’s Missionary Fellowship (CAMF). This was an organization that would use
war-trained pilots to help missionaries, which is exactly what Betty had
planned and hoped to create or be a part of after her work as a WASP. The letter also asked if she would meet him
in Washington, D.C. Excitedly, she wrote
back to him and told him that she will be looking for a way to reach D.C. and meet
him. In about two weeks, she received an
assignment that sent her to the Pentagon.
A kind and very welcoming man, Jim had dinner with her in the hotel
dining room. They had a great
conversation about CAMF and all that it was planning to become and accomplish. A month later, Jim wrote to her again and
invited her to open the first office for CAMF in its headquarters in Los
Angeles. She wanted to go, but felt too connected
to WASP to simply leave. Then, something
happened that solved her problem. About
a week later in mid-August, she was on an assignment in Florida when a different
WASP ran up to her plane and asked her if she had heard the news. The WASP was being disbanded in December
(Greene 36). It was being disbanded due
to the war coming closer to an end and the need for the WASP was becoming
smaller in addition to a new bill in Congress that had failed to pass. With this news, Betty decided that she would
leave in October. She was disappointed to
see the end to WASP, but she was also excited, knowing that God had her life
planned out ahead of her.
 |
| "First MAF Pilot Honored for Wartime Service." Flight Journal. Air Age Media, 26 March 2010. Web. 21 May 2013. |
Finally,
throughout serving as a WASP and helping found MAF, Betty Greene was able to
make a huge difference around the world.
Growing up in Seattle, learning to fly, serving in World War II as a
WASP, and founding an incredible international missionary organization, Betty
Greene was an amazing woman. Her
contributions inspired many women to make a difference and managed to help and
encourage many other people whether in tribes in the jungle, or simply in everyday
life wherever she went. Thanks to her
work in founding MAF, today the organization is spreading the gospel, delivering
supplies, and introducing new medical and nonmedical technologies throughout
many countries in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and Latin America.
