Betty Greene: An Amazing Woman

       An essay I wrote for school on Betty Greene.  I went from not knowing anything about her, not even her name, to learning that she was an incredible person.  Her story truly is amazing.
(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.

She spent six wonderful weeks with her family and in her home in Seattle before setting out to Los Angeles to join CAMF.  She quickly began her work in setting up goals and funds for CAMF.  With the help of the many other people working for CAMF, she created a newsletter, began spreading the word of CAMF to many different churches, and gained support from many people and churches.  Soon, CAMF was finding a way to join Wycliffe Bible Translators and work toward bringing the organization to its goal of serving missionaries overseas.  Betty flew to Mexico to meet with some of Wycliffe’s staff.  While she was there, she enjoyed learning so much about both Wycliffe and adapting to a different culture and even visited a jungle camp where she got her first taste as a missionary.  While flying to this camp, she saw how important an airplane would be in finding and contacting tribes isolated in the middle of the jungle.  She arrived back in Los Angeles around Christmas of 1945, and, by January, it was time to find the first pilot for CAMF.  Determining that no one else was more capable, Betty took the job.  After gaining the money, they bought their first airplane, a 1933 Waco Biplane.  Her first trip took her back to the jungle camp in southern Mexico and she continued her work as a missionary for CAMF for many years.  In 1946, CAMF changed its name Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in accordance to a similar organization in Europe.  Betty continued flying for MAF and becserved as an MAF pilot for 16 years, flying in 12 countries and touching down in some 20 more.  In 1962 she began working at MAF headquarters, and later served as an MAF advocate until her death in 1997.”  Betty Greene passed away on April 10, 1997 from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 76 (Solomon).

 

                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.

Works Cited

Benge, Janet, and Geoff Benge. Betty Greene Wings to Serve. Seattle: Youth With A Mission Publishing, 1999. Print.

"Betty Greene." Mission Aviation Fellowship. Mission Aviation Fellowship. Web. 6 May 2013.

Greene, Betty, and Dietrich Buss. Flying High. Camp Hill: Christian Publications, 2002. Print.

Hailey, Andy. "Betty Greene." WWII-Women-Pilots. N.p., 24 Mar 2010. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://wwii-women-pilots.org/classlists/docs/EEGreene43-5.pdf>.

Lewis, Jone. "WASP - Women Pilots of World War II." About.com. About.com. Web. 13 May 2013.

Solomon, Chris. "Betty Greene, 76; Pioneer Aviatrix, Missionary and a Lady to Her Core." The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company, 16 Apr 1997. Web. 6 May 2013.