02 February 2012

Great Reads - Rob Simbeck's Daughter of the Air

Nashville deb ferries planes for the U.S. Army. How can you not read it?

A young woman from a privileged Nashville home struggles to find her place in the world, and she does, in the cockpit of an airplane. Her career is astounding. Cornelia Fort was living in Hawaii and working as a flight instructor in 1941. On December 7, while in the air with a student, she witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor. She went on to become one of the first women of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ferrying U.S. military aircraft around the country during World War II. Tragically, she was killed in the line of duty in March 1943. She was 24. A short, yet remarkable life.