Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Search for the Missing WASP

The March 9th Fox 2 News of St. Louis reports that a local man will be participating in an attempt to locate the wreckage of Gertrude Thompkins Silver's plane and her body in the waters off Santa Monica Bay, California. She was called Tommy by her friends and she is the last missing WASP pilot.

The October 6, 2009 Los Angeles News reported on the first attempt to find her plane this past fall which was unsuccessful. Her last name Silver came from her secret marriage as the military did not allow WASPs to be married.

In 1944, Gertrude and two others took off from Mines Field in Los Angeles and her P-51 Mustang vanished after she flew into a cloud bank and she became one of 38 WASPs to give her life in line of duty.

Her 101-year-old sister still survives and she would like to know what happened.

The search will continue this summer.

Here's Hoping They Find Her. --DaCoot

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