Violet Cowden Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Most of this collection has been digitized. Some items have not beed digitized due to copyright or other logistical issues.
What's in the full collection?: May 2007 oral history transcript; photographs; Related Material:"Wings of Silver: The Vi Cowden Story" DVD in the WV0002 General Printed Materials and Video recordings Collection.
Full biography: Violet Thurn Cowden (1917-2011) of South Dakota served in the WASP from 1943 to 1944. Violet Thurn Cowden was born in South Dakota to a farming family. She graduated from high school in 1934 and enrolled at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. She graduated in 1936 and worked as a teacher in town. While there, she took flying lessons and earned her private pilot's license. When war was declared, Cowden enlisted in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Serviceâ€"United States Navy). Before her basic training, she was contacted by the WASP and accepted into class 44-W-4. She began training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, in March of 1943. She graduated in August 1943 and was sent to Love Field in Dallas, Texas, where she ferried planes. She also completed pursuit school in Brownsville, Texas. When the WASP was disbanded in December of 1944, Cowden spent a year in New York City where she worked for an airport in a non-flight position. She later moved to California and started a ceramics business with a fellow WASP and a high school classmate. Cowden remained active in WASP alumnae affairs, having served as the president of the regional and national organizations.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.)
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Oral history interview with Violet Thurn Cowden; Primarily discusses Violet Thurn Cowden's service in the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) from 1943 to 1944. Cowden discusses her childhood on a farm in South Dakota, working for room and board to attend high school in the nearby town, paying her way through college, and then working as a teacher. She shares her reasons for wanting to learn to fly and talks about sending a letter to Washington, D.C., offering her help. Cowden discusses enlisting in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) but receiving a telegram accepted her into the WASP before her WAVES basic training, and recounts struggling to gain weight to pass the physical exam. " Cowden describes being in the first group of women to train at Avenger Field and the reaction of male pilots there, the personal qualms male instructors had in training females, and how tough they were on WASPs. Topics from her training at Avenger Field include: a typical day's schedule; progressing between training levels; night flying; graduation; and meeting Jacqueline Cochran. She gives her impression of Cochran and General Hap Arnold. Topics from her experiences at Brownsville and Love Field, Texas, include: the fears of an male instructor; the support of the male pilots; being the first to fly a new plane; bumping Frank Sinatra from a flight; an estimate of the distance she flew; social activities; meeting General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell and Gene Autry; making a night landing in the rain; and the disbanding of the WASP. " Other topics include why she did not continue her career as a pilot; her opinion of President Franklin Roosevelt; her heroines from WWII; keeping touch with fellow WASP; fighting for veterans' benefits; parachuting with the Golden Knights; and her family.

: Violet Cowden after completing a tandem jump; Violet Thurn Cowden poses for a photograph under an Army Golden Knight tent following her completing a tandem jump with the United States Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, in 2006. Deployed parachutes can be seen laying beneath an open-air tent.

: Violet Cowden in A-2 leather jacket; Portrait of WASP Violet Thurn Cowden in an A-2 leather bomber jacket and scarf. The WASP Fifinella patch can be seen on the jacket.

: Violet Cowden parachutes; Picture of Violet Thurn Cowden taken in mid-air during her tandem jump with the United States Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, in 2006.