Betty Strohfus, WASP, Visits Green Bay For Women’s History Month

One of the few remaining female pilots from World War II was in Green Bay over the weekend. Female pilots, restricted from combat roles, trained men as fighter pilots and made domestic flights during the war.

UW-Green Bay invited Betty Strohfus for a visit for Women’s History Month. Strohfus is from Faribault, Minnesota. In 1942, she joined the “Women Air Force Service Pilots”: WASPs, for short.

“I am just very happy to have been a member of that group,” Strohfus said. “They were a wonderful group of ladies that didn’t care if we didn’t get recognized.”

Strohfus went to the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh where she received what she considers a great honor.

“They named an AT6 after me, the Elizabeth Wall Strohfus. So that’s me and I’m so proud to have that happen. The AT6 was my favorite aircraft in the service,” Strohfus said.

UW-Green Bay has a series of plays and lectures for Women’s History Month to which people are encouraged to bring their daughters along.

Strohfus is one of the last surviving WASPs and wants people to know the role women played during World War II.

“1,074 of our women flew every type of aircraft the military had at the time,” she said. “We flew 61 million miles for the Air Force. Training, ferrying, engineering and different types of aviation: we did for them.”

After the war the WASPs were disbanded. Strohfus went on to marry and raise five children. She supports recent military changes that allow women to serve in combat roles if they choose to do so.