Amazing Powerful Women…
A World War One Jenny Open Cockpit Airplane Crashes into a Haystack!
To further enhance my adventures to finish my manuscript, “She Flew Bombers” I was able to locate a used old book about an antique airplane titled: “Jenny Was No Lady” subtitle: “The Story of the JN-4D” by Jack R. Lincke, copyright: 1970. It was a fun, well-written, exciting book! The author, Jack Lincke learned how to fly and perform aerobatics on the “Jenny” at the Missouri Kemper Military School at the age of fifteen. He wrote that he was “hooked” on her and ended up buying one as a young man. Jack took a three-day 1500-mile trip in his Jenny with a friend who had a ranch in Whitehall, Wyoming. He flew it from pasture to pasture and would land close enough to garages to get gasoline to keep on traveling. They would sleep over night...
A Surprise Flight in the Magnificent WWI Jenny
One early morning, the phone rang, A man asked if I wanted to go up in Frank Schelling’s Jenny. With apprehension I answered, “Today?” He said, “Frank only flies the Jenny once a year, if you want to go you’ll need to be at the airport before 8 AM.” The scary flight in the 1941 Stearman crossed my mind, but I bravely said, “OK, I’ll be there.” I threw on some clothes then phoned up my best friend of 30 years, Sivani, I asked if she could take photos of me flying in the Jenny. She enthusiastically said, “Sure that’s so cool you get to fly in one!” I sped 80 mile an hour to the airport while looking cautiously for the CHP. I got there just in time and there was my best friend of 30 years, Sivani, with her big, dimpled smile waiting to...
Finding a World War ONE Fabric, Wood and Piano Wires Open Cockpit Airplane
I would like to introduce an amazing, powerful “LADY” her name is Jenny. Many of the Women Airforce Service Pilots practiced these 1918 surplus planes as young girls. I was determined to find a Jenny to describe for my “She Flew Bombers” manuscript. I drove an hour away to the Schellville Airport and with my trusty clipboard and Nikon camera I went to find Frank Shelling’s hanger hoping Jenny would be there. I smelled a whiff of shellac in an open hanger and saw a man touching up the wood parts of an airplane. Breathlessly, before me was a WW ONE 1918 Curtiss Jenny Biplane trainer! With a pounding heart, I introduced myself as an aspiring writer about the WASPs, and owner Frank was very pleased to meet me. He enthusiastically...
Up in the Air!
After meeting my first amazing WW II woman Airforce service pilot, Florence Wheeler, it sparked the beginning of my research to write my historical novel, She Flew Bombers. I learned that young women in the 1930’s did fly airplanes! Many learned how on fabric and wood surplus 1918 World War One Curtiss Jenny’s. I was determined to try and find this airplane to see and feel what it looked like to describe more accurately in my book. It would be my first hands on experience, and this method would continue when writing all five of my historical novels. I went to the Pacific Coast Air Museum in nearby Santa Rosa, CA and asked if anyone knew of where a “Jenny” was in Sonoma County. One of the members told me he thought a pilot had one in a...
Beginnings: The Accidental Novelist
Writing my first historical novel (She Flew Bombers) was purely a serendipitous experience, full of surprise adventures as I began my journey discovering unknown amazing powerful women. I had been working full time as the owner and director of a large childcare center, and to make life easier my brother gave me a brand-new Mac laptop. I was thrilled at how it could copy and paste, and correct errors by simply pressing delete and not having to use the difficult “correcto-type” tape used with an electric typewriter. I used my new laptop for my business but soon felt compelled to use it to write a book. I decided to go through my mother’s large scrapbook packed with information and memorabilia about her career in the Women’s Army Corp,...