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Cornelia
Clark Fort
February 5, 1919 - March 21, 1943Historical
Marker
SW of Merkel, Texas |
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Historical
Marker TextCornelia
Clark FortFebruary
5, 1919 - March 21, 1943)
Born into an affluent Tennessee family, Cornelia
Fort attended the Ward-Belmont School in Nashville and graduated from Sarah Lawrence
College in New York in 1939. She returned to a society life in Tennessee but was
soon introduced to flying by a friend.
In her first week in the air, Fort
logged over 2,000 miles. She became an instructor in 1941, a year after her first
flying lesson. She worked with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's civilian
pilot training program at Fort Collins, Colorado, before taking a similar position
in Hawaii. She was airborne with a trainee when Japanese forces attacked Pearl
Harbor; Fort landed safely while under enemy fire.
By 1942 she was
part of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) commanded by Nancy Harkness
Love. Fort and 26 other women pilots ferried war planes across the United States.
Fort was transferred to a new squadron in Long Beach, California. On March 21,
1943, she ferried a BT-13A airplane toward Dallas'
Love Field. While flying in formation, her plane struck another aircraft. Available
records indicate that Fort was the first American woman pilot to die on active
military duty when she plunged into the rugged terrain of Mulberry Canyon, three
miles southeast of this site. Shortly before her death at age 24, Cornelia wrote,
"I am grateful that my one talent, flying, was useful to my country."
On August 4, 1943, WAFS personnel merged with and helped create the Women Airforce
Service Pilots (WASP), led by noted aviator Jacqueline Cochran. The WASP's most
famous training ground was Avenger
Field at Sweetwater
in nearby Nolan County. | |
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