From Denver Post:
Arvada WASP pilot recaptures legacy of Fifinella with biplane flight Read more: Arvada WASP pilot recaptures legacy of Fifinella with biplane flight
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
The first female military pilots in U.S. history — women
including Lucile Wise of Arvada — signed up during World War II and trained to
fly bombers and fighters such as the legendary P-51 Mustang.
The U.S. Army Air Forces didn't have enough pilots, so women
were recruited for military flying jobs stateside to free up men to fly combat
missions overseas.
Seventy years after her pilot training, Wise strapped
herself into the open cockpit of a 1942 Boeing-Stearman biplane, used as a
military trainer during the war.
The 92-year-old wore goggles, a headset and a borrowed
leather bomber jacket. Excited, she grinned as the pilot fired up the engine.
When the canary biplane roarded down the runway, a former Air Force pilot watched in awe.
"Fifinella flies again," said Greg Anderson,
president and chief executive of Wings Over the Rockies, as the plane rose into
the warm afternoon sky earlier this week. "The legacy lives on."
Fifinella — a female gremlin designed by Walt Disney that
appeared in many World War II cartoons — was the official mascot of the Women
Airforce Service Pilots. Her image appeared on the noses of bombers and on the
flight jackets of 1,074 women, including Wise.
"These ladies were way ahead of their time," he
said. "Individually, and as a group, they have a piece of history we will
never be able to experience. They paved the way and proved it could be
done."
These women will be honored at the 10th annual gala of Wings
Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum on Dec. 21, which will feature many
WASP pilots, including seven who live in Colorado. The traveling exhibit,
"Fly Girls of WWII," runs through March at the museum.
In an era when the dominant role for women was to stay at
home serving as wives and mothers, the opportunity to train as military pilots
opened a door to women like Wise, who had dropped out of Colorado Women's
College and was working in Wichita.
"We all wanted to do something to help the war effort.
All my women friends were joining the military," Wise said. "I did it
for a lark, to add a little excitement to my life."
She took her first flying lesson Dec. 6, 1941 — the day
before the attack on Pearl Harbor — because someone had taken her up in a Piper
Cub.
Once behind the controls, Wise was hooked.
By 1943, Jackie Cochran — a beautician who became America's
top female pilot — had established the WASPs at the request of President
Franklin Roosevelt.
More than 25,000 women applied to the program, and fewer
than 1,900 were accepted into the training program at Avenger Field in
Sweetwater, Texas.
Wise's classmates included Gertrude "Tommy"
Tompkins, whose fighter went down along the California coast soon after takeoff
Oct. 26, 1944, and has never been found.
"We never dwelled on it," said Wise. "We were
too busy."
The pilots flew a total of 60 million miles in two years.
Thirty-eight women died during their service, an accident rate comparable to
male pilots doing the same job.
WASPs flew military planes from factories to bases, trained
male pilots, towed targets for gunnery practices and tested planes.
Two WASPs were also used to convince male pilots it was safe
to fly the B-29. Men resisted flying the new heavy bomber because it hadn't
received rigorous testing, and its engines tended to catch fire.
Col. Paul Tibbets recruited two WASPs to serve as demo
pilots, and after three days of training, the women powered up the four-engine
bomber and ferried around the men.
"They flew it, no problem," said Brig. Gen. Wilma
Vaught, one of the most decorated women in military history, now president of
the board of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.
"They thought it was great. That ended the (men's) fear of flying that
plane."
The WASPs were disbanded in late 1944, receiving a letter of
thanks from Henry Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces.
The war had reached a point "when your services are no
longer needed," he said. "The situation is that if you continue in
service, you will be replacing instead of releasing our young men."
Most WASPs returned to traditional roles.
"I didn't know what I was going to do. I felt
lost," Wise said.
Although the women had been promised that they would be
adopted into the military, that never happened. Bills in Congress to militarize
the WASPs hit fierce opposition, so they were disbanded with no military
benefits and "largely ignored by the U.S. government for more than 30
years," according to the teacher guide of the National Museum of the U.S.
Air Force.
Wise, who married and raised two children with her husband
in Washington, D.C., got fired up in the late 1970s when the Air Force
announced that women would be allowed to become military pilots for the first
time.
"We got very annoyed," said Wise of the WASPs, who
realized they had been totally forgotten by history. "We got
organized."
Wise fought for their rights by volunteering in a tiny
office at the Army Navy Club in Washington, D.C.
Their demand to be recognized as military veterans faced a
united front of tough opponents, including the Veterans Administration,
President Jimmy Carter, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"Those groups had so much power, and they feared this
would open the floodgates," said Wise.
If the WASPs were granted military status, opponents feared,
then the other civilian organizations that worked in the war effort would also
demand military recognition.
But the WASPs refused to quit, calling their congresspersons
and talking to supportive reporters. They gained some key advocates.
"The Pentagon testified in our favor," said Wise.
"It was pretty unusual for them to take a position opposite the White
House."
Col. Bruce Arnold, the son of commanding Gen. Henry Arnold,
also fought for them, as did Sen. Barry Goldwater, himself a World War II
pilot.
In 1977, the House and Senate passed a bill that gave WASPs
military status and veterans benefits.
And in 2010, the WASPs received the Congressional Gold Medal
from President Barack Obama.
"I've been fortunate enough to know a number of
WASPs," said Vaught. "They're a breed among themselves. They have a
spirit of adventure that just won't quit."
Colleen O'Connor: 303-954-1083, coconnor@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/coconnordp
Celebrating wasps
To encourage girls to learn more about the history of WASPs,
admission to "Fly Girls of WWII" at Wings Over the Rockies Air &
Space Museum is free to girls younger than 17 through Dec. 31.
The exhibition, which debuted at the Women in Military
Service for America Memorial Foundation in Washington, includes a 26-foot WASP
timeline, uniformed mannequins, a video, hundreds of photos, WASP memorabilia,
and a photo mosaic featuring the face of every WASP.
The gala honoring the WASPs will be at Wings Over the Rockies,
7711 East Academy Boulevard in Denver, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $200 for
members, $250 for nonmembers. For more information, call 303-360-5360 x 110.
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
In this Google age, it’s not hard to find them.
Just
type in Air Transport Auxiliary and the black-and-white faces begin to
appear. They were the ambitious women pilots who flew in the face of
gender expectations by taking on dangerous aviation missions during the
Second World War.
They are fascinating characters and have long
captured the imagination of author Garry Ryan, a former school teacher
best known for his series of mystery novels featuring gay protagonist
Detective Lane.
Long before Lane began patrolling the mean streets
of Calgary, Ryan had toyed with the idea of a book featuring a defiant
female pilot putting in time for the Air Transit Auxiliary in England.
“It
was based on the idea that these young women came all over the world to
fly for the ATA,” says Ryan, in an interview from his Calgary home. “So
I thought about what sort of young woman would go there and how she
would be received and the troubles she would face, especially if she was
a better pilot than most of the men.”
So Sharon Lacey was born.
In Blackbirds, which is the first of at least three novels that Ryan has
planned for the character, she is introduced as a young pilot who
travels from her home in Canada to England in 1940 in search of her
estranged father. She finds herself involved with the Auxiliary, a
British wartime organization made up of civilians that helped ferry
military aircraft to various delivery points.
Lacey eventually finds herself enlisted to by the British to help fend of an air attack by the Germans.
The
character is not based on a real person, per se. But Ryan knew what
broad-stroke traits he wanted, even if the models he found came from a
different era.
“My daughter is like that and I watched her grow up
and some of her friends are like that,” he says. “ It came from those
places ... They just do what needs to be done. They see what the job is
and they get the job done. In wartime, that kind of ability or
personality is often needed. It’s not always appreciated, but needed.”
Historically, these women flew heavy bombers and fighters and, when the war ended, were cast aside, Ryan said.
“After
the war they were shut down and apparently some of them killed
themselves because they couldn’t fly,” Ryan said. “The Russians actually
had at least two women who were aces and flew for the Russian air
force. But for a lot of these stories, I really had to dig for them.”
Ryan,
58, retired in 2009 after a long career teaching creative writing and
other subjects to junior high and high-school students. Sharon Lacey’s
outsider status follows a literary pattern of sorts for Ryan. It was
during his time in Calgary schools that the idea dawned on him to create
a gay protagonist to head a series of Calgary-based mysteries. After
seeing two female students in his class bullied because they were gay,
he decided to create a heroic gay character. Since then, the driven
one-named Detective Lane has gone on to be the hero of five novels,
including last year’s Malabarista.
But the idea for Sharon Lacey
actually predates the Detective Lane series. Ryan had shelved the book
for awhile, but when he found the need for some distraction between
Calgary mysteries he returned to the story.
It
was a natural fit. Ryan has been a Second World War and aviation buff
since he was a kid growing up in Glendale. So immersing himself in the
copious amounts of research historical fiction tends to require was a
treat, he says. Again, Google came in handy.
“You can actually
Google some of the aircraft that she flew and it will almost sit you in
the cockpit,” he said. “I got to the air shows, to see what the old
aircraft were like and what they sounded like. For me, that’s just
really fascinating stuff.”
The research certainly hasn’t seemed to
slow down Ryan’s pace. He has already finished three more Lane
mysteries and is working on a fourth, which was inspired by a recent
trip to Cuba. He’s also busy penning two sequels to Blackbirds.
“I just keep going,” he said. “It’s kind of a compulsion I think.
Read more:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Heroic+female+pilots+fires+imagination+Calgary+novelist+Garry+Ryan/7527509/story.html#ixzz2DLtqGcPL
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