09/08/2026
Want to share our friend Monte Avery's recent historical article?
NEW MEXICO’S FLYING JUDGE
MONTIE’S SAGEING CDV
America’s greatest surge in aircraft manufacturing came between 1941 and 1945 when an estimated 300,000 military aircraft were produced. B-17s, B-29s, P-38s, and P-51s were a few of the many birds of war assembled in those years of war in both Europe and the Pacific. After assembly, the next challenge was how to get them across two vast oceans and into the capable hands of our fighter and bomber pilots. Whether built in Washington State or Wichita, Kansas, the next hurdle was getting them into the war zones. The Government’s answer was to estab-lish the WASP, THE WOMEN AIR FORCE SERVICE PILOTS. which would free up military pilots by using civilian female civil servants who tested new aircraft and ferried them to the battles. Their route to Europe was a series of short hops from New England to Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, and finally England. Additionally, they often trained pilots for the new aircraft.
In September of 1942, the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) were formed to supplement the United States Army Air Forces with its training on new aircraft and their relocation. On August 5, 1943, an organization with several names was formed, best known as Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASP). WFTD and WASF then merged with WASP. WASP was dissolved after the war, on December 20, 1945. During these 2+ years, each WASP freed a male combat pilot for battle, as females were not then allowed to see combat duty. During that short period of time, they flew over 60,000,000 miles, transported every type of military aircraft, towed targets for live fire practice, and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASPs died, and one remains MIA.
A July 2, 2026 Albuquerque Journal article highlights a lecture being given at the Dome Theater in Alamogordo. The headline is “Male pilots refused to fly the B-29-----until women did it”. The first paragraph of the article encapsulates the planned talk. “When Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress first took off from the Alamogordo Army Air Field (now Holloman Air Force Base) in the summer of 1944, pilots and other personnel on the ground watched warily. Air crews on board were apprehensive, too. They were none too sure about this enormous new bomber, which had a reputation for engine trouble, lack of testing, catching fire and crashing. Many of the men simply refused to fly the plane.” The pilots for this flight were two females in WASP uniforms.
There is more to the New Mexico connection with the WASPs. New Mexico Jurist Mary C**n Walters served with distinction in the World War II WASPs. Twenty years after her Michigan
birth, she was in the WASP. She was assigned to the south Texas Hondo Army Air Field, where she flew the C-45 Expeditor, known to civilians as the Beechcraft Model 18. She flew war supplies. Hollywood stunt actress Mary Wiggins flew out of Hondo with her. Mary C**n Walters left the military in 1955 after a tour of duty in Korea. With assistance from the GI Bill, she entered UNM Law School and graduated in 1962.
Mary’s law career led to her becoming New Mexico’s first female District Court Judge when she was appointed by Governor Bruce King in 1972. Governor Toney Anaya promoted her to a seat, as the first female, on the New Mexico Supreme Court in December of 1984. She would stand for a successful retention election the following year. 1986 saw her inducted into the New Mexico Women’s Hall of Fame. After her death on April 4, 2001, a Historical Marker was erected on the UNM campus. After a posthumous appointment as Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, her portrait now hangs in the Hall of Chief Justices.
A LITTLE BIT OF LIKELY UNKNOWN HISTORY
