Blanche Osborn
Blanche Osborn was born 21-JUL 1916 in Doland, South Dakota. Her parents were Harry Allen Osborne (1884-1953) and Hazel Florence Austin Osborne (1890-1919). Harry later married Mary Louis Austin (1894-1957) after his first wife died. Blanche had two brothers: Maurice and Richard (1913-1962) and three sisters: Mable (1911-1992), Dorris and Mildred (1914-1995).
According to the 1920 Federal Census, Blanche was living with her family on Park Street in Watertown South Dakota. In 1930 Federal Census, the family lived on Thomas Street in David, Oregon. According to the 1940 Federal Census, Blanche was living with her father and stepmother Louise on Holman Lane in South Davis, Oregon. Blanche was 23 years old, working as a bookkeeper and reported she worked 52 hours in the previous year earning $1200 in income. She had completed four years of high school.
Blanche Osborn enlisted in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in 1943 and reported for basic training at Avenger Army Airfield in Sweetwater, Texas, where she excelled. She was a member of class 43-W-6 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas
Blanche, like many of the applicants for the WASP in World War II, felt it was her patriotic duty to help win the war. More than 25,000 women applied for the prestigious WASP program but only a select 1,830 were accepted. Only 1,074 earned their WASP Silver Wings.
Blanche’s first assignment was Fort Meyers Florida for about a year. While stationed at Fort Myers, Florida, she took gunners up in a B-17 where they fired at targets towed by a B-25. Blanche excelled academically and in her flight performance and was destined for a more challenging job.
Blanche was selected to fly the “heavy bombers.” She was one of only seventeen selected for B-17 (Flying Fortress) training. She also flew the B-24 Liberator. Thirteen women graduated from B-17 Transition Flight Training at Lockbourne AAF Base. By completing the B-17 course, the WASP proved that women could fly every type of plane in the military. Blanche and three others were selected to stay at Lockbourne for advanced training, where they completed the B-17 Instructor’s Course and received their instrument and altitude ratings. They were the first to fly the unpressurized bomber above 25,000 feet. Soon the four were transferred to the Las Vegas gunnery school where they were used in the engineering squadron to test repaired aircraft.
The program generated significant publicity during the war and Blanche was featured in a famous picture of female pilots walking away from the “Pistol Packin’ Mama”, a B-17 bomber.
The most iconic picture of WASP’s features (L to R) Francis Green along with Margaret “Peg” Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn. The four trained on the B‑17 Flying Fortress, one of the largest and most complex aircraft of the war. Their aircraft, the “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” appears in many of the most famous photographs of women pilots during WWII. The picture shows the crew walking confidently across the tarmac with parachutes slung over their shoulders. These images became symbols of the WASP program’s skill, professionalism, and quiet defiance of gender expectations.
For more of her story, click on the pdf below.
