had approximately 1 000 flying hours in the B 29 and he knew it could be flown safely He just needed to figure out how to prove it to other pilots Then Tibbets had an idea According to Tibbets he heard they were having trouble at the ſairbase in Clovis New Mexico trying to get college football heroes to fly the B 29 Didn't take me long to figure it out What would you do I said train two women to fly it At that point Tibbets recruited Dougherty and Johnson to train on the B 29 As WASPs Dougherty and Johnson were licensed pilots who flew US military airplanes during World War II When Tibbets approached them in 1944 they were both stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida They flew planes that towed targets for aerial shooting practice Despite their training neither WASP had flown a four engine plane before In fact Dougherty who was five feet five inches tall Our heroes back then weren't 165 cm wasn't even movie stars and rock stars sure she was big enough to Our heroes were the people who were pushing back the handle such a large aircraft frontiers in the sky people who But Dougherty was excited had made headlines gone faster gone farther to learn We realized why Dora Dougherty WASP they had us fly it said Dougherty showing how
easy it was to fly that even a girl could do it We didn't feel bad about that Training on the B 29 Dougherty and Johnson left Eglin Air Force Base and traveled to Birmingham Alabama Tibbets chose Birmingham because it had a large modification center where workers outfitted B 29s for the war The center always had many B 29s in stock so Tibbets knew that if one plane broke down during training they would have access to another one right way Tibbets hoped this supply of B 29s would allow the training to go quickly and without interruption In May 1944 the two WASPs began their training with Tibbets and flight DORA DOUGHERTY Dora Dougherty was born in Saint Paul Minnesota in 1921 Her love of flying started early when her family would go to the airport on Sundays after church There the family spent time watching planes take off and land Dougherty's interest in flying grew After her first year of college she signed up for the Civilian Pilot Training Program CPTP and learned to fly It was a thrill I think that a lot of the excitement is that it's something new that you're in control and that the success of the flight depends on you she said After flying with WASPs in World War II Dougherty earned a doctorate in aviation education and psychology She went on to work at Bell Helicopter and later broke helicopter records for distance and altitude Dougherty died in 2013 but her legacy in women's aviation lives on
engineer Wyatt Dusenberry The training was intense The cockpit of the B 29 bomber was scorching hot under the Alabama sun It got so hot the pilots needed gloves so they wouldn't burn their hands on the controls The B 29 had no hydraulic controls so it took a great deal of physical strength to control it It was hard hot work and Dougherty was drenched in sweat as she maneuvered the plane For three days straight seven hours a day Dougherty practiced maneuvering the plane Tibbets taught her what to do if an engine stopped running and how to take off with only two engines Tibbets also made sure Dougherty knew how to pull the B 29 out of a stall This dangerous situation happens when an aircraft's wings don't have enough lift to keep it in the air often leading to a crash With an aircraft as large as the B 29 pulling out of a stall was difficult but Dougherty mastered it She was an excellent student and according to Tibbets he could show her something one time and she could repeat it Dougherty even got to experience how to handle an onboard fire On the first day of training the cockpit filled with smoke Her number three engine was on fire The flight engineer looked to Tibbets through the smoke thinking he would take command of the aircraft Tibbets told the engineer to wait and see what Dougherty would
Ladybird Dorothea Didi Johnson left Paul Tibbets center and Dora Dougherty right stand in front of Ladybird the B 29 the women used for demonstration flights
