September 22, 2017 Hello ,
This week I'm featuring a non-fiction writer, who like myself, was writing a novel when he got side-tracked by a true story.
His new book, Seized by the Sun is the story of Gertrude Tompkins, a shy, awkward girl who stuttered, growing up to be
one of a handful of U.S. women test pilots during WWII.
Her job was to take new or newly-repaired planes to the sky and put them through tight turns, stalls, dives and spins to make sure they were safe.
Below: A group of WASPs pray for luck before climbing into a BT-13 unpredictable and sometimes dangerous training plane. Avenger Field,
Sweetwater, Texas, circa 1943 It was later in the war, on a routine flight, that Gertrude disappeared while ferrying a factory-new plane a short distance between two airfields in California
Author James Ure agreed to share how he got hooked on the story.
The Disappearance of Gertrude Tompkins |
In the summer of the 2000 I was doing some research for an idea I had about a novel. My writing success had come in non-fiction, but
the illusive novel still beckoned. In this fictional piece I imagined a character who learned his mother had been a woman pilot in World War II and her crashed plane and her remains had just been discovered in a melting glacier in Montana.
I put a note on what I was doing on a Women’s Air Force Pilot user group on Yahoo. The result was unexpected.
I was
contacted by the grand niece of Gertrude “Tommy” Tompkins. Laura Whittall-Scherfee, who lives near Sacramento, told me that of the 38 women killed in the WASP during World War II, her grand aunt was the only one still missing.
She was called, “The Other Amelia,” and a sort of
cult had grown among the searchers who continue to look for her to this day. Laura and her husband Ken offered me access to the family records. Would I be interested?
Would I ever! I’d always had a fascination for World War II aviation, and this was an
enticement I couldn’t refuse.
It took seventeen years of interviews, combing military files and reading private correspondence to finally give Tommy the fully-dimensional place in aviation history she deserved.
I was lucky to have conversations with a number of WASPs early in my research. Today only about 85 WASPs of the 1,175 who were in service during the war are still alive.
Tommy took off from Mines Air Field (now LAX) on October 26, 1944, and was expected to stay at the Army Air Force Base in Palm Springs that evening.
She was never seen again. Aircraft historian Pat Macha has conducted numerous searches over the years and no trace has ever turned up.
Below: P-51 Mustang fighters. Gertrude was one of only 126 WASP pilots good enough to fly these fighter planes. Her first flight in
a powerful P-51 cured the debilitating stutter that had plagued her since childhood. The conclusion I have come to after all this time is that she probably crashed into Santa Monica Bay immediately after
take-off.
The results of searches of the bay and of the mountains and deserts on her presumed flight path are documented in Seized by the Sun. It’s a mystery yet to be solved, and there are men and women still searching for Tommy.
Thank you, Jim!
Below: WASPs with PT-19, the first plane usually flown in primary training. Women on far
left in dark glasses is Gertrude “Tommy” Tompkins, according to Texas Women’s University Libraries WASP Archives.
The Inland Northwest SCBWI Conference was a great success! And lots of fun as you can see in this photo of me and my conference team Rachel Hamby and Kary Lee.
We have "plotted our course" and set sail.
One of the highlights was my manuscript critique from a publishing company editor. She was very positive and encouraged me to keep working on my novel. This week I've been going over her suggestions for moving forward.
Also got writing advice this week from a friend who attended the conference, Karrie Zylstra Myton --a quote from Anne Lamont--"Writing is hard, and it goes badly as often as it goes well, but no one is making you do it. No one cares if you write--so you just have to. Just do it."
Plus, Karrie kindly reviewed Fannie Never Flinched on her blog here... Thanks, Karrie! Until next week... Have you read a great book? Tell me about it. Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy
my newsletter or books, please forward this e-mail. I will never spam you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe below anytime with a single mouse click. To find out more about my books, how I help students, teacher and librarians, visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com. My best, Mary
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