Dora Dougherty Strother, WWII American Aviatrix

Dora Strother (top) with two unidentified WASPs. Dora Jean Dougherty Strother (November 27, 1921 - November 19, 2013) was an American aviatrix. In 1940, she earned her pilot certificate from the Civilian Pilot Training Program. In 1943, she volunteered and was selected in the third class of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. In 1944, she and fellow WASP Dorothea Johnson Moorman were selected by Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets to learn to fly the Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber. After four days of flight training, Strother and Moorman flew the B-29 from Alabama to New Mexico. There they took male crews on flights and further trained them, demonstrating the feasibility of flying the B-29. Strother was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force on December 20, 1944, having commanded 23 different aircraft. After the WASP service was disbanded, Strother began work at the University of Illinois and taught flight courses; these included primary, advanced, and instrument flight courses. Starting in 1958, Strother worked for Bell Aircraft as a human factors engineer, where she designed helicopter cockpits and test pilot for Bell Helicopter company. Strother held a PhD in Aviation Education (NYU, 1955). She was a recipient of the Amelia Earhart Award for academic achievement and was an inductee in the Military Aviation Hall of Fame. She died in 2013 at the age of 91. USAF photo, 1940s

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Auxiliary Aviatrix Aviatrixes Dora Dougherty Strother

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