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Highlands Today

AP Woman Was A WWII WASP

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Barry Smith of Avon Park was one of 1,830 women accepted into the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots program during World War II. She was a test pilot for planes used during the war.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: June 8, 2008

AVON PARK — Back in 1942, there were three meanings for WASP. In addition to the stinging insects and White Anglo Saxon Protestants, there were Women's Airforce Service Pilots.

But that name is something of a misnomer, said Barry Smith. Actually, so is her name. She was born Mabelle Vincent.

"I always hated that name," said Smith, "so a friend of mine named me Barry, after a male character in a book."

Now, about those WASPs. When World War II broke out in 1941, Barry's brothers, Art and George Vincent, were among the first to enlist, said Smith, sitting in the aviation room of her home, which overlooks the shores of Lake Denton. Both became pilots.

"George flew over Japan in between the first atom bomb and the second atom bomb," said Smith.

George did little sis a favor. Knowing she was the kind of girl who would respond to a challenge, he called and advised her to get pilot training. At the time, she was 22 and making $25 a week at the Syracuse, N.Y. telephone company office. The Air Corps would be taking women, George said, but only pilots with at least 35 hours in the air.

"I never had a second thought. I never asked anyone if I could do it. I just did it," said Smith.

Back then, it was safe for girls to hitch hike, so she bummed rides to the local airfield and enrolled in flight training. Eight lessons later – at $14 a week, paid out of that $25 a week salary – she soloed. By July 1943, she finished her civilian training.

By then, Pensacola-born Jacqueline Cochran, a pioneer pilot, had convinced the Army Air Corps that they needed to train women to fly. She organized and commanded the WASPS. Barry Vincent was one of 25,000 women interviewed in New York, and she was among the 1,830 accepted.

She was also among the 1,074 to complete WASP training and earn her wings. Brother George flew over to pin the wings on her chest.

Reporting For Duty

So she went to work, arrived at her Texas duty station, and found her commanding officer in a hangar.

"Reporting for duty, sir." She snapped a salute.

"Jesus Christ," he answered. "No sir. Barry Vincent," she said. But she called him Capt. Jesus Christ after that, said Smith, now 88, is still irreverent after all these years.

Since America wasn't in World War II at first, WASPs were sent to England as ferry pilots, they flew fighters and bombers from American factories to European military bases, where the men took over and fought the war.

Vincent's job was to test planes. She was rated for multi-engines, so she flew everything from open cockpit bi-planes left over from World War I to the AT10, a trainer.

By the time the WASPs disbanded in 1944, more than 40,000 Air WACs served at air bases in the United States and in other parts of the world.

In 1948, women became a permanent part of the armed forces. Women in the Air Force became known as WAFs, but the Air Force dropped that term in the 1970s. Now, both women and men are known as airman and about 17 percent of Air Force military personnel are women.

Today

As for Smith, after the war, she never flew again as a pilot.

"Nobody would hire us," she said. Oh, Delta offered jobs as stewardesses. "We told them, we can fly anything you've got." That's true. According to archives at Texas Women's University, WASPS flew every aircraft, even the heavy bombers.

The rest of the story, for Smith, was that while visiting her mother in Sebring, she found her old flame, Lester Smith, who was an island fighter with the Marines in the Pacific. After Japan surrendered, Lester went to work for Smith Corona Typewriter Company, and they had four children. One, David, joined the Air Force and became an F4 Phantom pilot. These days, he flies all over the world for Northwest Airlines.

Lester and Barry moved to Sebring in 1985 to take care of her mother, who owned the Lake Istokpoga ranch that became Spring Lake. The family eventually sold it.

Smith, by the way, is not considered a veteran. The WASPs were civilians.

When they graduated from military training, they asked a general what was their rank.

"Pretend your officers," he instructed. And they did.

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