In case you haven’t heard – Operation Fifinella and
the WASP have received both
local and national attention! 
Here’s just few of the articles and news clips…Enjoy!

Ft. Worth Star Telegram

CBS – Ft. Worth

CNN

Big Country – KTAB News

Dyess Air Force Base

Sweetwater Reporter

Just before 8 am this morning, September 25th, 2008 – 42 WASP and their escorts arrived at Alliance Airport….eager, excited, and happy to be going back!

After unloading from the buses, everyone found their airplanes and got all set to go up in the air. Each WASP had an escort or 2 with them. I had the pleasure and honor of spending the day with Ms. Ruth Guhse (44-10) as her escort … what a privelege to get to know these women on a personal level.

The airplanes were timed to go up one at a time at one minute intervals, with the slower planes first, followed by the faster planes (B-25 & DC-3). What a ride!! =)

All that could be seen upon arrival at Avenger Field were grins and for the organizers, that was the biggest reward – that these women were happy!

Everyone gradually made their way over to visit the wishing well and then headed over to Hangar One – The National WASP WWII Museum where there was lunch set up in their honor. The surprise of the afternoon was the fly over of the B1 – right over our heads! After lunch was the recognition of the pilots, sponsors, and donors, followed by a presentation put together by the Dyess Air Force officers. This was followed by a wing exchanging between the WASP and the Dyess Air Force group, in which each WASP received Air Force wings and each Air Force member received WASP wings- a kind of passing down of the legacy of women pilots.

After the group photo, it was time to load the shuttles and head back to the planes to return to Alliance. Ruth and I came over on the B-25 and rode back on the DC-3 – both were totally awesome and amazing trips. The AT-6s flew formation on the way back to Alliance which afforded Cindy Weisner and her mother, Sylvia Burrill the once in a lifetime opportunity to fly in formation together – mother & daughter!

Again – from the time we left the hotel to the moment we returned, there were grins from ear to ear. Some of the comments overheard were “I just can’t believe they did this all for us”… “they went to so much trouble and expense… for us!”…”this was so unbelievable and amazing”

In our opinion, after the 30+ years of the WASP not being recognized, they need and deserve all the recognition that they can get, along with todays service men and women – after all, they were back then and continue to be the ones that protect this beautiful country we live in.

On a final note – if you’re a WASP, KOW, FOW – PLEASE post your comments about the event! We want to here the reactions — all of them! This web site is going to be a living documentation of Operation Fifinella and will continue to stay up until….forever! =)

Thank you for the best day of our lives!

Lisa

We arrived in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday to finish preparation for Operation Fifinella. We (Lana, Susan, and I) headed out early Wednesday morning to fly from Alliance airport to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. The mission – to get everything ready for the WASP arrival on the 25th. We spent the day with Marianne, who runs the WASP museum at Avenger and Major McNama, Pilot of the 7th Bomb Wing (B-1) – and at the end of the afternoon the museum was ready to host the expected crowd of about 200. With that behind us, we headed back to Alliance, piloted by Lana and then back to the hotel for final preparations, including the WASP debriefing.

At 8:15 Thursday September 25th there will be a historic flight to Avenger field with 32 aircraft and 41 WASP! We are all very excited – especially the WASP! And these women deserve this – they are incredible and an inspiration to women both young and old.

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped pull this together to make this a very special event, especially Susan, Lana, Cindy, Chuck, Marianne, and Major McNamara!

Lisa