Many have passed along nice comments and much
admiration for BJ London....she will surely be missed by her family and
her many friends and associates. For those wishing to contact the family, you
can reach BJ’s daughter WA/DL Captain Terry London Rinehart at email
address TLRinehart@comcast.net
Thank you everyone!
Carol
~ IN MEMORY ~
WWII WAFS/WASP pilot Barbara Jane ‘BJ’ London, mother of WA/DL
pilot Terry London Rinehart
July 1, 1920 ~ July 7, 2013
Army Air Medal..... BJ was the only woman awarded the Air Medal during
WWII...
Barbara Jane "BJ" Erickson London, 93, passed with dignity and grace on
July 7, 2013 at home with her family in Los Gatos, CA. A resident of Long Beach
for over half a century, Barbara was born in Seattle, WA on July 1, 1920. In
1939, the Home Ec. major enrolled in flight school, beginning a life marked by
"firsts." She said, "flying seemed much more exciting than cooking a
soufflé." ................
~ IN MEMORY ~
WWII WAFS/WASP pilot Barbara Jane ‘BJ’ London,
mother of WA/DL
pilot Terry London Rinehart
July 1, 1920 ~ July 7, 2013
Army Air Medal..... BJ was the only woman awarded the Air Medal during
WWII...
Barbara Jane "BJ" Erickson London, 93, passed with dignity and grace on
July 7, 2013 at home with her family in Los Gatos, CA. A resident of Long Beach
for over half a century, Barbara was born in Seattle, WA on July 1, 1920. In
1939, the Home Ec. major enrolled in flight school, beginning a life marked by
"firsts." She said, "flying seemed much more exciting than cooking a soufflé."
Barbara earned her license flying seaplanes on Seattle's Lake Union. She then
instructed Navy cadets to fly up until World War II. She also worked for Boeing
as a B-17 wing assembler. In 1942, Barbara joined the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying
Squadron. As a WAFS/WASP ferry pilot, Barbara became one of the first women to
fly military aircraft. Serving in Long Beach as the 6th Ferrying Group WASP
Squadron Commander, she remained there until the group was disbanded in 1944. In
1943, Barbara distinguished herself by flying four 2,000-mile trips transporting
P-47s, P-51s and C-47s, making her the first ferry pilot to fly 8,000 miles in 5
days. This feat earned her the Army Air Medal. She was the only woman awarded
the Air Medal during WWII. When Barbara flew her first B-17 bomber she became
the first woman to build and then fly the Flying Fortress. By the time the WASP
were disbanded in 1944, Barbara had attained the rating of a Class P5 pilot, the
highest level a military pilot could achieve. After the war, Barbara married
Jack London, Jr., a Long Beach native and fellow ferry pilot. The two settled in
Long Beach and raised a family of pilots. Barbara remained an enthusiastic
aviation ambassador: she co-founded the Long Beach Chapter of the Ninety-Nines;
helped establish and raced in the All Women's Transcontinental Air Race – also
know as the Powder Puff Derby; and worked tirelessly as a member of the Long
Beach Airport Commission. Barbara also owned and operated Barney Frazier
Aircraft, Inc. until she retired in 2005. For many years, Barbara was Long Beach
Airport, known to all for her business acumen, willingness to mentor, war
stories, jar of candy and wicked sense of humor. Her door was always open. Long
Beach honored her by renaming the road in front of the airport terminal,
"Barbara London Drive." Barbara's aviation legacy continues to this day. In
2010, when the WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, Barbara's
granddaughter piloted the jet that flew her to Washington D.C. Barbara is
survived by two daughters, Terry London Rinehart (a Western/Delta Airlines pilot
for 28 years) and Kristy Ardizzone (who worked at Barney Frazier, Inc. as well
as Jet Blue in Long Beach), four grandchildren (all pilots) and five
great-grandchildren. Barbara's husband, Jack London Jr., preceded her in death
in 1973. Please sign the guest book at www.presstelegram.com/obits
.Published in the Long Beach Press-Telegram on September 1, 2013
- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lbpresstelegram/obituary.aspx?n=Barbara-London&pid=166754520#fbLoggedOut
-----------------
Barbara Jane London nee “BJ” Erickson
(tape 2, second part) http://www.wwiihistoryclass.com/education/transcripts/Erickson_B_296.pdf
Question: What was your attraction? I know some people that
are pilots have
this amazing love for it; some fall into it?
Answer: I fell into it. I had never been near an airplane and
had no idea that
that would be my life but the opportunity came when I was a
sophomore at the
University of Washington. They were opening up this CPT
Program and our
University was large enough to have a class of forty; and
after quite a bit of
consideration, the government finally decided to allow one
girl for every ten boys.
So there were four slots open; so I went down and applied for
it, passed the physical
and was in the class. From then on, Home Economics was
gone.
Question: ‘Cause it really did change a lot of history there
for women, didn’t it?
Answer: It was, it was a great breakthrough but then they only
allowed us to
take the first class because we were never gonna be used, but
I had some friends in
the CAA and some mentors who got me into the second class and
by that I got into
the third and fourth class so when I got through I had my
commercial license and my
instructor’s rating. So I went back and instructed in the same
program with Kurtzer
on Lake Union until the war and then in January of ’42 the
government decreed that
there would be no civilian flying on either coast. So
consequently we had to move
the flight school from Lake Union and from Boeing inland and
Kurtzer moved the
school to Yakima. And instead of going to Yakima because I
had, I stayed back in
Seattle and finished up my senior year in school. And during
that period of time I
went to work at Boeing and worked on the wing assembly of the
B-17 on the swing
shift - why I don’t have any idea. But I did that until I
grad… until June graduation;
and then the job in Yakima wasn’t open so I ended up in Walla
Walla, instructing for
Herman Martin. And in September of ’42 the word went out that
the government
was going to allow a small group of women to see if they could
perform enough to
become pilots for the military, and I was asked to be in that
group, went back,
passed the flight check and was accepted in the original 25.
So that’s how it all
started. From then on it was the airplanes were
it.
-------------------------
Read more at http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070323-027.pdf
(page 8) and
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