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...ribs. They moved back a woman wearing safety glasses and a bandanna tied over her hair moved forward and began to buck rows of rivets into place.

Twenty-one-year-old Barbara Jane Erickson, part of the swing-shift wing assembly team, watched the woman work with a deftness that belied her status as one of a new breed--Rosie-the-Riveter, women working in American defense plants. Now Barbara, too, was one of them. She had been up since six that morning, had attended classes at the University of Washington where she was a senior, and then reported at 5 p.m. for work on the Boeing Aircraft Company assembly line in her hometown of Seattle.

Assembly line defense work was far from glamorous. It was tedious and physically tiring, but the U.S. was now at war. The bombing of Pearl Harbor had seen to that. War plant work was patriotic, and it paid well. But every now and then, when Barbara had a chance to catch her breath and steal a moment's reflection while waiting for the next square of aluminum, she looked at the B-17 wing taking shape before her eyes and allowed herself to dream a little.

"I'm going to fly this airplane," she vowed. (1)

On July 1, 1920, Barbara Jane Erickson entered the world. Her mother, Vera Peckenpaugh, was descended from pioneer American stock. Vera's parents had traveled west in a covered wagon and Vera, the family's youngest child, was born in Bremerton, Washington. Barbara's Swedish father, Joel Erickson, immigrated to America where he met and married Vera. His Scandinavian work ethic complemented his wife's Puritan work ethic. As a result, their three children--Barbara, Roger and JoAnne--benefited from their combined industrious heritages.

When it came to child raising, the Ericksons also proved to be enlightened parents. They let their children find their own paths, choose their pursuits and, ultimately, decide what they would do with their lives. And they supported them wholeheartedly in those decisions.

Barbara was a freshman at the University of Washington in 1938 when President Frankin D. Roosevelt unveiled a trial program of subsidized flying instruction known as Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) destined for college campuses. CPT, the brainchild of the Civil Aeronautics Authority (precursor of the Federal Aviation Administration), was based on similar programs tried in Europe and was expected to provide pilot training for 20,000 college students per year. (2) A national defense program in sheep's clothing, one of the disguises was to let women enroll. Barbara was one of several hundred young women and several thousand young men who took advantage of the opportunity beginning in 1939. (3)

An article about the CPT program appeared in the local newspaper and that changed everything for me. Three of my girlfriends and I thought it would be fun to try out for the class. So, we all went down and applied. Two of the girls were too short and the third didn't pass the eye test. I was the only one who made it. So here I was in this class learning how to fly. I didn't know which end of an airplane was which.

The class consisted of thirty-six boys and four girls. Twenty were sent to the airport and twenty of us were sent to the seaport on Lake Union. I'll never forget the first time I flew. The instructor took me up in this little seaplane, a 65-horsepower Taylorcraft on floats. I thought, "Boy, this is the way to go."

Barbara soloed in December 1939 and earned her private license in 1940. But unlike the other girls in the CPT classes at the University of Washington, Barbara didn't stop there.

I wangled my way into all four CPT classes. Yes, I was pushy. I was excited and energetic, and I wanted it. Flying came easily to me. I was good at it. I made friends easily and I had a lot of mentors. One gentleman knew how badly I wanted to go on. A few girls were being allowed to advance, so he encouraged me to apply. I did, and went on through secondary training and cross country and got my commercial and instrument ratings. I still correspond with him to this day and he is now ninety-seven.

After acquiring her private, commercial and instrument ratings,...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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