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Elizabeth Strohfus (November 15, 1919 – March 6, 2016) was an American
"Honoring Faribault's foremost aviator, Liz Wall Strohfus Field dedication set for June 24"
''Faribault Daily News''. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
Elizabeth Strohfus (November 15, 1919 – March 6, 2016) was an American aviator
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
and pioneering member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. Strohfus, one of just 1,074 female pilots to earn silver wings for the WASPs, flew noncombat missions from 1943 to 1944, often ferrying military planes throughout the United States. She also trained male air and infantry gunners at Las Vegas Army Airfield
Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military Oper ...
during the early 1940s. Elizabeth Strohfus was the recipient of two Congressional Gold Medals for her service in the WASPs and was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. She was believed to be one of the last surviving WASP aviators.
Strohfus, who was the fifth of her parents' six children, was born on November 19, 1919, in Faribault, Minnesota. Following high school, Strohfus borrowed $100 from a local bank, utilizing her bicycle as collateral
Collateral may refer to:
Business and finance
* Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan
* Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Collate ...
, and joined the Sky Club, an all-male aviators club. She worked as a Sky Club volunteer in exchange for a chance to fly. Her first flight was in a Piper Cub.
The WASPs were disbanded in December 1944. Her application to become a pilot at Northwest Airlines was rejected. Instead, she became an aircraft controller in Wyoming. She then moved back to Faribault, where she married and had children.
Strohfus began speaking about her experience as a member of WASP and a female aviator beginning in the 1980s. In 1991, she became one of the first women to pilot an F-16
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...
when she was 71-years old. Strohfus later flew as a passenger for a 4.5 Gs acrobatic plane ride when she was 95 years old.
Strohfus died from complications from a fall at the Milestone Senior Living Center in Faribault, Minnesota, on March 6, 2016, at the age of 96.
On June 24, 2017, the field at the was renamed the "Liz Wall Strohfus Field" in her honor.Olson, Gunnar (2017-06-17)."Honoring Faribault's foremost aviator, Liz Wall Strohfus Field dedication set for June 24"
''Faribault Daily News''. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strohfus, Elizabeth 1919 births 2016 deaths Women Airforce Service Pilots personnel Aviators from Minnesota People from Faribault, Minnesota 21st-century American women Military personnel from Minnesota