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Historical Marker:
Cornelia Clark
Fort
February 5, 1919
- March 21, 1943)
Born into an affluent Tennessee family, Cornelia Fort attended the
Ward-Belmont School in Nashville and graduated from Sarah Lawrence
College in New York in 1939. She returned to a society life in Tennessee
but was soon introduced to flying by a friend.
In her first week in the air, Fort logged over 2,000 miles. She became
an instructor in 1941, a year after her first flying lesson. She worked
with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's civilian pilot training
program at Fort Collins, Colorado, before taking a similar position
in Hawaii. She was airborne with a trainee when Japanese forces attacked
Pearl
Harbor; Fort landed safely while under enemy fire.
By 1942 she was part of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS)
commanded by Nancy Harkness Love. Fort and 26 other women pilots ferried
war planes across the United States. Fort was transferred to a new
squadron in Long Beach, California. On March 21, 1943, she ferried
a BT-13A airplane toward Dallas'
Love Field. While flying in formation, her plane struck another aircraft.
Available records indicate that Fort was the first American woman
pilot to die on active military duty when she plunged into the rugged
terrain of Mulberry Canyon, three miles southeast of this site. Shortly
before her death at age 24, Cornelia wrote, "I am grateful that my
one talent, flying, was useful to my country."
On August 4, 1943, WAFS personnel merged with and helped create the
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), led by noted aviator Jacqueline
Cochran. The WASP's most famous training ground was Avenger
Field at Sweetwater
in nearby Nolan County.
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