Madge Moore
{{Short description|American aviator (1922–2016)}}
File:Madge_Moore_WASP.JPG in 2010.]]
Madge Leon Moore (January 22, 1922 – December 22, 2016){{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176559342/madge-moore#view-photo=193262794|title=Photo of gravestone|date=29 September 2019|website=Find A Grave}} was an American aviator. She served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. Moore ferried planes during the war and after the dissolution of WASP, lived as a homemaker. She received the Congressional Gold Medal for her service in 2010.
Biography
Moore was born in Rule, Texas and was raised in Haskell, Texas.{{Cite web|url=https://operationfifinella.org/2016/12/27/madge-moore-44-4/|title=Madge Moore 44-4|last=Nagle|first=Bobbi|date=27 December 2016|website=Operation Fifinella|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301195719/https://operationfifinella.org/2016/12/27/madge-moore-44-4/|archive-date=1 March 2020|access-date=2020-03-01}} Moore went to Haskell High School.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45929404/abilene-reporter-news/|title=West Texans Bride's Attendants As Madge Leon and Captain Marry|date=1945-02-01|work=Abilene Reporter-News|access-date=2020-03-01|pages=13|via=Newspapers.com}} Moore's early flight instruction included learning to trust the airplane itself.{{Cite journal|last=Jensen|first=Malinda D.|date=November 1989|title=Women Military Aviators 1989 Convention|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bqy1gOy6jQ4C&q=%22madge+moore%22+wasp&pg=PA10|journal=Naval Aviation News|volume=72|pages=10|via=Google Books}} She recalled that her flight instructor told her "to take her hands and feet off the controls" so that she could see that the plane would stay in the air on its own. One of her first flight passengers was her mother. Moore graduated from Southern Methodist University and attended Texas State College for Women.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45929041/abilene-reporter-news/|title=WASP|date=1944-02-22|work=Abilene Reporter-News|access-date=2020-03-01|pages=5|via=Newspapers.com}}
She began training in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) on November 1, 1943, at Avenger Field.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20197214/madge-ragan-leon-and-role-as-a-wasp/|title=Daughter of Leon Theater Owner Was in Air Service|date=1945-08-20|work=The Amarillo Globe-Times|access-date=2020-03-01|pages=7|via=Newspapers.com}} Her parents, who supported her desire to serve, drove her to training.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45928118/del-rio-news-herald/|title=W.A.S.P.s Visit Laughlin AFB|date=1997-05-04|work=Del Rio News Herald|access-date=2020-03-01|pages=8|via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from her WASP training on May 23, 1944.{{Sfn|Weigan|2003|p=206}} Moore was stationed at Perrin Field.{{Sfn|Weigan|2003|p=206}} As a WASP, she ferried planes, some of which no longer had functioning instruments, forcing her to use dead reckoning. Many of the planes she flew were from Kelly Field, which was closing and she most often ferried BT-13s and AT-6s.{{Sfn|Weigan|2003|p=209}} She also tested planes after they were repaired.{{Sfn|Weigan|2003|p=209}}
Moore married Captain Stanley L. Moore in 1945 and the couple settled in Sherman, Texas where Stanley was stationed. She went on to live as a homemaker and stay at home mother.
In 2010, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her service as a WASP.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/fliers-finally-get-a-lift/|title=Fliers Finally Get a Lift|date=11 March 2010|work=Las Vegas Review-Journal|access-date=1 March 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301210929/https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/fliers-finally-get-a-lift/|archive-date=1 March 2020}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
= References =
- {{Cite book|last=Weigan|first=Cindy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY5FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR4|title=Texas Women in World War II|publisher=Republic of Texas Press|year=2003|isbn=1556229488|location=Lanham}}
External links
- [https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1077268/ Letter from Madge Moore to Tanner]
- [https://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p214coll2/search/searchterm/Moore%2C%20Madge%20Ragan%20Leon%2C%201922-2016/field/subjea/mode/exact/conn/and Photos of Madge Moore]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Madge}}
Category:Southern Methodist University alumni
Category:Women Airforce Service Pilots personnel
Category:People from Haskell, Texas
Category:People from Sherman, Texas