Born, raised, and schooled in Fullerton, California, Vivian
harbored an adventurous spirit. As a sophomore at Fullerton
Junior College she signed up for a government sponsored
flight training program, CPT, or Civilian Pilot Training
where she trained as the only girl among forty-eight boys.
For five months, she underwent an intensive period of ground
training and flight instruction. Then, in 1941, nineteen-
year- old Vivian was issued a pilot’s license. Oddly,
she was able to fly before she could drive. She did not
yet have a driver’s license.
After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military realized an extreme
pilot shortage, and experimented in training civilian women
pilots in military aircraft. This was 1942. The plan hoped
to release men for active duty while women took on the
necessary domestic flying. These WASPS, Women Air Force
Service Pilots, served under the direction of the famous
aviatrix, Jackie Cochran.
Immediately after her training, Vivian was assigned to
a ferry group at Love Field, Dallas, Texas where her first
orders were ferrying BT-9s, an obsolete trainer considered
dangerous, for the junkyard. Male pilots refused to fly
the derelicts, so the WASPS were assigned the job.
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