Nadine B. Ramsey

Nadine Bernice Ramsey (1911–1997) was an American aviator who became one of the first two women to fly mail for the US Postal Service. She was a Women Airforce Service Pilot and one of only twenty-six WASPs to pilot a Lockheed P-38 Lightning during World War II.

Family and early life Ramsey was raised in Illinois and Kansas. Her father worked as a "wildcatter" in oil fields and was often away from home. Ramsey and her younger brother, Edwin, often witnessed their father hitting their mother. was a cosmetologist and dermatologist. making headlines when she flew a Kansas airmail route on May 19, 1938. She and Charlotte Frye were the first women to carry mail for the Postal Service.

By 1940, Ramsey was living in Manhattan Beach, California, where she advertised and sold Taylorcraft airplanes. She also carried passengers for a fee. She graduated with the 43 W-5 Class on September 12, 1943. As a WASP, Ramsey piloted PT-19, BT-13, UC-78, AT-6, P-39, P-47 P-51, and P-63 planes. Ramsey was initially stationed at Love Field, Texas, but asked to be transferred to the Long Beach Army Air Base in California, After the WASPs were disbanded, she stayed on the base as an attaché to the Sixth Army Ferrying Group.

In 1945, Ramsey bought her own P-38, an Army surplus, in Kingman, Arizona. The plane cost 1,250 dollars. Ramsey flew her P-38 for two and a half years, selling the plane when she could no longer afford to maintain it.