Teresa James

Teresa D. "Jamesy" James Initially afraid of flying, she went on to earn her pilot's license in order to attract the attention of a pilot named Bill, on whom she had a crush. James had seen a plane wreck the year before she started flying and shortly after, her brother had also nearly died in a plane crash. James learned to fly with a friend, Harry Fogle, in an OX-5 powered Travel Air 2000 and began working as a stunt pilot with Fogle and his friends. James also started ice skating after pilots she worked with "practically dared" her to skate. James became a speed skater. She married one of her students, George "Dink" Martin in 1942. Martin was killed on June 22, 1944, during a mission flying near Paris.

In 1950, she became a commissioned major in the United States Air Force Reserves. Between 1961 and 1965, she was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base as part of the 5040th Air Base Group. She was a member of the Ninety Nines, and the P-47 Thunderbolt Pilots Association. When the Grumman corporation heard her say in a CBS documentary about the Air Force, Top Flight, that the only thing she hadn't flown was a jet, the company arranged for her to fly an F-14. She was still flying at age 86 in 1997. The book gives a "personal 'view from the cockpit' account of James' time as a WASP.