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Pilot Carol Dehnbostel, left, and and airport employee Karen Selim are organizing an open house at the Wexford County Airport in conjunction with the 42nd annual Air Race Classic, an all-women's race. (Mardi Suhs)
WORLD WAR II WASP PILOT WILL BE WEDNESDAY GUEST OF HONOR
Women airplane racers coming to Cadillac June 20-21
CADILLAC — Female pilots competing in a cross-country air race will fly through Cadillac on June 20-21 at the Wexford County Airport.
Fifty-five airplane teams with 119 racers from around the world will execute high-speed flybys over a timing line as they race against the clock.
Cadillac was chosen as one of eight stops in the 2,656-mile 42nd Air Race Classic.
To celebrate the 42nd Air Race Classic, the airport is hosting a two-day open house from noon to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 20, and Thursday, June 21, when the racers are scheduled to fly through. At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the guest of honor will be Michigan's last surviving World War II WASP pilot, Jane Doyle of Grand Rapids.
Wexford County Airport flybys
"This is the first time the Air Race Classic has stopped here," said Karen Selim, an airport employee. "Each airport needs to have certain things in place, like trained timers."
Carol Dehnbostel, a recreational pilot and a member of the Wexford County Airport Board Authority, is heading up the volunteer timers.
"This race ends up being down to a second as to who wins," Dehnbostel said. "They are flying in from the southwest on Wednesday and Thursday. When they are one mile out, they have to have the wings level and fly across the timing line at 200 to 400 feet above the ground. They are supposed to fly straight to the end of the runway and either land (for fuel, food or an overnight stay) or continue."
Airport volunteers will also help with refueling, providing food and water and information about places to stay. Wex-Express will provide transportation into town.
Airport Open House
Because the rally-type race makes flyby times unpredictable, the airport scheduled activities to coincide with their best guess of when the planes will come through.
"By Tuesday, we will know when to expect people," Dehnbostel said. "I'm guessing they will get here late Wednesday morning, but it depends on the weather. We could be crazy on Thursday."
Open house events include the Cadillac Area Honor Guard as well as The Governor's Own 126 Army Band, aircraft and emergency vehicle displays, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Northern Michigan College Flight School.
The Smokehouse BBQ is providing concession food.
On Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m., Dynamite the Clown will visit, and there will be special kids activities.
"In conjunction with the open house, we are going to open up some of the hangars so people can see the aircraft," said local pilot Geroge Helton. "And our guest speaker is the last remaining WASP pilot Jane Doyle. She was a really brave lady in hard times. She's hard to get."
"WWII Fly Girl" Jane Doyle, 97
Michigan's last surviving Women's Airforce Service Pilot, Jane Doyle, 97, will be the guest of honor on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Doyle had her pilot's license by the time she was 18 in 1939. In 1943, women pilots were recruited to fly military planes to assist in the war effort. The WASP recruits flew every type of plane the men flew, and every type of assignment and mission except for combat.
The women pilots logged more than 60 million miles before the program was disbanded in 1944. But despite having flown U.S. military aircraft during wartime, the female pilots weren't granted veteran status until 1977. In 2009, Congress awarded the WASPs a Congressional Gold Medal.
"They called us 'fly girls,'" Doyle said.
A woman who roomed with Doyle during training in Texas in 1943 and 1944 called Doyle one of the most "fearless of the WASPs still alive. Jane will climb in anything that flies."
Detailed information about the Air Race Classic is available at www.airraceclassic.org.
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