Betty Greene’s fascination with becoming a pilot began in childhood. Born on June 24th 1920 in Seattle, aviation was the frontier of the day with Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, Amelia Earhart’s flight in 1928 and Boeing growing near her home. Betty followed each event with enthusiasm. On her sixteenth birthday, her father gave her and her twin brother the gift of an airplane ride and she saved every penny to take flying lessons for herself. Her Christian parents supported her interests in aviation, but when it came to college, they encouraged her to enroll in a nursing program at the University of Washington. That did not suit Betty, and she dropped out after two years. Then an elderly Christian woman, who knew of Betty’s interest in aviation, suggested that she combine her flying with missionary work. “Of course, dear,” she said, “think of all the time—and sometimes lives—that could be saved if missionaries didn’t have to spend weeks hacking their way through jungles.” Suddenly, Betty had a direction for her life. She returned to school to study for missions and continued working toward her pilot’s license. When World War II broke out, she signed up as a WASP (Woman’s Air Force Service Pilot) to get additional flying experience while serving her country. As a WASP she ferried many kinds of planes—from fighters to bombers—from their factories to where they were needed. She also served as a high-altitude test pilot and towed targets for live ammo anti-aircraft gunnery drills. While training for the WASP program at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas she wrote an article for InterVarsity’s HIS magazine about using planes to help missionaries, something that had been done in only a few isolated situations before. When Navy pilot Jim Truxton read the article, he contacted Betty and suggested starting, once the war ended, an aviation organization to serve missionaries. With WASP disbanding in December 1944, and the men still in the Service, Betty moved to Los Angeles California to set up an office for the fledgling group and the Christian Airmen’s Missionary Fellowship was officially born on May 20, 1945. It eventually connected with combat pilots of like vision in the UK, Australia and New Zealand to become Mission Aviation Fellowship. Betty flew MAF’s first flight, which was in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Mexico, in their recently purchased (for $5,000) cabin Waco. The flight was into Chipas Mexico from La Habra California. The 2,000 mile trip took 6 days and at age twenty-six, Betty was finally doing what God had prepared her for. And she loved it! The flight into or out of the jungle camp took one hour and forty-five minutes whereas hiking through the jungle required ten days to two weeks. Along with flying MAF’s first mission she piloted MAF aircraft while based in Peru, Sudan, Nigeria and New Guinea. Serving in Peru she became the first woman to fly across the Andes and was the first woman to pilot an aircraft in Sudan. She wasnt looking for publicity, and the last thing she wanted to do was brag about any of it. Had it not been for Betty’s parents sharing her exploits with the rest of the family, not even her closest kin might have known much about her work. In 1962 she retired from fieldwork but continued to ferry planes for MAF from time to time. She died of Alzheimers in her Medina Washington home April 10, 1997 at the age of 77. In 2010 she was honored with a Congressional Gold Medal for her wartime service.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 22:13:06 +0000