Edna Davis was born in September 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio. She lived there until she was seven when her father died, then she moved to California. California was wonderful. She attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated just as the war started. Her father and his two brothers were in World War 1. His brothers were pilots and he was in the mud [Annotator's Note: in th infantry]. He would watch his brother fly through the war. He swore he was going to fly when he got home. They all survived, and he did buy a Jenny [Annotator's Note: Curtiss J4-N Jenny biplane aircraft]. Davis flew with him as a child. He crashed in Lake Erie. She always wanted to fly. Her mother gave her an allowance and she would save half for her flying money. When she got a dollar, her mother would take her out to fly. When the war came, the government started the Civilian Training Pilot Program and opened it to women at certain universities. She went right away. She was told they did not take women, but she returned every day. She got a call to go to Mills College in Oakland [Annotator's Note: Oakland, California] for an open position. She was licensed and immediately went into the WASPs [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots] in Sweetwater, Texas [Annotator's Note: Avenger Field]. All pilots talked to each other and she heard about it in school. She graduated in February [Annotator's Note: February 1943] and went to Texas in March to join the US Army Air Corps.

[Annotator's Note: Edna Davis had completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program and wanted to join the US Army Air Corps.] Edna Davis could not get any information from Jackie Cochran [Annotator's Note: Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran] about the program, so she went to Sweetwater, Texas [Annotator's Note: Avenger Field] by herself. She walked into Cochran's office and said she came to be a WASP [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots]. Cochran said she was too skinny but gave her a week. Davis ate and ate for a week. She went to Tarrant Field [Annotator's Note: now Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas] to get her physical and passed. It was all men and no women at the time, and they were all very nice. She went through basic at Sweetwater just like the men. It was wonderful for her. She was then sent to Dodge City, Kansas in the winter to train in the B-26 Martin Marauder [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Martin Marauder medium bomber]. She was sent as part of an experiment to see if women could fly. Jackie Cochran wanted them to fly every airplane the Air Corps had, and they did. Davis was the first to fly left seat [Annotator's Note: pilot's seat] in the B-26, which meant she was in command. There was no crew that would fly with them. The commanding officer threatened the men with court-martial and then they flew. By graduation, they had changed their minds. She went to Harlingen, Texas [Annotator's Note: Harlingen Army Airfield] after Officer Training. Harlingen was a training base for gunners on the .50 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun]. She towed targets with P-39s [Annotator's Note: Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft]. Once there were Chinese who were there [Annotator’s Note: learning to be gunners aboard Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers]. There was bad weather and not enough interpreters. The Chinese started shooting at her airplane. She made it but had seven bullet holes in her airplane. The man who saved her life by pulling the other airplane away is the one she married. They flew with each other. The WASPs were disbanded because the men were coming back from Europe. The women were sent home with indignity. They [Annotator's Note: the American government] did not pay for the ticket. If a female pilot was killed, the women had to pool their money to get her home for a funeral. They lost 23 or 24 women altogether. It was very angering. Some women went into the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval women's reserve], but Davis went home. Davis flew for a while, but life took over. She opened up a travel agency in 1970 and she has traveled to 192 countries.

[Annotator's Note: Edna Davis served with the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.] Everybody liked the AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American Aviation AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. They had primary in a little plane and then basic in the Vultee Vibrator [Annotator's Note: Consolidated Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft; also known as the Vultee Vibrator]. Advanced training was in the AT-6. It was good-looking and fun to fly. They flew just like the men did. She went to the B-26 [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber]. It was wonderful and the best airplane. The airplane went from the factory direct to the field. Nobody knew how to fly it and it had a bad reputation. "One a day in Tampa Bay" and the "Widow Maker" were bad names applied to it. But she learned to fly it. It came off the line with a short wing. It was very quick. The wings were extended and then it was easier to fly. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Davis what her reaction was to men not wanting to fly with her.] It was more like, "oh, women again." Everywhere she went on military bases, she was treated with respect. She did not hear swear words. Other than a couple of pinches on the bottom, she never thought she was other than a flyer. She made a lot of friends. Her mother had brought her up that she could do anything she wanted to as long as it did not hurt anyone else. Her brother flew P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] in Arizona. Davis and the women really wanted to go overseas. They were promised to be military like everybody else and then it got political just like today. Drew Pearson [Annotator's Note: Andrew Russell Pearson, American journalist] was one who said women could not fly. They were put on civil service instead of being taken into the service. They had to pay living expenses. They were flying so they did not really care. They all had pilot licenses before they went in.

When Edna Davis got to Sweetwater, Texas [Annotator's Note: Avenger Field], she was in the first group there. It was a typical western town. The base was not prepared for them. They were given huge mechanics overalls to fly in. At night they would get two to a shower and would wash each other with the flight suit on. Then they would hang them out at night to dry. The people in town were all receptive to them. They went to the local pool on the weekends, but they did not have much contact. Her group lost Bonnie Jean Welz [Annotator's Note: WASP Class 43-6]. Some of the officers would have a pilot fly them to a base. Often times, the officer would want to fly once they took off. Welz was a good pilot and they think that he was flying when they crashed and were killed. The women pilots had to raise the money to send Wells home. That made them bitter and they remained bitter. Davis had a close call in gunnery training. She got lost a couple of times and this is a pretty lonely feeling. There were open flame oil wells all over West Texas. That made it hard to fly at night. She flew on a cross-country flight for flight requirements. Her fiancée lived in South Carolina and they were going to meet in Atlanta [Annotator's Note: Atlanta, Georgia]. She was flying a VT Vibrator [Annotator's Note: Consolidated Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft; also jknown as the Vultee Vibrator] and it was a terrible airplane. She had to land at a Navy airfield. She went through power lines. She had to get her airplane fixed before she could fly back. The next day people were taking pictures of her at breakfast.

Edna Davis did not pay particular attention to the war other than the loss of people. War has changed but she is not sure for better or worse. She only concentrated on flying. She was surprised, as everyone was, by the atomic bombing of Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on 6 and 9 August 1945]. She went about her business. They were rationing for meat, sugar, and butter. Everything was normal for her while in school before the war. She harbored strong feelings for the Japanese and still does to a degree. She was in Berkeley [Annotator's Note: University of California, Berkeley] at college when the Bataan Death March [Annotator's Note: forcible marched transfer of 60,000 to 80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war, 9 April 1942] was going on. These were her friends who had gone directly to the Philippines where they were brutally treated. She treats Japanese with respect, but deep down in, they are fighters. She has a lot of Japanese friends that she dearly loves and trusts but she did not then. What they did in the Philippines was terrible. The Japanese soldiers would take babies, throw them in the air and bayonet them. She does not forgive them. That is basically not human. She does trust them as far as she can. You cannot judge a heritage against your own heritage. Bataan was pretty rough.

When the WASPs [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots] were dismissed, it had to be logical since there were all of these people coming home. Edna Davis thought they should be judged with the men and not separated out. She went unhappily. The airlines were not taking women. She had her own travel agency but did not fly herself. Flying is very uncomfortable now and not fun. Graduating as a WASP made Davis very proud. She was proud to pilot the B-26 [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber]. It was a crazy bunch of individual thinkers and actors, but all flew airplanes. They threw them all out and closed it down. They were sealed away in the Secret files. Only in the 1970s [Annotator's Note: 1977] were they taken into the military. They then got their wings and their recognition but no benefits. She served because she wanted to fly. She did not care where or how it was, she wanted to fly. Being a WASP brought her a family and a very happy life. She feels that World War 2 means zilch [Annotator's Note: nothing] to Americans today. It is remembered better than others because of its size and scope. They do not teach it in school. Life moved on. She feels that any archive has to preserve history in order for us to learn. It has to be remembered and you have to honor the people who fulfilled the obligation to fight the war. It was everybody who went. They would to anything. The current situation is terribly disappointing. She thinks the President is an Islam [Annotator's Note: Barack Obama, II; 44th President of the United States] and the government has destroyed a country made of honor and duty. The WASP organization had reunions. Davis' papers have gone to three archives. She was so proud to be the first woman to fly the B-26.