Florence G. Shutsy-Reynolds ran stores for almost 14 years. She would make the things people could not find. She was born in southwest Pennsylvania in a mining community near the Maryland border. Reynolds' father worked at a local utility company as an accountant. When things got tough, the family went into different kinds of businesses. At one point, the family went into the poultry business selling chickens. Reynolds was in charge of the youngest ones. When they were older, the family sold them to businesses in Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. When her brothers went to college, Reynolds, who was only 12 years old, started driving the truck up hills to get chicken feed. When she was 16 years old, Reynolds got her driver's license, and in June 1940 she graduated high school. Not long after, Reynolds saw an advertisement for the Civilian Pilot Program [Annotator's Note: Civilian Pilot Training Program or CPTP was a federal program to increase the number of pilots in the country] and decided to join. She had always been interested in flying. She wanted to sign up, but was a year to young. She was going to be taught everything about flying and she decided to take the chance. She was the only girl in the class. That night, they announced that there would be a private pilot's exam and the five best scores would get a scholarship. Most of the men had taken the course a few times already. Reynolds came in second place. By the time the war started, Reynolds had her license and had heard about the WASPs [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots]. She wanted to join, but was not old enough. She wrote to all the Allied Air Forces, but none of them would take her, so she continued to write to the Americans. In the meantime, she moved to Pittsburgh and started courses in early computer work and continued to fly. She found out the WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] had a lower age requirement. She went to Cleveland [Annotator's Note: Cleveland, Ohio] for an interview and was offered a physical and passed it. She was then told to go to Avenger Field [Annotator's Note: Sweetwater, Texas] on 7 December. It was Reynolds' first time away from home and she was by herself. The train took longer to arrive then she thought it would. There were six people in the bay. There was an artist, teacher, house wife, and office manager, and a Black Jack dealer. After hours, the women would talk about all sorts of things. Reynolds thought she got an education with them. The socialites decided to do their bit for the war and joined. They came from the south and did not initially like the northerners, but they eventually became friends. Reynolds did not have a disagreement with any of the women she worked with in the WASPs. While at ground school, she had trouble with physics. She had a debutante roommate and she helped Reynolds pass her physics exam. That woman was used to having money. When a person got paid, they had to pay for room-and-board, laundry, and other debts. She usually did not have money by the end of the day. She stayed on base often because she did not have much money.

Florence G. Shutsy-Reynolds started flying in the Stearman [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet or PT-13 primary trainer aircraft]. One morning, she was told she would do solo flying. She got into her plane and started her take off. As she was going down the runway, it was vibrating. She wound up bringing it to a mechanic who told her the engine had just been put on and the nuts were not tight. She always checked the engine installation date after that. When she was in the CPT program [Annotator's Note: Civilian Pilot Training Program or CPTP was a federal program to increase the number of pilots in the country], Reynolds became a glider pilot by her second solo flight. She could do stalls and rolls. One day she flew over her house for her family and guests. When she did a spin for them, the engine cut out. Reynolds decided to fly back to the airport, then landed in the same spot she took off. She was elated when she got out of the plane. She likes to tell young people to get their pilot's license. She felt like she was tested on the Piper Cub [Annotator’s Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft], the Stearman, and the AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. While taking an AT-6 into the air, a part of the plane fell off. She managed to stay in the pattern, received permission to land, and safely landed. She was mad when she landed because emergency personnel were on the scene. She felt like they thought she would crash. She enjoyed flying all of the aircraft. Some Native-Americans believe that if you look quick enough at lighting strikes, you can see what is waiting for you after death. Reynolds believes she sees a Stearman. The plane is slow, but she loves it. She likes the sound of the AT-6 and it was a joy to fly. Reynolds jokes with her WASP [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots; civilian women pilots' organization] friends that she will have all sorts of planes to fly in the afterlife. She flew the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber], C-47 [Annotator’s Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft], B-25 [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber], and B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. After the WASPs were disbanded, Reynolds was licensed in several aspects of flying. She went to Alaska and became a link trainer operator for B-29s stationed there. There was a regulation in the Army that if it was in conjunction with your job, you could be on a flight. She took a 13 hour flight off the Russian coast gathering intelligence. She dated a pilot that went down on Christmas night and was never found. The pilot did not know all the instruments of the B-29.

Florence Reynolds finished training on 6 June 1944. Afterwards, she was stationed in California. She was allowed to choose her station. It was a training area and Reynolds was a utility pilot. She would fly damaged planes to a repair depot and then she would fly them back. Reynolds flew all sorts of missions from mail delivery to flying people around. When aircraft would come in, Reynolds would meet the pilots on the runway. She was able to get some flight time in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] doing that job. The enlisted personnel did not know how to treat the WASPs [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots; civilian women pilots' organization] because they did not wear ranks. The officers did not think they deserved to be in the officer's areas. Reynolds had a strange conversation one day. She was reading a form for a plane she was going to fly. When she asked the maintenance officer, he told her WASPs were expendable and cheaper to lose than male pilots and if she did not fly, she would be out of the program. She took her parachute and flew the plane. Reynolds felt like the gods of aviation would test every pilot. She heard about aircraft sabotage at Camp Davis [Annotator's Note: Camp Davis in Onslow County, North Carolina], but the woman did not follow up with the complaint. The women were always one step away from being kicked out, so they had to be careful. Congress started hearings with Jackie Cochran [Annotator's Note: US Air Force Reserve Colonel Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran; commander of the Women Airforce Service Pilots or WASPs] and General Arnold [Annotator's Note: General of the Army and General of the Air Force Henry Harley Arnold] were asked to appear. The WASPs were told not to contact their representatives. There was a rumor that the WASPs would not be allowed to graduate. It came true in that hearing. All the generals went to Europe to fight in the war. The men did not think women should be in the military, especially not the cockpit. Reynolds was given a letter in October [Annotator's Note: October 1944] stating that the program would be discontinued. Years later, Reynold realized it was politics. The men that received scholarships in the CPT [Annotator's Note: Civilian Pilot Training Program or CPTP was a federal program to increase the number of pilots in the country] became instructors. Civilian instructors replaced the military instructors as the war went on. When the war in Europe started closing, there was an excess of pilots returning that were mad about women in their old jobs. At the time, there were no women in Congress to stand up for the program. Insurance would not be given to women pilots. The program lost 38 women. Reynolds has worked with an organization called Operation Celestial Flight [Annotator's Note: organization to honor the 38 WASP members who died in service to the country] looking for some of the graves of the missing WASPs. She entered Sweetwater [Annotator's Note: Sweetwater, Texas] in December 1943 as a lowerclassman. Within a few weeks, one of the women due to graduate was killed in a cross-country flight in an AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. When she jumped, wind threw her into a rock, killing her. A farmer saw it happen and got her returned to the field. There was a memorial for the lost pilot. The woman's mother visited the field to speak to the trainees. The mother showed the women the telegram she received asking where to ship the body. [Annotator's Note: Reynolds shows emotion.] That stuck with her for years. She realized she was treated as a second class citizen.

Florence G. Shutsy-Reynolds' parents always told her she could do anything she wanted to do. That event is why she is involved with the Operation Celestial Flight group [Annotator's Note: organization to honor the 38 WASP members who died in service to the country]. A man who was interested in the program started the association. Reynolds feels like Congress finally recognized the WASPs [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots; civilian women pilots' organization] after it gave the group the Congressional Gold Medal [Annotator's Note: award given by the United States Congress, it is the Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements or contributions by individuals or institutions]. In the 1970s the Navy started teaching women to fly. At that time, there was a congressional hearing about WASPs and Congress dragged their heels on recognizing them as veterans. They were given the American Campaign Medal [Annotator's Note: medal awarded to service members who performed military service in the American Theater of Operations during World War 2] and the Victory Medal [Annotator's Note: service medal of the United States military awarded to service members who participated in World War 2]. The medals were sent in the mail and there was no ceremony. The Gold Medal was more ceremonial. Someone asked Reynold if she would have done it all again. She would have taken the G.I. Bill over a medal after the war. She did not return to college after the war because she was so disheartened. [Annotator's Note: Reynolds shows emotion.] She tried to stay in military aviation, so she worked as a chief dispatcher. She went to Panama, got married, and took a job in an air depot. She remained in that job for 13 years and traveled the world. She married a man, but told him if she had the opportunity to fly, he would not be allowed to stop her. Because they were in a jungle, many planes went down and were covered up. She decided not to fly because of the large jungle spiders. Being a WASP meant a lot to her. It was an honor and privilege to be a member. There is a strong camaraderie in the program. The women organized as a group. When she returned from Panama, she started working with and learned more WASPs from outside of her class.