DACS

]> Finding Aid for the Susie Winston Bain Papers, 1943-2000, bulk 1944> Processed by: Linda Jacobson; machine-readable finding aid created by: Beth Carmichael University Archives & ManuscriptsThe University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Greensboro, NC, USA

2007 Machine-readable finding aid derived from XML authoring program. Date of source: July 2007. Description is in English. Finding aid was prepared using DACS. Finding Aid for the Susie Winston Bain Papers, 1943-2000, bulk 1944 University Libraries, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro &hdrnguscua; Descriptive Summary The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. University Archives & Manuscripts. Bain, Susan Winston, 1922- Susie Winston Bain Papers, 1943-2000, bulk 1944 WV0185 Material in English. 3.5 linear feet 3 boxes For current information on the location of these materials, please consult University Archives & Manuscripts. Susie Winston Bain of Markham, Texas, was a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) during World War II. Correspondence, artifacts, textiles, printed material, clippings, and an oral history interview document Susie Winston Bain's 1943-1944 service as a WASP. Letters from Bain to her family describe daily life on base in Laredo, Texas, in 1944. Military and personal papers document Bain's activities as a pilot during WWII and in post-war Greensboro, North Carolina. Photographs illustrate WASP and their planes, while printed material records WASP contributions and related organizations. Bain's oral history interview details her early life, her military experiences, and the effects of her service on her life after the war. Prominent subjects include Jacqueline Cochrane, Nancy Love, Hap Arnold, Eleanor Roosevelt, and women in the military. Textiles include Bain's WASP battle jacket and reunion materials. Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Susie Winston Bain Papers (WV0185), Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Susie Winston Bain in 2000.

Processing Information

Processed by Linda Jacobson, October 2000

Encoded by Beth Carmichael, June 2007

Biographical Note

Susie Winston Bain was born 21 July 1922 in Markham, Texas, and raised in Bay City, Texas. Her mother was a musician and her father was in the automobile business. She graduated from high school in 1940 and studied home economics at the University of Texas. In early 1942 she found a job in an accountant's office in Houston.

Bain took flying lessons in order to qualify for the newly formed WASP in 1943. She interviewed and joined the WASP at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, in November 1943. After six months of basic training at Avenger Field outside of Sweetwater, Texas, Bain graduated in Class 44-W-4, Flight 1, on 23 May 1944. She was sent to Love Field in where she ferried PT-19s across the country. In September 1944, after a short stint at Garden City, Kansas, Bain was transferred to Laredo, Texas, where she flew B-26s and towed targets for men's live ammunition practice.

Susie Bain met her future husband, Carson Bain, while they were stationed in Laredo. She received an early discharge to marry him in October 1944. After his discharge the couple moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where Carson founded the Bain Oil Company and they raised a family. The couple later divorced and Mrs. Bain relocated to Austin, Texas.

Collection Overview

Correspondence, artifacts, textiles, printed material, clippings, and an oral history interview document Susie Winston Bain's 1943-1944 service as a WASP. Letters from Bain to her family describe daily life on base in Laredo, Texas, in 1944. Military and personal papers document Bain's activities as a pilot during WWII and in post-war Greensboro, North Carolina. Photographs illustrate WASPs and their planes, while printed material records WASP contributions and related organizations. Bain's oral history interview details her early life, her military experiences, and the effects of her service on her life after the war. Prominent subjects include Jacqueline Cochrane, Nancy Love, Hap Arnold, Eleanor Roosevelt, and women in the military. Textiles include Bain's WASP battle jacket and reunion materials.

Collection Arrangement

Collection is organized into the following series: Correspondence, Oral History, Papers, Photographs, Printed Material, Artifacts, and Textiles

Detailed Description of the Collection Series 1. Correspondence, 1944.

Six letters from Bain to her family in Bay City, Texas. Most of letters were sent from Laredo, Texas, where Bain co-piloted B-26 planes. Bain described her daily activities, the joy she felt at flying, the WASP's frustration at not being allowed to pilot the planes, and her impending marriage.

1 1 1944 Series 2. Oral History, 2000.

Documents Susie Bain's early life, school experiences, her military service and its relation to her opinions and non-military life, her life in Greensboro, North Carolina, after the war, and her feelings about her military service.

Bain provides impressions of Jacqueline Cochrane, Nancy Love, Hap Arnold, Eleanor Roosevelt, and her understanding of how the WASP was established. She also describes Cochrane's ongoing efforts to militarize the women, negative attitudes toward the organization and women in the military, and how demoralized she was when the WASPs were deacativated in the fall of 1944.

Bain also describes WASP uniforms, including the ill-fitting zoot suits; flight training and ground school at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas; ferrying planes out of Love Field in Dallas; towing targets used by the B-17 bombers for live ammunition target practice; her love of flying; and her fear of washing out of the program.

Interviewed by Hermann J. Trojanowski on October 11, 2000. Transcript: 37 pages. Sound recording: 1 audio cassette (65 min.)

2 Sound recording 3 Transcript Series 3. Papers, 1944-2000.

Papers document Bain's military and personal activities. Records from Bain's military career include her diploma, graduation certificate, military correspondence, papers related to military affairs in Sweetwater, Texas, and Bain's flight log. Also included is a copy of a 1993 oral history interview with Bain that was conducted by the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland, Texas.

Personal papers include WWII reminiscences and clippings about Bain's life in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the late 1960s and 1970s.

4-9 Military Papers 10 Personal Papers Series 4. Photographs, 1944-2000.

Black-and-white photographs illustrate Susie Bain's service as a WASP in 1944. Subjects include Bain in uniform and flight jacket; Bain in the cockpit; and groups of WASPs. Also included are several color photographs of the 1986 and 2000 Sweetwater reunions.

11-12 WASP, 1944 13 Sweetwater reunion, 1986 14 Sweetwater reunion, 2000 Series 5. Printed Material, 1944-2000.

Bound volumes, reunion material, magazine and newspaper articles, and miscellaneous brochures and programs document Bain's WWII experiences and her continued involvement with WASP-related organizations. WASP materials include a 1944 Christmas card from Avenger Field, a 1944 WASP yearbook, and a 1945 WASP roster that lists Bain. Articles, clippings, and brochures from the 1970s to 2000 document WASP reunions, WASP contributions during the war, and ongoing WASP-related activities.

15-16 1944 17 1945 18-20 1980s 21-26 1990s 27-28 2000 29 Miscellaneous clippings Series 6. Artifacts, 1944-1984. 1: Dead Reckoning Computer, circa 1944 Fifinella Pin Victory Campaign medal, circa 1984 American Campaign medal, circa 1984 Silver Pilot's Wings (now bracelet), circa 1944 Wings Pin WASP Collar Pin WASP Pin (small blue and silver disc), circa 1944 Miscellaneous WASP and WWII Reunion Souvenirs Series 7. Textiles, 1944-1992 1 Santiago Blue Battle Jacket with Fifinella Patch, 1944 WASP Reunion T-shirt, 1986 WASP 50th Anniversary Tote Bag, 1992 Separated Material

Separated items include oral history material, oversize papers, artifacts, and textiles.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Arnold, Henry Harley, 1886-1950. Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Bain, Susie Winston, 1922- Cochrane, Jacqueline Love, Nancy Harkness, 1914-1976. Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962. United States--Armed Forces--Women Women air pilots--United States. Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.) Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.)--Interviews Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.)--Uniforms. World War, 1939-1945--Women--United States.