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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots)
  • Unit of Service: 3rd Ferrying Group, Air Transport Command
  • Location of Service: Texas; Michigan

View full service history

"I could feel rotten on the ground and get up in the air and feel just dandy." (Video Interview, 1:12:15)

Virginia Malany got what she calls a "crash course in aviation" on a college date with a young pilot, who took her up for a ride and brought her down to earth a bit rudely, washing out the plane's undercarriage. After trying her hand at acting, she got a clerical job at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, and began building flying hours in her spare time. She was in the fourth class of the WASP, training in Houston, then Sweetwater, Texas, "the most barren place I'd ever been in my life." Her main duty was ferrying planes, starting from Michigan. Her closest call: icing over and climbing to get out of a storm, only to almost black out from lack of oxygen. She had little idea what devastation the war had caused until she went to work for the Red Cross in postwar Europe, an experience which inspired her to become a pacifist.

About this Item

Title

  • Virginia Shannon Meloney Collection

Names

  • Kulikowski, Mark
  • Meloney, Virginia Shannon Malany

State of Birth

  • CT

Home State

  • NY

Headings

  • -  Meloney, Virginia Shannon
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots).

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Female

Race

  • White

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots)
    • Unit of Service: 3rd Ferrying Group, Air Transport Command
    • Location of Service: Texas; Michigan
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1944
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: Meloney reported to duty as a member of the 4th Class of WASPs (2/1943); Flight Training in Houston and Sweetwater, Texas; flying the PT-19 and UC-78; graduated (8/1943); stationed at Romulus Army Air Field in Michigan; assigned to the 3rd Ferrying Group; provided statistics on WASP Program and its establishment; flying the C-45 on a transcontinental flight; returned to Michigan via the Military Air Transportation Service; types of planes piloted: AT-9, C-87 Cargo Plane, C-46 Cargo Plane, and a four engine bomber; deactivation of WASP Program; WASPs given veteran status in the 1970's.

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 11/3/2009)
  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 11/03/2009)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/68886

Cite as

  • Virginia Shannon Meloney Collection (AFC/2001/001/68886), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Kulikowski, Mark, and Virginia Shannon Malany Meloney. Virginia Shannon Meloney Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.68886/.

APA citation style:

Kulikowski, M. & Meloney, V. S. M. (1943) Virginia Shannon Meloney Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.68886/.

MLA citation style:

Kulikowski, Mark, and Virginia Shannon Malany Meloney. Virginia Shannon Meloney Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.68886/>.