World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLois Genevieve Crouse was born in Melstone, Montana, United States. Two months after her birth, she was adopted by John and Mary Sharp, who changed her name to Evelyn Genevieve Sharp. She moved with her adoptive family to Ord, Nebraska, United States, where she would learn to pilot an aircraft in 1933 at the age of 14. She flew her first solo flight at the age of 16. Two years later, at the age of 18, she received her commercial pilot's license and, borrowing money from a local businessman, purchased her first aircraft. She repaid the loan by earning money barnstorming. In 1939, she became a flight instructor; she would eventually teach 350 men to fly. When the United States Army began to hire female pilots for its Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), Sharp was among one of the first pilots to join; by that time she had already accumulated over 3,000 hours in the air. In Apr 1944, as a squadron commander in the Women Airforce Service Pilots organization which succeeded WAFS, she was killed while ferrying a P-38 Lightning aircraft within the United Stated near Middleton, Pennsylvania. She was buried in her home town of Ord, Nebraska. In 1992, she was inducted into the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame.

Photographs

Evelyn Sharp Timeline