Taking Flight: The Nadine Ramsey Story Hardcover – September 3, 2020

If you have read the history of the family of siblings Ed and Nadine Ramsey, you know they have an amazing heritage. If you have read the book Lieutenant Ramsey’s War and/or seen the video Never Surrender: The Ed Ramsey Story, you know Ed’s exceptional accomplishments as a cavalry commander and guerilla commander in World War II, then as a civilian working with and for the Philippine and Japanese people. Reading Taking Flight, you very quickly learn Nadine was an exceptional pioneer women aviator. She was one of the few who helped blaze the trail for today’s female military aviators. Nadine’s and Ed’s mother, Nelle, was equally talented and accomplished. I have known for several years that Raqui has been drafting this book to fulfill her promise to Ed—that she would tell Nadine’s story. And tell it, she has. I love to read such stories, and when I find a good one, it is very hard for me to put it down. I also want to share it with others. Nadine was born on March 17, 1911, into a family of pioneers, both father and mother and their ancestors. She inherited their pioneering gene, but theirs was on the vast lands of the mid-west United States. Nadine’s pioneering spirit was in the sky. There she was free and at home. But first she had to get there. Nadine’s formative years were typical hardscrabble for her family, but the biggest thing in her favor was the closeness of her family, especially after her father died. Her and Ed’s mother, Nellie, was their role model. Three major events changed the path Nadine’s life would take: her father’s death, the stock market crash in October 1929, and the family’s move to Wichita, Kansas. Wichita, in 1929, was designated the Air Capital City by the National Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. Wichita was ideally situated in the center of the United States for all facets of aviation: experimentation, manufacturing and sales, commercial and passenger, refueling cross-country flights, free entertainment (take a blanket, lay on the grass, and watch the planes come and go), and famous aviators. It soon became the Air Capital of the World. Into this world came Nadine. Sometime after arriving in Wichita, Nadine acquired her passion for flying. She saw it as her ticket to freedom from what could have been her destiny as a young woman during the Depression. Nadine also had a desire for adventure, even if it was dangerous. Flying was very dangerous, but that did not scare Nadine. With her own earnings and without telling her mother, who she knew would disapprove, and with Ed sworn to secrecy, Nadine began taking flying lessons. With six and one-half hours of instruction, she soloed in March 1936. Her mother was not happy when she found out, thanks to a local newspaper photographer who took Nadine’s picture after landing. While Nadine was not the first female pilot, she did have many firsts: first Kansas woman to receive her commercial pilot’s license, first woman pilot in the Wichita Chapter National Aeronautic Association, and the only woman pilot after World War II to train male pilots to fly Army Air Force (AAF) fighter planes. She was a stunt and racing pilot, Civil Air Patrol squadron commander, flight instructor for the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program, and one of 303 Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to ferry all types of military aircraft during World War II. She also earned certification to fly AAF fighter planes. And she was the only woman to own a Lockheed P-38 Lightening fighter airplane after WWII. Unfortunately, the end of WWII also brought the opportunities for women pilots to pursue their flying passion almost to an end, in both military and commercial aviation. They were simply put out to pasture. Nadine experienced many up and down spirals in life over the next 50+ years, as she struggled to put meaning to her life without the freedom and joy of soaring through the skies. Today we call those emotions PTSD. Fortunately, she had the love of her mother for many of those years plus Ed’s and his wife Raqui’s support. She also remained in contact with several of her fellow WASP pilots. Nadine’s story is also the story of women and military aviation, the efforts to gain veteran’s status and benefits for WASP members, and recognition of their service by the federal government. This book is a welcome addition to women-in-aviation researchers for the detail it contains. It is also a welcome addition to books for young women who seek to eventually become role models with great skill and achievement. Yes, I definitely recommend this book as I enjoyed it tremendously and learned a lot about Nadine Ramsey and women in aviation.Reviewed by the Editor, The Cavalry Journal, the U.S. Cavalry Association

My grandmother was one of the WASP pilots during World War II like the main focus of this book, Nadine Ramsey. I have enjoyed learning more about Nadine’s aviation journey from early on learning to fly and then through being part of the WASP program, the first women to fly military planes for the USA. Nadine’s family history is also interesting as her brother also had a noteworthy role during the war. This book is well-written, well-researched, and has a variety of photos to accompany the story.

I highly recommend Taking Flight for two reasons: the personal story of three extraordinary people and what made them tick; and the story of women pioneers in American aviation. It’s a great read.In these thoroughly researched pages authors Raquel Ramsey and Tricia Aurand introduce you to three exceptional people—Nadine Ramsey, her mother Nelle and younger brother Ed. If you met any one of them on the street in 1930s Wichita, Kansas, your immediate impression would be of ordinary Americans struggling with the many obstacles posed by the depression. If you dug a little deeper you would find the terrible and deeply personal tragedy that beset this family. You would think that their future looked grim.But you would be wrong. Ramsey and Aurand invite us to accompany Nadine, Nelle and Ed on an extraordinary journey where we watch each one of them overcome terrible setbacks, then forge ahead to achieve remarkable successes. All three of them. Again and again.As a young woman, in the midst of the depression and in a man’s world, Nadine Ramsey became enamored with airplanes. She set a goal, saved up money for flying lessons, and shouldered her way into the barnstorming world of aviation--a lifestyle that was largely closed to women. Simultaneously, Nelle worked and expanded her small cosmetology business until she became one of the leading business persons in Wichita, of any gender. As World War II approached, Ed volunteered for Army service in the Philippine Islands, was trapped in the Japanese invasion of Bataan and disappeared into the Pacific jungles--Missing in Action.Nadine joined 302 other young, patriotic women and signed up as Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to fly and deliver cargo, bomber and fighter airplanes for the Army Air Forces. They qualified to fly fast, twin-engine P-38 fighters and huge B-17 bombers. They studied navigation and meteorology, become instrument pilots and developed skills which should have set a course for lucrative professional careers. But it was all snatched away from them on a male whim before the war was even over.The subsequent lives of all of these women could have been permanently degraded by the insult, depression and disillusionment. But they weren’t. These young women capitalized on what they had and moved on. Nadine dove into the business side of aviation, started at the bottom, and again found success. She made mistakes, she found solutions and she found success again. She married, enjoyed, and rejected three husbands along the way, two much younger than she. This is a woman who lived life on her own terms. Her brother returned from the Pacific a decorated war hero, left the Army and became a successful businessman in Japan and then in the Philippines. Her mother, Nelle, expanded her own business and became a nationally recognized professional in her field as well.As you read Taking Flight you will get to know interesting people on a personal level, not just as stories about pilots, daredevils and businessmen. Nadine Ramsey flew airplanes. But Nadine Ramsey was much more than that. So were Nelle and Ed. Part of the fun of this book is to pursue the answer buried in its pages—what drove this family? What made these three people so determined, so resilient and so strong as they each took flight?