Susie Winston Bain Collection

Collection

Identifier: WV 0185

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

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.

Dates

1943 - 2000
1944

Creator

Bain, Susan Winston (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

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

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information. Please see our Sensitive Materials Statement.

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.

Extent

3.50 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

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.