Katherine Applegate Keeler Dussaq
More than 1,000 women who had bravely volunteered to serve their country were about to be out of jobs. The disbandment of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was coming in less than a month in December 1944.
Katherine “Kay” Applegate Keeler Dussaq was determined to make sure that even though they would not be given veteran status or veteran benefits, they would at least be given the commercial pilot’s licenses each WASP had worked so hard to earn. She succeeded, but it cost her life.
Born in Dayton, Washington, in 1905, boring would never be the word to describe Dussaq. She was the granddaughter of an Oregon trailblazer, and she was determined to forge her own path in life. She was a smart student, ranking first in her high school class and winning the northeast Washington oratorical contest speaking on universal democracy.
She continued her education first at Washington State College, later transferring to Stanford University. While she was an excellent student, her degree was withheld for six months as punishment after she stowed away with a cousin on the ship Maui en route to Honolulu. Dussaq was quoted in the Stanford Daily at the time saying, “We were just looking for an adventure.”
Dussaq finished her degree in psychology and eventually made her way back to Hawaii, working in a pineapple cannery and chauffeuring sightseeing buses around Honolulu. It was during this time that she turned her eyes skyward and learned to fly.
She returned to the mainland once again, where she became the first female forensic scientist and later opened the first all-female detective agency.
When World War II broke out and WASP was formed, Dussaq chose to pursue what she surely thought would be another adventure. She trained in Sweetwater, Texas, as part of class 44-W-1. While there, Dussaq and other WASPs were photographed with famed aircraft producer William T. Piper.
Following her graduation from WASP training, Dussaq’s first assignment was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and later at the Flying Training Command Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Being 38 at that time did put Dussaq on the older side of the WASPs, so she was given administrative assignments as a squadron leader.
The WASPs knew they would be disbanding in December 1944, with 1,074 women expected to lose their jobs despite many volunteering to fly for a yearly salary of $1.
Dussaq was determined to not let her fellow WASPs lose contact with each other and a month before they were disbanded started working to establish an organization called the Order of Fifinella, along with a newsletter.
On November 26, 1944, she, along with WASP founder Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran met in Washington, D.C, and petitioned the Civil Aeronautics Authority, the precursor to the FAA, to give each WASP a commercial pilot’s license. They succeeded.
Later that day, Dussaq planned to meet famed pilot Nancy Love in New Castle, Ohio.
It was a cloudy night with light rain and poor visibility. About 70 miles short of New Castle, the engine on Dussaq’s AT-6 quit. Despite her best efforts, the airplane struck a treetop. She wasn’t wearing her shoulder harness and her head hit the control stick on impact, killing her instantly.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill into law granting the WASP veteran status. And in 2009, Dussaq, along with her fellow WASP, posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal for their illustrious service.