Betty Jo Streff Reed 44-W-7 | WASP in the Spotlight 2024

Betty Jo was born on June 20, 1923, in Sherman, Texas to Nellie and John N. Streff. As a 2-year-old the family moved to Des Plaines, Illinois. Betty called Des Plaines her home until 1948 when she married Carl W. Reed. At age four, Betty Jo would sit in her Daddy’s lap and share his interest in the latest news, often reading about Charles Lindbergh and his trip across the ocean. From then on, every time she would hear an airplane fly over the house, she would run outside and yell “Hi, Lindbergh!”.  For her sixth birthday, the family took a ride in a Ford Tri-Motor at the Curtis-Reynolds Airport Airshow. Her Father paid $1 for the flight. It was “love at first flight! “I remember feeling free and happy and loving the whole experience. From then on, I knew that I wanted to fly.” Betty Jo never stopped thinking about airplanes, December 7, 1941, WAR! Betty Jo graduated in June of 1942 and decided to pursue her first love and do her part in the war effort, hopefully including aviation. November 12, 1942, she took her first flight lesson on ski’s in a J-3 Cub at the Pal-Waukee Airport. She was being paid $18.50 per week working at Marshall Fields and spent $9.00 per hour for flight instruction.
Early in 1943, Betty Jo was hired by Douglas Aircraft to work in the tooling department until the plant was built. She ultimately ended up in cockpit installation. She saw the July 1943 issue of Life Magazine and on the cover was a beautiful gal in a military flight suit on the wing of a military airplane.
Oh WOW, she was so excited! Betty Jo contacted Jacqueline Cochran and an interview was set up for September. She passed the required qualifications and physical and joined WASP class 44-7 on February 2, 1944, at Avenger Field Sweetwater, Texas. Betty Jo described herself as “tall and skinny,’ when she entered training. On the first day, one of her classmates affectionately gave her the nickname, ‘Birdlegs.’ The nickname stayed with her throughout her life. She graduated and received her silver wings on September 8, 1944, and was assigned to the Eastern Training Command, Columbus Army Air Field, Columbus, Mississippi as an engineering test pilot. On December 20, 1944, when the WASP were disbanded, Betty Jo paid her way back home and returned to a job at the Douglas C-54 plant as a mechanic in the hangar and eventually as a dispatcher. Douglas Aircraft was turning out many C-54’s for the Army Air Corp and Navy. Col. A.R. Holiday was the acceptance officer for the military and needed two co-pilots. Betty and Ellen Wimberly accepted the challenge, she got her chance to check out on the C-54. The big thrill of her life was to go from her first job as a file clerk to co-pilot of the big 4-engine Transport.

When an automobile accident temporarily grounded her, Betty Jo married Carl W. Reed and they were blessed with two boys and two girls. In 1957, Carl and Betty opened the first McDonald’s franchise in Colorado- which was the third McDonald’s in the US. A year after the birth of their fourth child, Betty Jo began flying again. She earned her rating to fly Lear Jets and King Air. As their family business grew to ten McDonald’s, she became a corporate pilot. She competed in six Powder Puff Derbies winning a “Best in Class” from Flying Magazine. She was a member of The Ninety-Nines, Inc., the Arizona Wing of The Commemorative Air Force, WMA (Women Military Aviators), and the Air Force Association. She served as President of the Phoenix Wing of the American Aviation Historical Society and docent at the Champlin Fighter Aircraft Museum in Mesa, Arizona. In 1999, Betty Jo was inducted into the International Forest of Friendship, and in 2020 she and her fellow WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their pioneering military service during World War II.