The Strange Disappearance of Sally Ann Corbett

STORY BY JANINE STIDELY

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Te following is a fictional story based on real events that occurred on Camp Davis during World War II, and was also inspired by the story of Women’s Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) Gertrude Tompkins, whose plane went missing off the coast of California in 1944. Te wreckage of her P-51D Mustang was never found.)

er name was Sally Ann Corbett. She was from West Texas and was a red-haired beauty, which is the one thing that people remember about her — but she was so much more. People often told her that she was too pretty to be doing man’s work or that she was better suited to be a pinup than a pilot, but Sally had plenty of brains and her first love was flying. She loved the freedom. She was already a skilled pilot who started out as a transport ferry pilot with Women’s Air Transport Detachment. She then became an instructor pilot with the Women Auxiliary Instructor Pilots before she was sent to Camp Davis. She was going to be part of the new and exciting program, Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASPs.

Her best friend was Dorothea Laraine Tomas; Didi to her friends. She was a shy girl with raven hair, your typical all-American girl next door from Valdosta, Georgia. Didi was also a very accomplished pilot. Te two of them had made many a man weak in the knees when they were out together. Didi and Sally had met some years earlier when they were both transport pilots and had become fast friends, due to their love of flying.

Tey were thrilled to be stationed together again at Camp Davis. Being a female pilot could be a lonely place, but this was wartime and everyone was expected to do their part.

Sally’s love interest was Matthew Winston Walker, a farm boy from North Platte, Nebraska. Matthew could zero in on a target at great distances and hit his mark with precision. It was all that hunting that he did as kid.

Tey met some time after they both arrived at Camp Davis, he for antiaircraft artillery (AAA) training with 93rd Coast Artillery regiment and she to be a WASP. What started as a

Hfriendship of two professionals with mutual respect for each other’s skills, grew to become much more and who knows what it could have become — maybe the love of a lifetime. Sally always said the she loved him “into the blue and back.” Didi didn’t have a special love interest but she always had a flock of suitors around her. She always felt more comfortable in the cockpit of a plane than in social situations, especially if men were involved. Tat’s why she and Sally were such good friends. Sally always knew what to say to keep the conversation going when there was an awkward silence around mixed company. In late October of 1943, Sally Corbett was scheduled to fly tow

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targets out of Camp Davis along the coast of Topsail Island, which at the time was known as “the sand spit.” It was a routine target towing flight she had done a million times. Tis was the last scheduled training of the day and it being October, the AAA training was due to end way before it got dark. All the official reports show that everything went like clockwork. Te AAA guys from the 96th regiment were getting off a lot of rounds, but Sally was such a skilled pilot she managed to keep most her targets intact. When the exercise was over, Sally was making her last pass along the beach before returning to Camp Davis and one of the guys in the AAA unit decided it would be a hoot to fire off a few more rounds of a 90-mm ammo. Not to hit her plane, but just to let Sally know that they were not happy with her making them look bad.

Since they had already been given the signal that the exercise was finished, Sally took no evasive action. She landed her plane at Camp Davis and even though she was upset about what happened, by the time she did all the post-flight checks and required reports, she had calmed down quite a bit and was looking forward to meeting up with Matthew and Didi for a couple of cold ones and maybe even some dinner and dancing. Legend has it that on her way back to her quarters for the evening, she did have a few choice words with the guys from the AAA unit, which led to her being grounded for a few days.

Her next mission would be a night flight with instruments for searchlight training and she was excited to be able to do the training with Didi.

However, they were both still uneasy about this flight and had been the entire day leading up to it. Tey had talked about it, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on why they felt uneasy, just that they were. Maybe it was all the whispering around Camp Davis or the dirty looks they were getting. Tere was even mention of a threatening note that Sally had received. Matthew told the girls that they were overreacting.

Sally and Didi knew that this was a man’s world and even though they were excellent pilots, they could not show one ounce of indecision, hesitation or hysterics, or they might be pronounced unfit for duty and not be permitted to fly.

So, the WASPs reported for duty at the scheduled time and began their pre-flight checks and everything was good to go. Tey felt better by the time they took off to start the spotlight training. Everything was going along great; the ladies were doing an excellent job of flying the prearranged flight formations and avoiding the searchlight beams. All in all, it was a great

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training exercise. Except on the last flight formation of the night.

As the ladies were making their final pass of the island, the ground crew and Didi lost contact with Sally’s plane. After a thorough check of all the communication systems, there was still no response from Sally’s plane. No one knows what happened; it was like she just disappeared into thin air. No one saw or heard a crash. Te searchlight crew continued to search for the plane until the wee hours of the morning. Didi kept making passes of the island until she had so little fuel left that she almost didn’t make it back to the airfield.

No one ever saw or heard from Sally Ann Corbett again and the plane, nor any wreckage, was ever found. While the official report says that the plane was lost due to pilot error, there was no shortage of speculation as to what happened to Sally Corbett and her plane.

People on the beach that night have their own tale to tell. Some say that the plane did not crash; it disappeared. Te old timers on the mainland say it was the Germans that brought that plane down with some new-fangled device and they took Sally as their POW. Te soldiers at Camp Davis said that Sally flew away and purposely crashed that plane into the sea. Others say it was the guys from the 96th that sabotaged Sally’s plane because nobody likes to be dressed down in front of their peers, especially by a female at that time. Tere were also rumors that maybe the flight mechanics did something to the plane because they were the ones that deemed the plane fit for flight. Others felt that Matthew might have had something to do with the plane’s disappearance.

Didi never gave up hope that Sally would fly back to Camp Davis with a full explanation of what had happened and wonderful stories of her excellent adventure.

Didi and Matthew went out to the island every night until they were transferred to other postings. Sometime after the war when the island was no longer being used by the military, Didi and Mathew did return one last time to say a final goodbye to their dear sweet friend.

Sometimes out on Topsail Island, the sounds of an old A24/B34 plane can be heard overhead, between the waxing gibbus and the full moon. Some say it’s Sally’s plane looking to find her way back to Camp Davis. Some say that it’s the echo of Sally’s plane on that fateful night she took her final flight into the blue.

Some have even seen strange lights at night along the beach but when they get closer the lights disappear only to reappear when they walk on and look behind them. Te locals will tell you that it’s Didi and her hand-held spotlight trying to help her friend find her way back home.

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