Manila Davis Talley (1898–1973) was the first woman from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

to earn a pilot's license. She was a founding member of the Betsy Ross Air Corps, a private female auxiliary for the Army Air Corps, and the third woman to complete training at the Air Force War College.

Early life and education

Talley was born Manila Carolyn Davis in

Flatwoods Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine–wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fir ...

Braxton County Braxton County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,447. The county seat is Sutton. The county was formed in 1836 from parts of Lewis, Kanawha, and Nicholas counties ...

, West Virginia. She attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

and later transferred to the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

to study piano and drama. After becoming interested in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

, Talley enrolled in a

Curtiss-Wright The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is an American manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation (business), consoli ...

mechanics course and attended the

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sci ...

Guggenheim School of Aeronautics.

Aviation and military career

Talley became saleswoman at the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in late 1929 or early 1930. She earned a commercial pilot’s license while working for the company making her the first woman from West Virginia to do so. Talley was an airplane demonstrator and an aircraft racing pilot. She joined the 99s (International Association of Women Pilots) in 1930. In the same year, Talley became the first woman to complete the Army Air Corps officer reserve course. Talley was a founding member of the Betsy Ross Air Corps, a private female auxiliary for the Army Air Corps that launched in 1931. Manila married Benjamin B. Talley, an officer in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, in 1933. In 1941, she became the person to join the Anchorage, Alaska

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

eventually earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1967, Talley became the third woman to complete to obtain a certificate from the Air Force War College.

Death and legacy

Manila Davis Talley died at

Altus Air Force Base Altus Air Force Base (Altus AFB, AAFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-northeast of Altus, Oklahoma. The host unit at Altus AFB is the 97th Air Mobility Wing (97 AMW), assigned to the Nineteenth Air Force (19 AF ...

Altus, Oklahoma Altus () is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,729 at the 2020 census. Altus is home to Altus Air Force Base, the United States Air Force training base for C-17, KC-46 and KC-135 ...

on December 17, 1973. She is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

at Flatwoods Cemetery in West Virginia. Talley's scrapbook, mostly consisting of materials from 1929-1942, is held in the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

Archives. A collection of her papers dating from 1919 to 1990 was gifted to the University of Alaska Anchorage/Alaska Pacific University Consortium Library Archives in 1986.

External links

Manila Davis Talley Scrapbook
at the Smithsonian
Manila Davis Talley
Parks Airport, East St. Louis, Illinois * Manila Davis Talle
Collection

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna C ...

''UAA/APU Consortium Library''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talley, Manila Davis 1898 births 1973 deaths Air War College alumni People from Braxton County, West Virginia West Virginia University alumni New England Conservatory alumni American women aviators Aviators from West Virginia People of the Civil Air Patrol 20th-century American women 20th-century American people Military personnel from West Virginia