Obituary for Kathryn L. Fine, WAF of WWII

Page available since 6/10/98 - last updated 1/7/2013 

This information was sent to me by Kathryn Fine's daughter, "Hi. My name is Dugie Standeford. My mother was Kathryn Bernheim Fine, one of the original WAFS. My cousin just e-mailed me with your web page, and I located Ma's name. I also met, when I was a kid, several of her colleagues, including Betty Gillies and Nancy Batson."

Kathryn L. Fine of Stony Point [NY] died Monday, June 24, 1996, at her home. She was 85.

She was born Kathryn L. Strouse on Feb. 1, 1911, in Far Rockaway, NY, and graduated from Woodmere Academy in Woodmere, NY.

A longtime flying aficianado, she earned her pilot's license in 1934 at Roosevelt Field on Long Island.

She and a friend began a flying instruction school at Roosevelt Field in 1938.

In 1942, Mrs. Fine joined the Women's Auxiliary Flying Squadron, which later became the Women's Air Force Service Pilots. She ferried new fighter planes from factories to airbases, and flew planes including P-51 Mustangs, B-17s, Bell Aire and King Cobras, and her favorite, the P-47 Thunderbolt.

Mrs. Fine received her honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force in December 1944. She then returned to her former career as a flight instructor.

She married C. Robert Fine, a sound recording engineer, in 1947, and continued to fly until her children were born.

She is survived by her daughter, Dugie Standeford, of Washington, D.C., and her son, Robert B. Fine, of Harriman.

Anyway, there you go. Her flying days were her best days, I think. By the way, the "friend" with whom she taught flying at Roosevelt Field before the war was still alive the last I knew. He was a Navy pilot during the war, and continued to be fly well into his 80s. I haven't talked to him since Ma died--if he's still alive, he's in his 90s.

They almost married in the 30s, but she chickened out. But they were friends for over 50 years.