Coffee & Conversation
Every Monday, 10:30-11:30 AM
St. Charles Public Library
**Special Program: Minnesota’s Winged Women of WWII, Monday, November 13**
Grab your flying jacket, helmet, and goggles for a flight with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II!
On Monday, November 13 at 10:30am, Frederick Beseler will visit for “Coffee and Conversation” at the St. Charles Public Library to share the high-flying story of Minnesota’s female “Top Guns” of World War II.
The WASP were America’s very first female military aviators. They flew everything in the U.S. Army Air Force’s WWII inventory – from fabric-covered biplane trainers to four-engine bombers and transports, and 400 mile-per-hour fighters. Some became instructor pilots and taught the male cadets how to fly. Others showed the men how to tame so-called “widow-makers” like the B-26 and B-29 bombers!
Rosie the Riveter built the airplanes — the WASP delivered them to airfields all across the United States and to Alaska. Here’s the soaring, inspiring, often humorous, and sometimes tragic story of the heroic women who flew into history in service to America!
Frederick Beseler retired after a 40-year career in the commercial air conditioning industry. A 1976 graduate of Winona State University, Beseler has been a private pilot since 1978, and has flown some of the WWII aircraft that the WASP flew. He has given numerous presentations and written many aviation-related articles. Earlier this year, he spoke about the WASP at the Richard I. Bong WWII Museum in Superior, Wisconsin, and at the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis. He is a past president of Chapter 307 of the Experimental Aircraft Association in La Crosse, and a past member of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame.
Always busy, Beseler recently obtained his Minnesota substitute teaching license and can often be found in Southeast Minnesota elementary and secondary school classrooms. Fred and Jane Beseler live in Houston, Minnesota. Jane is retired as the Executive Director of the La Crosse County Historical Society.