When ten-year-old Mildred Darlene Tuttle first soared above Kansas in 1929, she could not have known that fifteen years later, she would make history in American aviation. The Curtiss Jenny biplane she flew in was a relic of the Great War, and its owner performed with the Inman Brothers’ traveling air circus. That single flight was enough to shape the entire life of the future pilot.
From Test Tubes to Cockpits
Micky Axton’s path to combat aircraft cockpits led through chemistry labs. After graduating from high school in Coffeyville in 1936, she began studying science, focusing on mathematics and chemistry.
She left Kansas State University in 1940 with a teaching degree and then took a position as a chemistry instructor in her hometown. However, alongside her academic work, she pursued entirely different ambitions.
The Civilian Pilot Training Program run by her university accepted her as the only woman in her year. In a male-dominated environment, she had to prove her abilities at every step. She earned her pilot’s license that same year, opening doors unimaginable for most American women at the time.
Wartime Service
A letter from Jacqueline Cochran, the legendary organizer of women’s aviation units, changed the course of her career. In 1943, Axton began training with the Women Airforce Service Pilots in Sweetwater, Texas.
After completing the course in November of that year, she was assigned as a test pilot at the engineering department in Pecos. Her job was to check aircraft after repairs and certify their airworthiness.
Test piloting was among the most dangerous jobs in military aviation. Thirty-eight women serving in WASP died in the line of duty. Axton survived and, in March 1944, moved to Boeing in Wichita, where a historic challenge awaited her. On May 4th, she became the first woman ever to lift the B-29 Superfortress bomber off the runway.
Back to Her Roots
The end of the war meant the end of the flying adventure for most women pilots. Axton returned to teaching, though her expertise now extended far beyond chemistry.
In the late 1950s, she taught biology, science, and aeronautics at a Wichita high school. She thus combined both her passions, passing on to the next generation both scientific knowledge and a fascination with the skies.
Her achievements were recognized with numerous accolades, including a distinguished service medal from the International Air Force Confederation. In particular, a restored PT-19 training aircraft bearing the inscription 'Miss Micky’ on its fuselage became a special tribute.
She is the only WASP pilot honored in this way. The highest recognition, however, came posthumously when in March 2010 her family received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian distinction awarded by the United States Congress.
Rory Thornfield
Rory's grandfather left behind a wartime diary filled with accounts of a minor Burma skirmish that history books never mentioned. Reading it, Rory realized: behind every famous battle are dozens of forgotten struggles, each with its own human drama.
His preferred topics: The overlooked corners of military history – secondary campaigns, shadow battalions, local conflicts that never made headlines. From medieval sieges to twentieth-century expeditions, he focuses on the soldiers, not the generals. The people who faced impossible choices and carried those experiences forever.
Rory strips away the romanticism without losing respect for those who served. He combines tactical analysis with personal stories, examining human endurance and moral complexity rather than celebrating warfare. His writing is balanced, thoughtful, and deeply researched.
Outside work, Rory visits forgotten battlefields (now quiet farmland), photographs war memorials nobody tends anymore, and interviews veterans' families.