Born: 17 March 1921, United States
Died: 25 July 2009
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Marjory V. Foster
The following is republished from HistoryLink.org, in line with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Before the war Marjory Foster Munn (1921-2009) was a beautician in West Virginia. She won a contest whose prize was free flying lessons. The lessons changed her life, creating a lifetime devotion to flying. Marjory Foster obtained her license before joining the Women Airforce Service Pilots program in 1944. She was a test pilot in Alabama and flew repaired aircraft to Great Falls, Montana. Foster also qualified in the P-39 pursuit or fighter aircraft and the B-25 bomber. Her most dramatic event came during a landing when another plane landed on top of her airplane. Its propeller chopped through Foster’s plane’s fuselage and its wing but Foster was unhurt. After the war she remained in aviation by first working in communications and then as a stewardess. In 1949 she received a commission in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Lieutenant Foster served in administrative roles and married Captain James Munn (1923-2002) in 1953 while assigned to Okinawa. They returned to the United States and she was promoted to captain. They left the service and moved to Seattle in 1962. Marjory Munn graduated from the University of Washington in 1965. In 1983, she was selected to serve on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. During this three-year appointment she inspected military bases to evaluate military women’s treatment.