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From West Virginia to Tidioute and then Niagara Falls, Bishop talks about work during war years

Photo by John Willhoff and courtesy of the Commemorative Air Force, Dixie Wing Betty Bishop, a Rosie the Riveter, reunited with a P-63 Kingcobra 70 years after she worked on the planes at Bell Aircraft in Niagara Falls, NY.

Back in November, Betty Bishop was flown from her home to Florida to participate in the dedication of a restored P-63 Kingcobra — a World War II fighter aircraft.

That trip was 75 year in the making.

Bishop was a “Rosie the Riveter” who worked at the Bell Aircraft facility in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

But there’s so much more to her story than that.

She was born in West Virginia and lived the first 13 years of her life in Shaw, WV before a family move to Tidioute.

Photo by John Willhoff and courtesy of the Commemorative Air Force, Dixie Wing CAF Pilots stand with Rosie the Riveter - Betty Bishop - as she is presented with the naming of the P-63 Miss Betty, named in her honor.

“Shaw was small and offered no opportunities for a maturing family, according to my mom,” she said.

Her father was in the timber trade and there were certainly opportunities in that industry in Warren County.

“Moving to Tidioute was traumatic for me as I’d hoped to spend my life in Shaw,” she said. “After a year in Pa., making friends, catching on to ‘northern’ ways and falling in love at 14, I gained a better perspective.”

She described teenage life in 1930s and 1940s Tidioute as “the usual teenage stuff — roller skating, ice cream shop, church, competitions…. Fell in and out of love a few times. There was a “Point” overlooking the town and river that was a weekly gathering place for weiner roasts, etc.”

Her parents didn’t want her going to the movies but said she she dated the theater owner’s son “so I saw almost every movie shown…. Sneaky, I guess.

Photo courtesy of Betty Bishop via the Commemorative Air Force, Dixie Wing Betty Bishop’s ID badge from the Niagara Falls, N.Y., Bell Aircraft plant.

“I was editor of our school paper in my senior year,” she added, “wrote the required poems for some of my classmates, etc. Nothing very interesting to tell about — pretty normal small time stuff.”

The family lived on US 62 and her dad and brother did work for a sand and gravel company.

Her parents lived in the Tidioute area for 25 years before a move to Florida but Bishop broke out after graduation.

“World War II broke out while I was in high school, so many of the guys joined the service as soon as they could” she said.

The closest war manufacturing plant was the Bell Aircraft facility in Niagara Falls, NY.

“I don’t recall even considering doing anywhere else,” she said. “Kids left home and went to work back then when they graduated.”

She already had friends living and working in Niagara Falls so it was a natural fit.

Bishop was assigned to the swing shift — 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. — working on P-63 Kingcobras. The U.S. Army didn’t purchase the fighter plant plane but the Soviet Union did.

“I hardly know what to tell — we punished in, collected our tools and went to assigned jobs,” she said. “I was the only girl on the ‘landing gear gang.’ I could fit my hand in (the) hole on (the) wing to shim the struts so landing gear were synchronized. I got to raise and lower them until perfect.”

That included filling them with air, bleeding and filling brake lines and ensuring the oxygen level was correct.

But the work wasn’t all serious.

“Cigarettes were available twice a month at exchange — one carton per person,” she said. “I didn’t smoke so was very popular for a day! We often had celebrities stop and entertain us from the catwalks. I often took quick naps in the john, putting my feet up where they couldn’t see.

That included bandleaders Sammy Kaye as well as Les Brown and his Band of Renown.

“There was a lot of camaraderie among us — families stories — experiences, etc. and many friends made. I just lost my last ‘Bell’ friend this past year.

“The importance of the work we did didn’t really hit me until a group of Russians came through to check out what we were doing and made us aware that ‘little us’ really was a part of a much bigger and more important part of the war,” she said. “Until then, it was a paycheck and the freedom of being on our own for the first time.”

Bishop worked at Bell for nearly two years. She left to support a pregnant sister in Florida who’s husband was killed overseas at the end of the war.

After the war was over, she returned to the area working at the Warren State Hospital before moving to Florida, getting married and raising a family.

“I forgot about Bell, planes, etc. for years, raising a family, involved in other things until 2014,” she said. “My son lives in Georgia and heard — or read — about the restoration of the P-63.”

Her son reached out to the Commemorative Air Force — Dixie Wing, a non-profit that was restoring the plane.

“They got in touch with me. I was invited to their annual celebration in 2014 and have been a special guest each time I attended sense.”

That culminated with a weekend in November when a restored P-63 was dedicated as the “Miss Betty.”

“It was discovered that Bishop had actually worked on the exact P-63 aircraft that is now operated by the Dixie Wing,” a statement from the group said. “Bishop, who lives in Florida, traveled to the Dixie Wing in Peachtree City, Georgia for the dedication ceremony. At the ceremony a prominent inscription “Miss Betty” was revealed on the nose of the aircraft. Leadership thanked Bishop for her service to her country as well as her dedication to supporting the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing.”

The group also said in a Facebook post that Bishop, once sales to the Russians ceased, fitted armor to P-39s so they could be used as target practice.

“As for the first weekend I attended, it can’t be adequately described — so many forgotten memories brought back — seeing that plane was like reconnecting with an old friend,” Bishop said.

“My sons were able to glimpse a part of my life before they became my life. The relationship with CAF, Dixie Wing has become so special to me.”

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