Suzanne Parish
Suzanne DeLano Parish (November 13, 1922 – May 12, 2010) was an American aviator, a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, and the co-founder of the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum.
Contents
Aviation
Parish learned to fly in 1941, when she was 19 years old. She joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots when she was 21, after having accumulated 350 hours in the air.
After the War
After the war, Parish attempted to get a job as a commercial pilot, to no avail. She married Preston “Pete” Parish in 1948 and gave birth to five children. When her husband purchased a share in a single engine 35C Bonanza in 1959, she decided to take up flying once more.[1] She and her husband soon purchased a Stearman, an AT-6, and a Grumman Wildcat. The last plane they purchased was the P-40.
Founding the Air Zoo
In 1977 she and her husband co-founded the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, more popularly known as the Air Zoo. The nucleus of the collection was their own planes.[1]
Air Shows
Parish flew a pink P-40 Warhawk in several air shows for over 25 years, until she reached her 70s. Deciding that she could no longer handle the G-forces, she flew that plane last in October, 1993.[1] She continued to fly her Beechcraft Beechcraft T-34 Mentor.
Legacy
Parish had two daughters, Barbie Parish and Katie Miller, and three sons, Will Parish, Pres Parish, and Dave Parish. She also had 14 grandchildren.
Her signature pink P-40 hangs in the entrance to the Air Zoo.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Klug, Fritz Suzanne Parish's passion for flight lives on at Air Zoo. MMLive. Retrieved June 17, 2010
