Author Margaret DiBenedetto spoke about her novel ‘Silver Dollar Girls’ during a presentation on Thursday, Oct. 2 at the Aviation Museum of N.H. The novel was based on her mother’s experiences as a member of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots during World War II.
The presentation was part of the Aviation Museum’s ‘Exploring Aviation’ presentation series.
A video recording of the presentation will be posted on the Aviation Museum’s video library webpage at future date.
Below, enjoy photos of DiBenedetto’s presentation taken by volunteer Norm Beaudette:
Archive: Earlier post promoting DiBenedeto’s appearance
When Ruth Franckling earned her pilot’s license in 1940 and became the first woman to earn a commercial rating in Ulster County, N.Y. in 1941, she probably never thought that a book would be written about her one day.
But many years later, that’s just what happened. Ruth’s daughter, author Margaret DiBenedetto, has written ‘Silver Dollar Girls,’ a novel based on her mother’s World War II experiences flying as a WASP–one of a group of female pilots who flew 80 percent of U.S. military ferrying missions and delivered 12,652 aircraft of 78 different kinds.
DiBenedetto will speak about ‘Silver Dollar Girls’ and her mother’s flying career on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Aviation Museum of N.H., 27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, N.H. The program is open to the public. Admission is $10 per person at the door; members admitted free. The presentation is part of the Aviation Museum’s ‘Exploring Aviation’ presentation series.
With more than 700 hours of flight time obtained in between working in her father’s dairy store, Ruth was accepted into Class 43-W-2 of the WASP, graduating from Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, on May 28, 1943. She was one of just 143 WASP who qualified to fly pursuit aircraft, her favorite of which was the P-51 Mustang. She flew for what would become the U.S. Army Air Force for 18 months, ferrying war planes from factories to air bases across the U.S.
DiBenedetto wrote ‘Silver Dollar Girls’ with the hope of educating a wider, younger audience about the WASP during World War II with a tale that is a combination of World War II history and a fictional family narrative, set in a rural valley of the Catskill Mountains during the 2020 COVID lockdown.
DiBenedetto will discuss the WASP and her mother’s adventures in aviation. There will be an accompanying slide show, and questions are strongly encouraged.
Margaret DiBenedetto has lived most of her life in the Catskills of New York. She attended Sam Houston State University in Texas and studied with Texas Poet Laureate Paul Ruffin.
She graduated with a degree in Biology from SUNY Oneonta. Retired from her job in land management with the Department of Environmental Protection in 2020, DiBenedetto is the Board Chair of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. She travels to military museums and air shows around the country to talk about her mother’s experiences.
The Aviation Museum, a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization based in the 1937 art deco passenger terminal at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, is dedicated to preserving the Granite State’s rich aviation past, and also inspiring today’s students to become the aviation and aerospace pioneers of tomorrow.
The Aviation Museum of N.H. was named ‘Best Historic or Cultural Attraction for an All-Ages Family Crowd’ in southern New Hampshire in the 2025 HippoPress Reader’s Poll.
The Aviation Museum is located at 27 Navigator Road, off Harvey Road, in Londonderry, N.H.
For more information, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call (603) 669-4877 or email ldearborn@nhahs.org.
