Aug. 14, 2023, TOLEDO, Ohio – Redwood Educational Technologies (RET), an educational technology company that has been producing original content for K-12 students, teachers and parents for more than 15 years, announces the public release of its new documentary, Courage in the Clouds: Cornelia Fort and the First Female Pilots of World War II.

Screened in Peachtree City (Atlanta), Georgia on March 24, 2023 at Airbase Georgia, a Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Unit, and in Lebanon, Tennessee (Nashville) at the CAF Music City Wing Unit on May 20, 2023, Courage in the Clouds is a 46-minute documentary. Its target audience is middle school/high school students, teachers, parents, aviation enthusiasts and history buffs.

At the Music City Wing screening, one of Cornelia’s nieces and other Fort Family members were present and honored when the CAF unit named and dedicated their 1942 PT-19 airplane – “Miss Cornelia.” Sue McPherson, Director of the Sattler Aerospace Camp and member of the Board of Directors, EAA Chapter 863 in Lebanon, Tennessee, attended the screening and decided to include the documentary in her camp curriculum for middle school and high school students.

“I am so excited about being able to show this historically accurate documentary to our aviation camps,” Sue said.

Following two sessions of the camp in June, students responded enthusiastically. From camp attendees, student comments included:

1. “The documentary opened my eyes to the vast history of aviation. I learned a lot of things during this documentary. This inspired me further to join the Air Force.”
2. “This documentary was very good. It was full of things I didn’t know. It was interesting and it kept me entertained. I hadn’t been taught this in history class, so most of this knowledge was new to me.”
3. “I enjoyed the documentary, not in our history books. Interesting information.”

To anchor students in time and place, the documentary begins with a review of events leading to World War II and how the dawn of aviation, beginning in 1903 with the Wright brothers’ first flight, coincided with the birth of many women who would eventually serve their country during WWII as members of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

The WAFS (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron)

Led by Nancy Love, an experienced pilot before WWII, in September 1942 Betty Gillies and Cornelia Fort were the first two female pilots Nancy accepted into the new squadron. Tragically, Cornelia was killed in a mid-air collision on March 21, 1943 as she was ferrying a military training plane from Long Beach, California to Dallas. She was just 24 years old and the first female pilot to die in service to her country. She was also likely the first civilian pilot to recognize the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as she was a civilian pilot instructor who was in the air with a student early on the fateful morning of December 7, 1941.

The new 46-minute film features original RET interviews with Leontine LaPointe and Chloe Fort, two of Cornelia’s nieces; Mae Krier, an original Rosie; Irene Hasenberg Butter, Ph.D., author and Holocaust survivor; Rich Stepler, Chief Pilot for the Wright “B” Flyer Organization in Miamisburg, Ohio; Kimberly Johnson, Director of Special Collections and University Archives at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas; and other aviation history experts.

Courage in the Clouds is a natural evolution of Redwood’s years of experience producing original, engaging and relevant content for students and teachers. Content is published digitally on the company’s proprietary platform, Redwood Learn, and also offered in a select number of print products. With an anchor focus on Literacy and History within a research design based on proven principles of learning, Judith Miller, Redwood co-founder, editor, and documentary writer and director, welcomes the opportunity to be part of the solution to reverse the precipitous decline in NAEP Reading and U.S. History scores that began in 2012 but has now reached crisis levels with the recent June 21, 2023 release of the NAEP Long Term Trend Assessment report.

The documentary is available to individuals to stream for $6.99 at Courage in the Clouds, which also includes an annotated bibliography, sent via email, of related recommended reading to support literacy and history. For group screenings, contact Judy at jmiller@redwoodlearn.com. Judy is available to conduct in-person screenings, seminars and teacher workshops. To provide middle school and high school students with an in-depth exploration of content and to support learning, Judith developed a Student Study Guide (print) that is aligned to educational standards and will be available in September. Finally, there are documentary licensing and sponsorship opportunities available to museums and organizations to support their mission to foster awareness and interest in aviation and aviation careers and to enable RET to continue its commitment to engage students of all ages in this important history. For more information, contact Judith at jmiller@redwoodlearn.com or 419-720-6341.