Tompkins- Silver Vreeland Gertrude “Tommy” born 16-10-1911 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, the youngest of three daughters of Vreeland Tompkins (1870–1956) founder of Smooth-On, Inc. and his wife Laura, born Towar Tompkins (1878–1971)
. Gertude had one brother and one sister, Stuart Tompkins (unknown-1905) and Elizabeth Tompkins Whittall (1909–2010) .She was raised as the youngest child in their family and had a stuttering problem when she was young.
Her family sent her to live with a family on a farm in West Virginia during her adolescence. Her parents hoped that the new surroundings would help her overcome her social withdrawal and poor school performance. She attended horticultural school afterwards and raised goats for a period of time. She returned to work at Smooth-On Inc. with her father and lived in the New York City, New York area in the 1930s. The family later moved to Summit, New Jersey. Gertrude attended Ambler School of Horticulture and moved to New York City following her graduation. Following the death of her boyfriend, who took her flying and later died while flying for the Royal Air Force, Gertrude applied to the WASP program. Gertrude had fell in love with Stanley Michel Kolendorski,
an American aviator who was killed, age 26, during World War II in the early 1940s. Stanley was a member of Eagle Squadron 71,
made up of American pilots who volunteered to fly against the Germans for England before America entered World War II and after he returned to England to fight, Gertrude began taking flying lessons.
But in May of 1941, Gertrude received notice that her “one and only” love had been shot down by the Nazis, on 17-05-1941 and his body was recovered in the sea.
Death and burial ground of Thompkins Gertrude Vreeland “Tommy”.




Her loved ones believed that she developed an interest in flying after his death. Gertrude took private flying lessons, then joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) shortly thereafter.
She reported to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where famed female aviator Jacqueline Cochran began training women for flight with the United States’ military’s approval. At the only all-female military base in U.S. history, she trained for 24 weeks, with 180 hours of flight time, 30 hours of simulated flight training, 5 hours of physical training each week, and 180 hours of instruction in navigation, communication, weather, aircraft, and engine, and Air Transport Command procedures.
The WASP were employed from 1942 through 1944 during the war and referred to as “fly girls.”
Gertrude Tompkins, Mildred Axton, and Audry Tardy. Classmates from 43-W-7Gertrude married Army Technical Sergeant Henry Mann Silver
in September 1944. Henry’s sister died after giving birth out of wedlock and he was preparing to adopt her child in 1944. He had known Gertrude for several years prior to their wedding and some believed that she was still mourning for her lost aviator at the time of their marriage. Her father adored Henry and thought of him as a son. Gertrude returned to WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots
duty two days after the wedding; she and Henry never saw each other again. She was not wearing her engagement or wedding rings when she departed for Texas, nor did she use her married name. Marriage by WASP was frowned upon and she may have been afraid she would lose her job.
Gertrude was scheduled to fly a P-51 Mustang fighter plane, the hottest fighter aircraft of the day, from Mines Field in Inglewood, California (now the Los Angeles International Airport, or “LA X”) to Palm Springs, California on 26-10-1944. She planned to fly the plane to New Jersey during the following days, but WASP were required to make stopovers at night to avoid flying during those hours.
Gertude departed from Mines Field (Los Angeles International Airport) for Palm Springs, on 26-10-1944, flying a North American P-51D Mustang
destined for New Jersey. She never arrived at Palm Springs and due to reporting errors a search was not started until three days later. Despite an extensive ground and water search, no trace of Silver or the aircraft were found.
According to historian Pat Macha, the plane probably crashed near Dockweiler State Beach, just a few miles from Mines Field. In January 2010, search efforts to locate the possible crash site in Santa Monica Bay were unsuccessful.
Gertrude’s family members met airplane archaeologist G. Patric Macha in the 1990s. Macha believes that her aircraft crashed in the shallow water of Santa Monica Bay and is buried underneath layers of sand. Sonar imagery showed an object buried in the general vicinity in 2001.

Others believed that Gertrude may have crashed in the mountains near Palm Springs, a theory that Macha has never discounted. Gertrude’s case remains unsolved.
What exactly happened to Tompkins and where her remains are is still a mystery. Some believe Tompkins went down after becoming distracted or disoriented in the relatively new P-51D. The military planes of Tompkins’ era did not have black boxes. There was no radar to monitor Tompkins’ journey, and there was no flight plan for her.
After she disappeared, flight plans for each pilot were required, rather than a group plan. The military searched close to 30 days for her, looking fruitlessly in the nearby mountains and bay.
During October 2009, MAST “Gertrude Tompkins Expedition” searched for her aircraft. During their searches, they located a U. S. Air Force (USAF) T-33 jet trainer missing since October 15, 1955. There have been several searches throughout the years but all efforts to locate the possible crash site in Santa Monica Bay have been unsuccessful.


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