Margie Maddox

Woman Goes to War on Wings

By Michele Hargis of The Germantown News
October 25, 1990

During these nostalgic days for the Memphis Belle, the B-17 Bomber, Germantown residents may be interested to know that a female WWII pilot grew up right here in their own backyard.

Margie Maddox’s bright blue eyes sparkle as she recalls her pilot days during World War II. The former Germantown resident was a WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilot). Among the first women in aviation who graduated from Army Air Force training schools, flying P-T props and the twin-engine AT6. Maddox’s maiden name was Margie Heckle. Her family moved to Germantown in the 1930s, and her father, who owned a feed store on Front Street, built a house on Forest Hill Road. “It was true country living, everyone knew everybody else,” Maddox said. She went to Forest Hill School, which now houses the Germantown Community Theatre. She later attended Mabel C. Williams high school (later Germantown High School). Often, she would walk the four miles home after school. She was bitten by the flying bug in her early 20s. “A man lived across the road who flew. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. When he took me up on the plane, I fell in love with flying. I decided then and there I would get my pilot’s license,” Maddox said.