Crews was born to Stephen and Ruth Batson in 1920 and she was one of four children.[1] Crews considered herself very fortunate to be born into an upper-middle-class family, as well as, parents that allowed her to be outside the Southern belle ideal. Her mother instilled Southern values but allowed Crews to be who she wanted to be. She wanted to fly since she saw Charles Lindbergh in Birmingham. Additionally, Crews was an excellent athlete during her youth, she participated in horseback riding and golf. During high school, Crews was on the cheerleading team. At the University of Alabama, Crews was elected to the highest coed office.[2] In 1941, she graduated from University of Alabama.[1] On February 1, 1946 she married Paul Crews and together they had three children, Paul, Radford, and Elinor. Finally, what was originally believed to be pneumonia was actually lung cancer which caused Crews' death on January 14, 2001.[2]
In August 1943, WAFS was changed to WASP.[2][Women Airforce Service Pilots] (WASP) was created because Col. William H. Tunner commander of the Ferrying Division needed so many ferry pilots that he was willing to allow trained women to perform the job.[1] In 1944, Crews graduated from pursuit school. Crews' assignment was to ferry P-47s from the factory to embarkation points to later be moved to war zones. She often would travel one coast to the other at heights up to four miles high at three hundred miles per hour. She was one of the first twenty-eight women to pilot a United States plane in World War II.[2]
While Crews stopped flying between 1949 and 1959 because her children were young, she continued to fly for most of her life.[1] During the 1960s, Crews and her Super Club created a flying business. Through her business, she learned to how fly gliders and later became an instructor. In her seventies, she created a land and home development business.[2] She was the first president of WAFS post-war organization between the year 1972–1975. Additionally, she was elected mayor of California City for one term in 1978. Also, she served one term as the St. Claire County Airport Commissioner.[1] At seventy-nine, Crews co-piloted a corporate turbojet for almost eighty hours.[2]
Crews, Nancy Batson, Dawn Letson, and Patricia J. Williams. Nancy Batson Crews: An Oral History. 2000. OCLC46596404
Gott, Kay. Women in Pursuit: Flying Fighters for the Air Transport Command Ferrying Division During World War II: A Collection & Recollection. McKinleyville, CA: K. Gott, 1993. ISBN0-9633075-0-9OCLC28056091
Rickman, Sarah Byrn. Nancy Batson Crews: Alabama's First Lady of Flight. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2009. ISBN0-8173-5553-7OCLC311310233
Rickman, Sarah Byrn. The Originals: The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of World War II. Sarasota, FL: Disc-Us Books, 2001. ISBN1-58444-263-8OCLC47293680
Turner, Betty Stagg. Out of the Blue and into History. Arlington Heights, IL: Aviatrix Pub., 2001. ISBN1-928760-02-3OCLC47092991
