Willa Beatrice Chappell nee Brown—she was the first African American woman to earn her pilot’s certification on U.S. soil.

As a teenager, in 1955, Oswald attended Civil Air Patrol meetings in New Orleans. Oswald's fellow cadets recalled him attending C.A.P. meetings "three or four" times, or "10 or 12 times" over a one- or two-month period.

During World War II, Feik became an expert on many military aircraft, and taught aircraft maintenance for the United States Army Air Corps in 1942. She is credited with becoming the first woman engineer in research and development in the Air Technical Service Command’s Engineering Division at Wright Field, Ohio.