Little is known of the none- military group known as the WASP. During World War II, the demand for civilian jobs was on the rise, as most men were fighting overseas. Two pilots, Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love, saw the need to create more jobs within the United States, so they approached the Armed Forces and the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, with the idea of putting female pilots in the skies, in order to free male pilots for military combat.

On September 14, 1942, due to the efforts of the two pilots, Cochran and Love, General Henry Arnold, Commanding General of the Army Air Force, approved the establishment of a female Air Force, which was named the Army Air Force Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). Jacqueline Cochran became director of the program.  August 5, 1943, the WAFS (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) and WFTD (Women’s Flying Training Detachment) were joined together to form The Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). Applications poured in and, of the 25,000 of the women who applied, only 1900 were accepted. Those womenspent four months flight training, and 1,074 of the women earned their wings, becoming the first women to fly American military aircrafts.  The women were required to have the same requirements in their training courses as male Army Air Corp pilots, although they were not trained for combat and received no gun training.  Once their training was complete, WASP graduates were stationed within the 120 air bases across the United States. Their duties included towing targets for the combat pilots of anti-aircraft artillery practices, stimulated strafing mission and transporting cargo; by 1944 WASP pilots flew every type of aircraft flown by the USAAF during World War II.

During the War, 38 WASP pilots lost their lives. However, due to their none military status, fallen WASP pilots did not receive traditional military honors. Flags were not placed on their coffins, and their bodies had to be sent home at the families’ cost.

 

Since the time they founded WASP, Love and Cochran had tried to make WASP a military entity. On September 30, 1943, the first militarization bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives. And on June 21, 1944, the House bill to give WASP pilots military status was denied.  

 

After World War II, all WASP files were sealed and classified. Nothing was known of this civilian group until 35 year later, when in 1977, after much debate in Congress, WASP members were finally recognized as veterans of World War II.  In 1984, they were given the Victory Medal of Honor, and in 2010 at the United States Capital, 300 surviving WASP members were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

Decades after their service in World War II, the members of WASP were finally given the proper appreciation and recognition, which they so deserved for their service during the war. General Arnold stated, in a speech given on December 7, 1944 at the Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas:

"The WASP has completed its mission. Their job has been successful. But as is usual in war, the cost has been heavy. Thirty-eight WASP have died while helping their country move toward the moment of final victory. The Air Forces will long remember their service and their final sacrifice."

It was due to the efforts of these female pilots and their bravery that the American Air Force was supplied with ammunition and planes, which aided the United States in winning the War.

 

References:

TWU Librarues- Gateway to Women’s History. Women Air Force Service Pilots Digital Archive. Texas Woman’s University, 2014

 http://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p214coll2 (accessed February 19, 2014).

 

NPR: Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls. Carpien, Cindy, March 10, 2010.

http://www.npr.org/2010/03/09/123773525/female-wwii-pilots-the-original-fly-girls(accessed February 19, 2014).

 

 PBS. American Experience. Fly Girls. WGBH Educational Foundation, 1999.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/filmmore/description.html (accessed February 19, 2014).

 

 

Book Recommendation:

Carl, Ann B. A WASP Among Eagles: A Woman Military Test Pilot in World War II. Smithsonian Institution Press, June 22, 2010.

Games,  Ben , R. WASP WWII. Fideli. Publishing Inc, January 31, 2011.

Games,  Ben , R. WASP WWII. Fideli. Publishing Inc, January 31, 2011.