The WASPs of W.W.II
Women’s Airforce Service Pilot
• From 1942 to 1944
more than 1,00 women
pilots ferried aircraft,
tested planes,
instructed male pilots
and towed targets for
the military.
• Thirty-eight gave their
lives.
September 1939
• Record-breaking
women aviator, Jackie
Cochran wrote to
Eleanor Roosevelt
suggesting that women
pilots could be useful
in a national
emergency, releasing
men for combat duty.
May 1940
• Commercially trained
pilot, Nancy Harkness
Love, wrote to Lt.
Col.Robert Olds
offering 49
experienced women
pilots to help transport
planes.
Also May 1940
• Olds took the ideas to
General Hap Palmer
who replied that it was
“utterly unfeasible,”
women were “too
high-strung,” and the
“use of female pilots
serves no military
purpose.”
Summer of 1941
Women in England & Russia prove otherwise !
• Marina Raskova
organized the 588th
night-bomber
squadron, composed
entirely of Russian
women.
• The famous Hurricane
was piloted by British
women.
December 7, 1941
• Pearl
Harbor
Is Attacked
January 1942
• Cochran and Love
resubmit proposals
regarding a female
flying squadron.
• This time their idea is
met with more
enthusiasm!
Summer of 1942
• Dora Dougherty and
Dorothea Moorman
become the first test
pilots for the B-29, the
newest, biggest, most
complicated and most
dangerous bomber yet.
1943
• Cornelia Fort becomes
the first woman to die
on active duty.
• Jackie Cochran and
Nancy Love unite to
form the WASP.
• Representative John
Costello of California
introduces the WASP
militarization bill.
October of 1944
• After the
congressional bid for
WASP militarization
failed, General Hap
Palmer issued a
memorandum stating
that the WASPs would
“soon become pilot
material in excess of
needs.”
December 20, 1944
• The WASP program was
deactivated, WASPS had
flown a total of 60 million
miles in 77 different types
of aircraft.
• WASP records were
marked classified, sealed,
and stored in government
archives.
• WASPs did not receive
military status or benefits.
Thirty years later
• In November of 1977,
President Carter signs
legislation providing
military status for the
Women’s Air force
Service Pilots.
• The Air force issues the
first honorable discharges
for women serving in the
WASP during W.W.II.
Images Reference List
Slide One: Diana Philbrook. Painting of the WASPs of W.W.II for the Airforce.
Retrieved June 24, 2004 from
http://www.philbrook-associates.com/samples/betty_w.html
Slide Two: U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). WASP flight crew of Boeing B-17 “Flying
Fortress.” Retreived June 24,
2004 from http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp6.htm
Slide Three: PBS: The American Experience, Fly girls. (2004). WASP timeline. Retrieved
June 24, 2004 from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/timeline/index.html
U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). WASPs breaking ground for today’s female USAF
pilots. Retrieved June
24, 2004 from http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp1.htm
Slide Four: U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). Women’s auxiliary ferrying squadron. Retrieved June
24, 2004 from
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp2.htm
Slide Five: U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). WASPs breaking ground for today’s female
USAF pilots. Retrieved June
24, 2004 from http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp1.htm
Slide Six: Hargrave: The Pioneers. (2002).Marina Rasckova, and the Soviet women
pilots of W.W.II.
Retrieved June 26, 2004 from
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/soviet_women_pilots.html
Slide Seven: NARA, Research Room. (2004). Attack on Pearl Harbor. Retrieved June 26, 2004
from
www.archives.gov/.../ world_war_2_photos.html
Slide Eight: U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). WASP created. Retrieved June24, 2004 from Slide Nine
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp5.htm
Slide Nine: PBS: The American Experience, Fly girls. (2004). The WASP and the B-29.
Retreived June 24, 2004
from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/sfeature/waspssb29.html
Slide Ten: U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). Women’s auxiliary ferrying squadron. Retrieved June 24,
2004 from
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp2.htm
Slide Eleven: K.M. Productions, Inc.(2001). WASP trivia quiz. Retrieved June 24, 2004 from
http://www.womenofcourage.com/quiz-answer5-yr01-mo01.htm
Slide Twelve: U.S.A.F. Museum. (2003). WASP disbanded.Retrieved June 24, 2004 from
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wasp/wasp8.htm
Slide Thirteen: Yahoo, Inc. (2004). Women pilots W.W.II. Retrieved June 26, 2004 from
news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/.../
r991507768.jpg