American air power during World War II was fortified by the mighty B-26s and B-29s flown in air raids throughout the Pacific in 1941. Legions of accounts have been documented of airmen and their experiences in the deadly air battles that took many lives. However, history tells another story, one hidden for more than 60 years. It was recently revealed that the U.S. Air Force trained women (Women Airforce Service Pilots) to fly military aircraft, including B-26 and B-29 bombers, in World War II.
On March 10, 2010, after patiently waiting their turn for recognition, this group of courageous women received the Congressional Gold Medal, considered the nation’s highest civilian honor, and will finally be included in historical records as active U.S. military.
Slightly more than 1,100 young women, all civilian volunteers, performed routine activities such as ferrying planes extensive distances from factories to bases, testing newly overhauled planes, even towing targets to give ground and air gunners target practice with live ammunition.
Although many have passed away, several remain to tell their stories of life as a WASP.
A National Public Radio piece by Susan Stamberg, “Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls,” offers accounts of women who were on active duty during the two-year period before the program was cancelled.
One member of the group, Margaret Phelan Taylor, recalled explaining to her father the reason she needed $500 for a pilot’s license to fulfill her adventure. “I told him I had to do it," Taylor said. "And so he let me have the money. I don't think I ever did pay it back to him, either."”
After discovering she was half an inch shorter than the 5-foot-2-inch requirement, she recalled, “I just stood on my tiptoes.” Upon arriving at Sweetwater, where most WASPs signed up for training, she learned that she was not the only short one. “We laughed about how we got in,” Taylor remembered.
This was a dangerous job, not to be taken for granted. On one cross-country flight to deliver an aircraft to California, Taylor saw smoke in the cockpit. Her instincts signaled her to bail out. “But the parachutes were too big. They weren’t fitted to us,” she said. "The force of that air and that speed and everything, why that just rips stuff off you. You'd slip right out."
Wasn’t she scared? “No,” remarked Taylor, “I was never scared. My husband used to say, ‘It's pretty hard to scare you.'”
Taylor ultimately decided to say with the plane until she saw flames. But the fire never came. It turned out an instrument had burned out and there was no real threat.
During the two years of training, however, 38 female pilots did lose their lives.
In commenting of the WASP experience, Caro Bayley Bosca said, “We would have done it for free. It was hot, we were sticky half of the time, but we were having a ball because we had those airplanes and we all loved to fly.”
Nell “Mickey” Bright towed targets in antiaircraft training. A large target was actually shot at by male trainees with live rounds oof ammunition while being dragged 25 feet behind the plane.
As the war ended and the men returned home, the flight training corps for women was no longer needed. According to a USA Today article, many WASPs returned to the life they once knew, but some kept flying as instructors in Florida or bush pilots in Alaska. Others raised families and accepted that most of the nation didn't know what they'd done.
Despite non-receipt of official military status, their courageous efforts paid off as they countered any skepticism about women’s capability of becoming pilots.
According to the USA Today article, the fliers were already trying to gain recognition as military veterans in 1976 when the Air Force announced that "for the first time ever" it would teach women to fly military airplanes, according to Kate Landdeck, an associate professor of history at Texas Woman's University who is writing a book about WASPs and their lives after the war.
"They realized their Air Force had forgotten about them," Landdeck told USA Today.
In 1977, however, the women were recognized as military personnel and given partial veterans benefits.
Finally, on July 1, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill to award 300 WASPs the Congressional Gold Medal and full recognition as military volunteers for their contributions during World War II.
Facts and comments courtesy of: “A Toast for You and Me: America’s Participation, Sacrifice & Victory,” Robert C. Valentine, 1994; National Public Radio; Radio Diaries; USA Today; and Grand Rapids Press.
Learn more about Women Air Force Service Pilots and other important World War I and World War II facts at Sulphur Springs Public Library. Our collection of World War II memorabilia is quite extensive, composed of books, journals, artifacts and numerous collectibles of interest. For location and hours go to www.sslibrary.org or call 903-885-4926.
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Andy Hailey
281-660-3839
http://www.facebook.com/cahailey
Kid of Women Airforce Service Pilots, Lois B. Hailey and Lois H. Ziler, 43-3,
Two of The Biggs Five: http://www.kfoxtv.com/video/21589255/index.html
http://wwii-women-pilots.org/ - WASPs Remembered by Those Who Knew Them