Heart of the Story

25,000 women applied to be WASPs.  1,830 were accepted.  1,074 graduated.

"The graduation rate of 1,000 in two years equals the entire Air Corps pilot training production rate of the peaceful years prior to 1939."

~ Walter Kraus, Commanding General of the Central Flying Training Command, December 7, 1944 (Molly Merryman,  Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II.)

WASPs Singing at Graduation, 1944  Credit:  National Women's History Museum

After graduation, WASPs had a long and varied set of duties.

"The duties performed by the WASP embraced the following:

Ferrying, target towing, tracking and searchlight missions, simulated strafing, smoke laying, and other chemical missions, radio control flying, basic and instrument instruction, engineering test flying, administrative and utility flying. 

The WASP as a whole put in more hours in operational duties than they did in training. They paid their way, by flying in the aggregate approximately 60 million miles on operational duties, or about 2,500 times around the earth at the equator.

The ferry work was done practically altogether by daylight. Most of the other operational activities were done by day and night. WASP were fully utilized on operational duties within 8 months from the time they started training."

~ Jacqueline Cochran (Eisenhower Presidential Archives, “WASP Final Report, June 1, 1945.”)

"We did about twelve different jobs at the training command, like towing targets so they [could] practice shooting, flying at night so that the beacons could have an opportunity to try to locate the planes, flying gunners so they could get practice shooting from moving aircraft, engineering test flying which is what I did, and utility piloting which is what I did."

~ Bee Haydu, WASP Class 44-W-7 (Chrissy Cuttita, "WASP Shares Her World War II Experiences.")

"If a plane was wrecked, it was repaired, if possible. Then, before it was returned to service, it had to be flown and tested out to see if it was repaired properly, and flyable. We also tested out the new planes. They had to be flown before they could be delivered. Those are the things I did as a test pilot. I flew the twin-engine AT-10 and other AT models. I also co-piloted B-25s. Some WASP flew experimental planes, but I didn’t. WASP also towed targets behind their planes while the boys shot live ammunition at them. Towing targets was dangerous and sometimes planes took direct hits. The girls who towed targets put their lives at risk."

~ Ellen Campbell, WASP Class 44-W-7 (Alexander Dolitsky,  Allies in Wartime:  The Alaska-Siberia Airway During World War II.​​​​​​​)

WASPs confronted challenges every step of the way.   

"The women paid their own way to travel to basic training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.  To qualify, applicants had to be at least 5 feet, 4 inches tall, pass Army physicals and have a pilot’s license, [and] during training, the women had to pay for their dress uniforms and their room and board."

~ Shannon Collins, "WASPs Were Pioneers for Female Pilots of Today, Tomorrow."  Department of Defense News Features, March 2, 2016.

In one way, WASP training exceeded men's.  WASPs would be responsible for flying all types of US military airplanes; each became certified to fly several models. No woman had been certified to fly even a single American military aircraft before!

"The women were trained to fly every kind of airplane that the Army had. The men were generally trained on only one plane. They were trained to fight, and they did that very well. But we flew everything.  Once I flew ten different planes before I flew the same kind again. We just adapted. The Army liked the girls flying the fighter planes. We were small and fit in the cockpit better for the long flights. The men usually only flew short flights when fighting; but the ferrying flights were much longer. The fighter planes had a range of only about three hours for combat, but we ferried them in eight-hour stints.”

~ Ginny Hill Wood, WASP Class 43-W-4 (Alexander Dolitsky,  Allies in Wartime:  The Alaska-Siberia Airway During World War II.)

Unfortunately, discrimination persisted.  When WASPs were recruited to fly B-29's, it was publicized as an example showing that if women could fly them, it should be easy for men.

"[The idea] was that the men, seeing two girls fly the B-29, would have their male egos challenged and would cease complaining about the B-29."

~ Dora Dougherty Strother, WASP Class 43-W-3 (Barbara Ganson, Texas Takes Wing:  A Century of Flight in the Lone Star State.)

“[The two WASP pilots flying the B-29] are carrying some tests on engine heat, and what have you. Quite a big job for two delicate dishes of femininity. Perhaps they should take some of our supermen for a ride and show them how to get off the ground with speed dispatch at a low head temperature."

~ Harry Shilling, Air Corps Director of Maintenance in "Maintenance Bulletin No. 19," 1944 (American Experience, "Women Fly the B-29.")

Not all challenges were so benign.

“I was sent on a temporary basis from the Fifth Ferrying Group at Love Field to tow targets at Camp Davis, NC for anti-aircraft training.  On arrival we were told the planes were expendable and so were we.  Major Stephenson, base commander, left no question as to what he thought about women in the military, especially as pilots…advising us to go home and knit socks for the troops.”

~ Marion Hanrahan, WASP Class 43-W-3 (Gus Thomson, "Pioneer WWII Pilot Betty Wood's Fatal-Flight Mystery.")

“Well this one night—I really can’t tell you how it happened—but this major had a car and I took a ride with him.  He probably pressured me.  Anyhow, he drove out, way out, and he was so vulgar.  I mean I had to wrestle him.  Finally I got out of the car and started to walk back.”

~ Rita Webster, WASP Class 43-W-6 (Vera Williams, WASPs:  Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II.)

“The medical doctors would say, ‘We want you to be grounded during your period.’ Well, nobody would go report to him when their period was, so, of course, he couldn’t ground us.”

~ Lois Brooks, WASP Class 43-W-3 (Vera Williams, WASPs:  Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II.)

Some challenges were uncomfortable.​​​

"The problem of urinary relief in flight was managed, although never entirely successfully. The Aero-Medical Laboratory designed special flying suits for women for experimentation but the program ended before any general trial."

~ Jacqueline Cochran (Eisenhower Presidential Archives, “WASP Final Report, June 1, 1945.”)

Some were deadly.​​​

“Betty Taylor Wood died when she overshot a landing and as she tried to go around, the engine failed.  Her aircraft cartwheeled off the end of the runway.  Jackie [Cochran] was shaken to discover evidence of sabotage--traces of sugar in the gasoline tank of Wood's plane.  'Enough to stop an engine in no time at all,’ she said privately.”

~ Verges, Marianne.  On Silver Wings : The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, 1942-1944. Ballantine Books.  New York, New York. 1991.

“I had taken off, and apparently there were some bolts that had been removed and they were rolling back and forth in the plane.  I came down and cracked up on landing...They thought it was sabotage because base personnel found other items loose in the plane as well.”

~ Leona Golbinec, WASP Class 44-W-2 (Helena Schrader, Sisters in Arms:  The Women Who Flew in World War II.)

“There were a number of documented cases of sugar in the fuel tank; grass on one occasion.  Mechanics in particular knew how to cross fuel lines with coolant and hydraulic lines--and did.  Several accidents happened from just such acts and some were fatal.  Tires were slashed just enough to get off the ground, but blow on landing…I never heard of anyone being nailed for sabotage.  Time was too precious to waste on such small matters and WASPs were expendable.”

~ Vivian Fagan, WASP Class 44-W-7 (Vivian Fagan,  Zoot Suits and Parachutes.)

The women shared the airplanes with men, but also many risks.  38 WASPs lost their lives serving.

"These women have given their lives in the performance of arduous and exacting duties without being able to see and feel the final results of their work...We shall always keep and remember the brave heritage of the women who gave their lives.  It is the heritage of faith in victory and in the ultimate freedom of humanity."

~ Barton Yount, Commander USAAF Training Command (Wings Across America, "Address to the Final WASP Graduating Class, December 7, 1944.") 

"If we got killed in action our friends passed the hat to get enough money to send our personal effects home to the family. We couldn’t have a military internment; we didn’t get a flag for the coffin; and we got no burial expenses." 
~ Madge Rutherford Minton, WASP Class 43-W-4 (Molly Merryman,  Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II.)

Not every qualified woman was accepted.

"We had no black women in the WASPs. There were qualified black women, except Jacqueline Cochran told the women that she could not take them, because it was hard enough just being a woman in the service but if you’re black in the South...it just couldn’t be done."

~ Maggie Gee, WASP Class 44-W-9 (University of California, Berkeley Oral History Center, "Maggie Gee: Rosie the Riveter World War II American Homefront Oral History Project.")

"At the time we didn't even know any colored girls had applied, although we did wonder why there wasn't at least one who would be qualified.  I felt Jackie Cochran did a fairly good job in dealing with the issue, saying it would have been extremely hard on the girl herself. Of course, that still doesn't make it any better."

~ Violet Cowden, WASP Class 43-W-4 (Jeff Hardy, "Black Female Pilot Mildred Carter Was Frustrated in Her Effort to Serve in the Skies, but, in Tuskegee, She's Counted Among the Famed Airmen.")

Though African Americans were excluded, five women did break racial barriers as WASPs.

"Two Mexican-American women, two Chinese-American women, and one Native American woman from the Oglala Lakota tribe became WASPs."

~ Simons, Lisa M. B. The U.S. WASP: Trailblazing Women Pilots of World War II.  Capstone Press. North Mankota, MN. 2018.

"I just did what I was expected to do and tried to do it the best way I could. If I did accomplish anything or add anything to the war effort, I am happy now, and I was happy at the time."

~ Ola Mildred Rexroat, WASP Class 44-W-7, first Native American woman to fly for the USAAF (Nick Penzenstadler, "Last Surviving South Dakota WASP, 'Sexy Rexy,' Recalls World War II Service.")

“All we wanted to do is fly. That’s what made the organization so good, because everyone loved flying so much and they wanted to do it.  So we had this commonality and [were] very supportive of each other. That’s important. If you had a bad day, everyone knew about it and they sympathized. We helped each other. It was really nice. We bound together. We remained friends all our lives.”

~ Maggie Gee, WASP Class 44-W-9, one of two Asian American WASPs (University of California Berkeley, Oral History Center, "Maggie Gee: Rosie the Riveter World War II American Homefront Oral History Project.")

Through tragedy, and accomplishment, the WASPs kept flying.

"Dearest Sis,

I am enclosing a picture of our AT6. This is real FLYING. We call it our pin-up ship. 620 horsepower and a beauty. The difference between the BT and this AT6 is about the same as that between an Oklahoma work horse and a Blue Grass bred racer. This is a streamline baby. Handles like a dream.

Jacqueline Cochran was here this week. She told us that our class has been assigned to the Army Training Command. We have seventeen girls in training now at a four engine Flying Fortress school in Ohio; our class will go to Army Navigation, Bombardier, and Gunnery Schools; we will train to fly the cadets on their routine mission flights.

Doesn't that sound exciting? The future of this experiment depends wholly on us. What a responsibility. Oh, there is never a dull day at Avenger.

Love, Spook"

~ Adaline Alma Blank, WASP Class 43-W-8, letter home, November 2, 1943 (American Experience, "Letters and Articles Written by WASPS and WAFS.")

Then, after less than two years, it was over.

“In 1944, Congress started asking, “Why are we paying the girls when the guys are coming home?”

~ Ginny Hill Wood, WASP Class 43-W-4 (Alexander Dolitsky,  Allies in Wartime:  The Alaska-Siberia Airway During World War II.)

“They gave us three days’ notice, and it was, ‘Goodbye, girls.'”

~ Betty Blake, WASP Class 43-W-1 (Randy Roughton, "Betty 'Tack' Blake: Only surviving member of 1st WASP class.")

"We were dropped--out of the blue--with no benefits.  We were just told to leave--there was no 'we'll take you home' or anything.  We had to get home as we could."

~ Clarice Bergemann, WASP Class 44-W-2 (Molly Merryman,  Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II.)

Audio Credit:  National Women's History Museum

"I don't know.  It seems incredible that a person can have three so different emotions:  happiness, sorrow, pride.  I have all three of those today.  I'm very happy that we've trained a thousand women to fly the Army way.  I think it's going to mean more to aviation than anyone realizes.  I'm very happy that General Arnold and General Yount that made this possible, are here for the final phase of this wonderful program, this program that will go down in history, not only in history, but I'm sure it's going to do something that is so vital and has been so badly needed in aviation for so many years, and that is women's interest."

~ Jacqueline Cochran (Wings Across America, "Jacqueline Cochran Speech to the Last WASP Graduating Class.")

"My objectives in forming the WASPs were, as you all probably know, three: to see if women could serve as military pilots and if so could form the nucleus of an organization which could be rapidly expanded, to release male pilots for combat, to decrease the Air Forces' total demands on the cream of the manpower pool. 

Now in 1944 with two years behind us, since the first of the WASPs first started flying for the Air Forces, we can come to only one conclusion:  the entire operation has been a tremendous success."

~ Henry "Hap" Arnold, Commander USAAF, WWII ("Address by Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General to WASP Graduate Class, December 7, 1944.")

At midnight, December 20th, 1944, the WASP program officially ended. The WASPs returned to their homes.

"At a time when trained pilots were so much needed, these women who had prior training were able to speed up the delivery of much needed aircraft to the foreign theaters...The WASP pilots were unequalled in their ferrying missions...The WASPs are due much praise for the splendid efforts they have put forth in this gigantic global conflict.  Their deeds will live forever in the Air Corps Annals and will in future years be listed along with the other great pilots of this age."

~ "WASPS To End Long Service On December 20th." The Coolidge examiner.  Coolidge, AZ. December 15. 1944.