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Posted on 03/21/2004 4:47:04 AM PST by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 Women Airforce Service Pilots As early as 1930, the War Department had considered using women pilots but the Chief of the Air Corps had called the idea "utterly unfeasible", stating that women were too "high strung." Famed woman aviator Jacqueline Cochran in 1939 wrote Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of the President) to suggest women pilots could be used in a national emergency. Aviatrix Mrs. Nancy Harkness Love in 1940 made a similar proposal to the Air Corps' Ferry Command. Nothing was done until after American entry into World War II. Facing the need for male combat pilots, the situation by mid-1943 favored the use of experienced women pilots to fly Army Air Forces (AAF) aircraft within the United States. Two women's aviator units were formed to ease this need and more than 1,000 women participated in these programs as civilians attached to the AAF. These were merged into a single group, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program in August 1943 and broke ground for USAF female pilots who would follow in their footsteps.  Just before the outbreak of World War II, Royal Air Force (RAF) Commander Gerard D'Erlanger organized a pool of experienced male pilots who were not eligible for the RAF, and placed this organization, the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), at the disposal of the British government. In the winter of 1940, nine women pilots were accepted by the ATA. At this time there were no accommodations for women at British bases and the women were restricted to ferrying Tiger Moths, small open cockpit planes. The ATA girls gradually advanced to larger planes, although they were forbidden to ferry operational types until June 1941, when eight of them were allowed to ferry Hurricanes and Spitfires. At the beginning of 1942, the ATA girls were allowed to ferry Blenheim and Wellington twin-engine bombers and by the summer of 1943 the last restriction was removed from them and they were allowed to fly the heavy four-engine bombers. By July 1943, they were flying any one of the 120 different types ferried by the ATA. At the opening of October 1942, it appears that only 16% of the ATA total strength was female, but by the summer of 1943 this percentage rose to 25%. Ferrying planes short distances, the ATA girls were able to pile up an impressive record of deliveries. According to Sir Stafford Cripps, they had delivered 100,000 airplanes by September 1942. To generate publicity for the ATA in North America, Jackie Cochran ferried a Hudson Bomber to Britain beginning on June 17, 1941. Although she was not allowed to take off and land, she flew the aircraft for most of the flight.  Jackie Cochran recruited all but six American women who flew for the ATA. Mary Nicholson, who served as an assistant to Cochran before joining the ATA, was the only American woman killed while serving as an ATA-girl. On May 22, 1943, while flying a Master 2 trainer, the propeller mechanism fails and the propeller breaks completely off the plane. The weather was overcast and she was killed when her plane crashed into a stone barn. Some ATA-girls, including Myrtle Allen, Emily Chapin, and Helen Richey, completed their contracts and returned to the United States to join the WASPs. One of the original WAFS, Aline Rhonie, joined the ATA after resigning from the WAFS program.  The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), never numbering more than 28, was created in September 1942 within the Air Transport Command, under Mrs. Love's leadership. WAFS were recruited from among commercially licensed women pilots with at least 500 hours flying time and a 200-horsepower rating. (Women who joined the WAFS actually averaged about 1,100 hours of flying experience.) Their original mission was to ferry Army Air Force (AAF) trainers and light aircraft from the factories, but later they were delivering fighters, bombers, and transports as well.  The WAFS recruited only the most experienced women pilots and was never intended to be a large organization. However, a training program for women pilots, under Jacqueline Cochran's direction, was approved on September 15, 1942 as the 319th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment (Women) or more simply Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). The 23 week training program begun at Howard Hughes Field, Houston, Texas, included 115 hours of flying time.  Training soon moved to Avenger Field at Sweetwater, Texas, and increased to 30 weeks with 210 hours of flying. The 318th AAF Flying Training Detachment (Women) was activated at Avenger Field which was chosen to provide enough space for the rapidly expanding WFTD program. The Army estimated that more than 700 women pilots would be needed in 1943 and another 1000 in 1944. The first WFTD class (43-W-1) of 29 women began training on 12 November 1942. Twenty three women from the first class graduated at the end of April, 1943. Trainees were between 21 (later dropped to 18) and 35 years old, and already had at least 200 hours pilot experience (later reduced to 35 hours), but were taught to fly military aircraft the Army Air Force (AAF) way. Their training emphasized cross country flying with less emphasis on acrobatics and with no gunnery or close formation flight training.  In August 1943, all women pilots flying for the Army Air Force (AAF) were consolidated into the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program with Jacqueline Cochran as AAF Director for Women Pilots. Mrs. Love was named as the WASP executive on the Air Transport Command's Ferrying Division staff. More than 25,000 women applied for pilot training under the WASP program. Of these, 1,830 were accepted, 1,074 graduated and 900 remained at program's end, plus 16 former WAFS. WASP assignments after graduation were diverse - as flight training instructors, glider tow pilots, towing targets for air-to-air and anti-aircraft gunnery practice, engineering test flying, ferrying aircraft, and other duties.  Women pilots sometimes encountered resentment from males. For example, the only WASP in a P-47 class of 36 males was considered an intruder - until she became the fourth in the group to solo in the huge fighter. WASPs later routinely ferried P-47s from the factory. WASPs made demonstration flights in the "hot" B-26 Marauder and the new B-29 Superfortress, challenging male egos and showing that these aircraft weren't as difficult to fly as some men felt them to be.  Ann Baumgartner was the first woman to fly an AAF jet when at Wright Field she flew the Bell YP-59A twin jet fighter. WASPs flew virtually every type of aircraft from light trainers to heavy four-engine bombers. They flew about 60 million miles or 2,500 times around the world at the Equator, with 38 deaths. Before and after graduation, their accident rate was comparable to that for male pilots doing similar jobs.        |
Thanks tomball, what a wonderful compliment. Snippy and I really appreciate it. I can just imagine the big grin on her face and I knoiw I just stood up a little taller.
Steven Spielberg was discussing his new project - an action docudrama about famous composers starring top movie stars. Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagall, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were all present. Spielberg strongly desired the box office 'oomph' of these superstars, so he was prepared to allow them to select whatever composers they would portray, as long as they were very famous.
"Well," started Stallone, "I've always admired Mozart. I would love to play him."
"Chopin has always been my favorite, and my image would improve if people saw me playing the piano" said Willis. "I'll play him."
"I've always been partial to Strauss and his waltzes," said Seagall. "I'd like to play him."
Spielberg was very pleased with these choices. "Sounds splendid." Then, looking at Schwarzenegger, he asked, "Who do you want to be, Arnold?"
So Arnold says, "I'll be Bach."
What did you do that you're buttering up the teachers?
Uh Huh! Now I know what you were up to.
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