Lillian's Story : In Color (WWII WASP)

[GatorFC]

A Contraband Camera: Photos Of World War II WASP

It's hard not to want to ask a million questions as you look through Lillian Yonally's World War II-era color photos of American female pilots in uniform. Female pilots in World War II? Flying bombers? In color? What was their story?...

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More from NPR here:
Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls

In 1942, the United States was faced with a severe shortage of pilots, and leaders gambled on an experimental program to help fill the void: Train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas.

The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots — WASP for short. In 1944, during the graduation ceremony for the last WASP training class, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry "Hap" Arnold, said that when the program started, he wasn't sure "whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather."

"Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men," Arnold said.

 

[Sled14]

Pretty cool, the examiner for my private checkride was a Wasp, class 44-7. Shes somewhere in her 90's, I believe 93 and still doing checkrides. She was telling me she landed on a carrier and because women weren't allowed on carriers she had to stay in the plane until they took off.

 

[Firebird2XC]

In the Dallas Morning News:

Apparently there have been a few articles over the last few days.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...DN-wasp_11nat.ART.State.Edition1.4c07c20.html

 

[CDNPilotDave]

Yesterday on the flight from Ronald Reagan National to Denver there was one of the recipients and families of two others that had won Congressional Medals for being WWII WASPS. The captain made a point of coming out of the cockpit and introducing them and creating a photo op. The one recipient flew P-51 Mustangs. That was some history.

 

[Firebird2XC]

Yesterday on the flight from Ronald Reagan National to Denver there was one of the recipients and families of two others that had won Congressional Medals for being WWII WASPS. The captain made a point of coming out of the cockpit and introducing them and creating a photo op. The one recipient flew P-51 Mustangs. That was some history.

I met a female Mercury astronaut once.

Whut? You thought they were just 7 men? Wrong. Apparently there were 11 women also qualified- but they were sidelined by the politics of gender issues.