Women's Air Service Pilots During World War II

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Legend has it that these heroines were said to fly some of World War II’s most dangerous missions, which many men said that they would not have flown themselves. The WASP’s were full of courage and determination to leave an impact on American history. Women Air Service Pilots are not always granted with the succession and honor they deserve, but what most Americans do not know is that they are some of the most influential women during America’s time served in World War II. It was a peaceful morning in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The sunrise was beautiful as usual in the quiet paradise many people called home – that was until 7:48 that morning. A squadron of Japanese pilots began dropping bombs on the U.S. Navy’s warships and their runways, …show more content…
Its job was to “enlist already-qualified women pilots to transport training aircraft from factories to training bases” (Women’s Air Service Pilots). The leader of the WAFS was Nancy Harkness Love. To be accepted in this prestigious flying program, you had to go through a grueling six months of ground school and flight training. At the same time, General Arnold was also forming the Women’s Flying Training Detachment, which was lead by Jackie Cochran. The job of the Women’s Flying Training Detachment was to put women who wanted to fly for the Ferrying Division through an intense training to increase the number of women allowed to become pilots. In the first few beginning weeks of the WFTD organization, it required women to have a private pilot license and a minimum of two hundred hours of flight time to even be considered into the program. Later on, it began to accept women who did not even occupy a pilot license or any flying time. On July 5th of 1943, General Henry Arnold made Jackie Cochran the head of all the women pilots and made Nancy Harkness Love, Cochran’s executive director for all women pilots. Exactly a month later on August 5, 1943, the two air service groups met and formed into a single unit for all of the women pilots to take part in. This newly formed group, known as the WASPs, helped all women to become qualified as a pilot in WWII for every type of aircraft in the war (Women’s Air …show more content…
It was becoming strongly debated if female pilots were needed anymore. Programs began shutting down, along with training camps where females first endured their love for the WASP program. It has been said that all the WASP records were sealed and stamped and stored away from the public and all historians who would write about World War II, until around thirty years later in the late 1970’s when they were finally released. In the following years, there were more awards given to former WASPs and the program as a whole. In 1979, female pilots received discharge certificates from the WASP organization. In the year of 1984, all the women who served as a Women Air Service Pilot, were awarded with World War II Victory Medals. All of the female pilots saw this as one of their greatest accomplishments because they felt like they truly did help contribute to America’s victory in World War II. In 2009, United States President Barack Obama signed into law a Senate bill that would award all surviving WASPs, along with currently serving female pilots, the Congressional Gold
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