[Clipping: Senate] Part: 3 of 6
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III WHAT DID THE WASP DO?
To satisfy the national need, 1,102 WASP
were assigned to operational duties. This in-
cludes 1.074 WASP, who graduated from
shining, and an additional 28 WAFS, who
tered upon operational duties without
king the training course.
These womcn performed every kind of
lng operation possible within .he Contin-
tal United States and Canada. They were
ed i the Air Transport Command where
.ey flet 77 types of airplanes from the
stories to the modification centers, to the
-pots, and to other destinations within the
_e United States. They were used to tow'
rgets for ground troops to shoot at and
or airplanes to shoot at. They were used
,n the weather wing as utility pilots. They
did tracking and searchlight missions, sim-
ulated strafing smoke-laying, radio control
flying, basic and instrument instruction, and..
engineering test flying.
The WASP flew, subsequent to graduation
from training, sixty million miles for the
Army Air Forces, or about 2,500 times around
the earth at the equator. This service in-
cluded 30,000 hours in the multi-engined
B-26 and B-29 Super Fortress.
Iv HOW WELL DID THE WASP DO?The WASP. according to the overwhelming
opinion of station commanders where they
were on duty, were as efficient and effective
as male pilots in most types of duties and
were better than men in some instances, such
as towing targets for gunnery practice.
According to official Air Corps medical
studies, the women pilots had equally as
much endurance and stamina as male pilots
did. In fact, the cases of flying fatigue were
so outstandingly low and so far below the
rate among men pilots, that many men re-
fused to believe it. But the truth is many of
thet WASP flew as much as 70 hours per
month, with no complaints except they
wanted totly more.
Official records of the Statistical Control
Division of the Air Training Command show
that in July of 1943, the average number
of ferrying hours for each woman was 52.
Male pilots were averaging only 35 hours a
month in the same time period.
Of 1.830 women who were accepted for
pilot training, two-thirds passed the pro-
gram. The elimination rate for women was
lower than among male cadet pilots.
For the entire WASP program, the all-ac-
cident rate was slightly above the male all-
accident rate during the same years. But ac-
cident rates are always higher in the early
stages of any flying program. The develop-
ment stages for the training of male pilots
had already been completed. If we compare
the development months of the male pro-
gram with the comparable period of the
WASP program, the all-accident rate for
women was lower than the rate for men in
domestic flying.
Of all airplane accidents during the life
of the WASP program, 9% of the total were
fatal. Among male flyers during the same
period, 11 . of all domestic accidents were
fatal.
V. WERE THE wASP SUBJEcTED TO
ttscRIMINATION?
Now I do not want to overdo this aspect,
but it is a fact that these girls did bear extra
burdens simply because they were women.
The very reason they were not militarized
was their sex. The law allowed the Air Corps
to commission men as flight officers, but not
women.
On January 11, 1944, the Deputy Chief of
Air Staff asked the Assistant Chief for Per-
sonnel to look into the legality of commis-S
o
P
p
C
t
Cioniiig women pilots directly into the Army
n the basis of their qualifications as service
pilots. On January 13, 1944, the official reply
was given. It was negative. A decision of the
Comptroller General stated that the au-
hority extended only to men and could "not
be regarde as authority for commissioning
women as officers in the Army of the United
States."
Now, if you ask me why these ladies are en-
titled to veterans benefits, while some other
civilian groups are not, there is one reason.
Women could not be commissioned as pilots
because they were women. It is unfair for
their country to continue to punish these
women by blocking veterans benefits for
them when the only reason they were not
taken into the service at the time was their
sex.
This Is not the only instance of sex dis-
crimination against the WASP. In October of
1943, an investigation was made by the Air
inspector of complaints that discrimination
was occurring against the WASP at various
ferrying bases in an attempt to discredit
the women pilot training program. The Air
Inspector's report dated November 22, 1943,
concluded that women pilots at the Second
and Fifth Ferrying Groups were being dis-
criminated against. His report found that
the attitude and method used by male pilots
in the conduct of flight checks were "ob-
structive and unfair." The Inspector deter-
mined that some check pilots were resent-
ful of the women's pilot program and tended
to favor the elimination of the WASPs.
There are other documented reports that
women pilots were frequently confronted by
hostility from some male pilots and com-
manding officers, and it is much to their
credit that the women achieved an outstand-
ing record in the face of difficulties which
only .they, as women, encountered.
vt. DID THE WASP EXPECT TO BE
MILITARIZED?
One of the distinctive features of the
WASP which separates them from all other
civilian groups who served with, but not in,
the Armecd Forces during World War II, is
the fact that they were scheduled for mili-
tarization from the start.
The official Army Air Forces historical
study of the WASP, entitled "Women Pilots
with the AAF, 1941-1944," states that "the
AAF early recognized the advantages of
specific legislative authority for the WASP
program and sought for many months to
obtain Congressional approval of military
status for women pilots... ."
The same study reports: "From the first
stages of the program, [the AAF] had been
planning for the day when the WASPs could
discard their civilian status and emerge as
full-fledged members of the Army of the
United States."
Official records show that soon after the
women pilot program was activated, the
plans for militarization were underway. On
December 3, 1942, only three months after
recruitment of WASPs began, Major General
George Stratemeyer, Chief of Air Staff, held
a conference at which he instructed the Di-
rector of Individual Training to prepare a
plan for Training women pilots under which
they would be brought into the military
service. In addition to these parties, the con-
ference was attended by Brigadier General
Harold George, Commanding General of the
Ferrying Command: Lieutenant General B.
K. Yount, Commanding General of the AAF
Training Command: and Miss Jacqueline
Cochran.
Air Corps files also.disclose that in early
1943, General Arnold sent to Brigadier Gen-
eral M. G. White, The Assistant Chief of
Staff, G-1, a draft of a memorandum ad-
dressed to General Marshall requesting that
legislation be initiated to militarize women
pilots and to incorporate them into the Army
Air Forces.Page 2
4
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[Clipping: Senate], clipping, May 25, 1977; Washington, D. C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1075428/m1/3/?q=%22~1~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.