[Clipping: 'Our Daring Young Women': WWII role models guide women pilots] Page: 1 of 6
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AIR FORCE
'Our DaringYoung Women'
WWII role models guide women pilots7 he war year 1944 marked an end of
an era for a group of fliers serving
the Army Air Force. While the global
conflict was to last another year, some
of the surest and most steadfast pilots
around found that the war now had
passed them by.
Those years were ones of remark-
able achievement for the Women Air-
force Service Pilots-WASPs-who
swapped tales during their biennial
reunion in September at San Diego,
Calif. But more than for war stories,
they met to celebrate the 40th an-
niversary of their contribution to win-
ning World War II.
The WASPs were the first women
military pilots who served the Army Air
Fcrce in 1942 through 1944 during
W orld ar I, fy ing m iss i ons w i th in
the continental United States, freeing
male pilots for combat duty overseas-.
They flew more than 60 million miles
24 Thce fffuvar Micumher 1O0AJacqueline Cochran, Director of the W ASPs, and Gen.
Henty "Hap" Arnold, UISA AF, Commanding General,
Army Air Forces, were among those attending the final
graduation at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, on
7 December 1944.in 78 different types of military aircraft.
That was nearly every model in the
Army Air Force's inventory at the time
-trainers, utility aircraft, pursuits
(fighters), transports, bombers, from
the smallest to the largest, including
the B-29 Superfortress. All women
pilot crews on multi-engine aircraft
were not uncommon.
WASPs ferried thousands of new air-
craft from factories to points of em-
barkation for the battlefront-and
combat-weary planes to repair depots.
They towed target sleeves behind their
aircraft so that ground troops could
practice firing live ammunition at a
moving target. Other missions includ-
ed: tracking and search-light missions,
chem ical and smoke l ay ing, rad io-con-
trolled flying, basic and instrument in-
struction, engineering testing, admin-
istrative and utility flying.I
~'? 1' i
~ ~\\~AX
Pilot Jane ~ ~ ~ aw job of ferrying a pursuit ship while EIiLabern L baranet te~aiea tar raicti art rron~ Lne rieta at Ilarlingen Texas
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Watson, Liz. [Clipping: 'Our Daring Young Women': WWII role models guide women pilots], article, November 1984; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1076019/m1/1/?q=%221984~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.