Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

(USAF Photo)

U.S. Army Air Corps/Air Force WASP badge Courtesy U.S. Air Force.

(USAF Photo)

Florene Watson shown preparing a North American P-51D-5-NA Mustang for a ferry flight from a factory at Inglewood, California.

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women’s Army Service Pilots or Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilots was a civilian women pilots’ organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became trained pilots who tested aircraft, ferried aircraft and trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during the Second World War. Despite various members of the armed forces being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing.

WASP was preceded by the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Both were organized separately in September 1942. They were pioneering organizations of civilian women pilots, who were attached to the United States Army Air Forces to fly military aircraft during the Second World War. On 5 August 1943, the WFTD and WAFS merged to create the WASP organization.

The WASP arrangement with the US Army Air Forces ended on 20 December 1944. During its period of operation, each member’s service had freed a male pilot for military combat or other duties. They flew over 60 million miles; transported every type of military aircraft; towed targets for live anti-aircraft gun practice; simulated strafing missions and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASP members died during these duties and one, Gertrude Tompkins, disappeared while on a ferry mission, her fate still unknown. In 1977, for their Second World War service, the members were granted veteran status, and in 2009 awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. (Wikipedia)

(USAAF Photo)

Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leaving their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, “Pistol Packin’ Mama”, at the four-engine school at Lockbourne Army Airfield, Ohio, in 1944.

These four female pilots leaving their ship at the four engine school at Lockbourne are members of a group of WASPS who have been trained to ferry the B-17 Flying Fortresses.  Qualified pilots were in short supply in the USA in 1942, and many were needed to ferry newly built trainer aircraft to the flight schools in the South in order to train more of them.  28 experienced civilian women pilots volunteered to make those ferry flights from the factories to the training schools, forming the first female squadron in America late in the summer of 1942. Between November 1942 and December 1944, 1,074 more women were trained to fly for the squadron, first in Houston and later at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.

((USAAF Photo)

Jacqueline Cochran chatting with a WASP jeep driver.

Two programs were founded by Nancy Love and Jacqueline Cochran, the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment.  These programs later morphed into the Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program.  All aircraft operated by the USAAF were flown by WASPs.  In addition to ferrying, they towed gunnery targets, transported equipment and non-flying personnel, and flight-tested aircraft that had been repaired before the men were allowed to fly them again.  For over two years, the WASPs went on to perform a wide variety of aviation-related jobs and to serve at more than 120 bases around the country.  These 1,102 WASPs flew wingtip to wingtip with their male counterparts and were just as vital to the war effort.  Their story is commemorated in the National WASP World War II Museum.

(USAAF Photo)

Nancy Love in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

(Texas Woman’s University Women Airforce Service Pilots, Official Archive Photo)

Nancy Harkness Love in WASP uniform. The shoulder insignia are those of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron.

Nancy Harkness Love is known for becoming the first woman to be certified to fly the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as well as the Douglas C-54 Skymaster, North American B-25 Mitchell, and several other military aircraft.  By June 1943, as Director of of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS) Love was commanding four different squadrons of WAFS at Love Field,Texas; New Castle, Del.; Romulus, Mich., and Long Beach, California. The WAFS merged with the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) on 5 August 1943, creating the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and Love was placed in charge of all ferrying operations. In total, she was certified to fly 19 military aircraft.  Love continued to work on reports detailing the work of the Air Transport Command after the WASPs were disbanded in 1944.  After the creation of the United States Air Force, Love was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1948.

(USAAF Photo)

Jacqueline Cochrane in the cockpit of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk during the Second World War.  She was a pioneer in the field of American aviation and considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation.  She was an important contributor to the formation of the wartime Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and the WASPs.

(National Archives, Washington, DC Photo)

WAFS with North American P-51. Applicants to the WAFS were required to have 500 hours of airtime, a commercial license, two recommendation letters, be between 21–35 years old, a US citizen, and have a high school diploma. 28 women were admitted to the program between September and December 1943.

(USAAF Photo)

Four WASPs with a North American AT-6 Texan.

(National Archives, Washington, DC Photo)

WASP pilots were used to ferry planes like this P-51 Mustang fighter from one base to another.

(National Archives, Washington, DC Photo)

‍In addition to flying planes the WASP pilots had to know basic maintenance. This WASP checks the engine of a Curtiss A-25A at Camp Davis, North Carolina.

(National WASP WWII Museum, Sweetwater, Texas Photo)

WASP assigned to Camp Davis in front of Beechcraft AT-11.

(USAAF Photo)

Three WASPs with a Beachcraft AT-11.

(USAAF Photo)

Four WASPs in dress uniforms, with a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber.

(USAF Photo)

Harlingen Army Air Field, Texas, Elizabeth L. Remba Gardner of Rockford, Illinois, WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots), Class: 43-W-6, takes a look around before sending her plane streaking down the runway at the Harlingen Army Airfield, Texas, ca. 1930–1975. Note: Almost certainly this dates from 1942–1944, part of project of having women pilots move aircraft on the home front to free up more male pilots for combat duty. 1943.

(USAF Photo)

Wilda Winfield (WASP Class 44-W-8) in flight in a Vultee BT-13 Valiant from Frederick AAF, Frederick, Oklahoma on a photographic mission. 1942.

(USAAF Photo)

Martin B-26 Marauder standing in the background with four members of the United States Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) receive final instructions as they chart a cross-country course on the flight line of U.S. airport. Assigned to the ferrying division of the United States Army Air Transport Command, the women pilots belong to the first class of American women to complete a rigorous nine-week transitional flight training course in handling B-26 Marauder medium bombers. They have been given special assignments with the U.S. Army Air Forces as tow target pilots.

(USAAF Photo)

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) on the flightline with Martin B-25 Marauders, at Laredo Army Air Field, Texas, 22 January 1944. WASPs ferried aircraft from the manufacturers’ factories to military bases, towed targets, and flew airplanes for training bombardiers and navigators. More than 100 of the women, on graduation, were sent directly to a nine-week transition training course on the Martin B-26 Marauder twin-engine medium bomber, an airplane with a reputation of being difficult to fly.

(USAF Photo)

The Civilian Pilot Training Program created opportunities for women to fly. These Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, got their first aeronautical training through the CPTP. For example, Dr. Dora Dougherty Strother (top) flew a wide variety of missions during the Second World War, including reliability tests of the B-29 Superfortress bomber. She went on to a long career in flying and aircraft engineering, and set women’s records flying rotorcraft.

Two WASP, Dorthea Johnson and Dora Dougherty, were chosen by General Hap Arnold to fly the newly arrived B-29 Superfortress in a demonstration for future male pilots. The male pilots didn’t want to fly this airplane due to engine concerns, and the WASP was meant to show that “if a woman can do it, so can a man.” They flew the B-29 successfully several times.

(USAF Photo)

Helen A. Snapp pilots a Curtiss A-25A Shrike on a tow mission near Camp Stewart, Georgia, 1 June 1944.

(USAF Photo)

WASP pilots with an RAF Stinson Reliant, 1943.

(USAF Photo)

WASP trainees and their instructor pilot. 1944.

(USAF Photo)

Avenger Field – WASP Trainee poses with a Vultee BT-13 Valiant, 1943.

(USAF Photo)

Avenger Field – WASP Pilot, Co-Pilot and Observer with a Cessna AT-17 Bobcat, 1943.

(WASP Museum Photo)

Dorothy Britt (later Mann) was one of only 1,100 women who trained as pilots with the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

(USAF Photo)

Women Airforce Service Pilot Ruth Daley boards an Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter, 1943.

 

(USGOV-PD Photo)

Turner Army Airfield. These four women, members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), were assigned as engineering test pilots, testing new aircraft and modifications. The airplane behind them is a North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber. From left to right, Dorothy Dodd Eppstein, Hellen Skjersaa Hansen, Doris Burmeister Nathan, and Elizabeth V. Chadwick Dressler.

(USAF Photo)

The plane selected for the demonstration tour was appropriately named “Ladybird“, USAAF (Serial No. 42-6453). Just prior to departure for the tour on 27 June 1944, the crew posed for the Eglin Field Base photographer. Crew members, left to right: Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, D. D. Moorman, Dora Dougherty, Cpl. Raymond Gallagher, Sgt. Don Duzenbury, S/Sgt. Floyd A. Lemly, Sgt. Wade H. Wolfe, Sgt. Henry Ellis.

(National Archives and Records Administration Photo, 4A-23096-K1210)

Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Cochrane, Director, Women Airforce Service Pilots. Cochran had previously served as a Flight Captain with the Royal Air Force Air Transport Auxiliary. After a period of six months, she had returned to the United States at the request of General Arnold, where she served on his staff. In June 1942, she became the first first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean when she ferried a Lockheed Hudson from Canada to Scotland.

Under Jacqueline Cochran, a training program for women pilots was approved on 15 September 1942, as the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). The 23-week training program begun at Houston 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. 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). Their training emphasized cross country flying with less emphasis on acrobatics and with no gunnery or close formation flight training. Johnson and Strother were the only two women to fly the B-29, trained by Tibbets.

(USGOV-PD Photo)

Eight WASPs gather on the ramp at Waco Field, Texas, for a final group picture before the WASPs were disbanded on 20 December 1944.

National WASP World War II Museum

In early 1943, as the Second World War raged on, several different plans to utilize female aviators to help perform pilot duties (everything except combat) were consolidated at Avenger Field in Sweetwater. Known as the WASP (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots), the program introduced something the country had never seen before – women flying military planes. The WASPs ferried aircraft, towed gunnery targets, transported equipment and personnel, and flight-tested aircraft that had been repaired.

Heritage travelers can learn all about this highly successful program at the National WASP World War II Museum, housed in Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Inside you’ll find photos of WASP trainees, life-sized cutouts of the leaders of the program, and information exploring the seventy-seven different types of aircraft flown by the WASPs (every aircraft in the Army’s arsenal). Meet Fifinella, a female fremlin designed by Walt Disney for a proposed film from Roald Dahl’s book “The Gremlins”. During World War II, the WASP asked permission to use the image as their official mascot, and the Disney Company granted them the rights

The museum opened on May 28, 2005, the same day the first class of WASPs graduated 62 years later. Look for the WASP wings, designed especially for the WASPs with its center diamond symbolizing the shield of Athena, Greek goddess of war. At war’s end, all WASP records were classified and sealed, a policy that lasted for the next 35 years. The women who served finally received full military status in 1977 with legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter. In 2010 President Barrack Obama awarded the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal, providing final recognition to all the women in the program who took to the skies to serve.

The museum underwent an extensive renovation and expansion during 2020, and reopened in 2021 with a new Welcome Center and Gift shop, a temperature and humidity-controlled archival vault and suite, a fully stocked Catering room, state of the art Conference Room, and a beautiful Exhibit Gallery.

(Eric Friedebach Photo)

Boeing PT-17 Kaydet (Serial No.) 506

Cessna UC-78B Bobcat (Serial No.)

Fairchild PT-19A Cornell (Serial No.)

Grumman F9F Panther (BuNo.)

(WASP Museum Photo)

North American AT-6D Texan (Serial No. 41-34166), Reg. No. N14166.

(Moreno Aguiari Photo)

Vultee BT-13A Valiant (Serial No.).

(NMUSAF Photo)

WASP with a North American AT-6 Texan.

(NMUSAF Photo)

WASP with a North American AT-6 Texan.

(NMUSAF Photo)

WASPs with a North American B-25 Mitchell.

WASP Facts:

In 1942, Nancy Harkness Love created the Women Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and Jacqueline Cochran the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD).

The WASP formed in August 1943 when the WAFS and WFTD programs merged.

The WASP logged more than 60 million miles and flew every plane the Army Air Forces possessed and every type of mission a male pilot flew during WWII except combat.

WASP delivered 12,650 aircraft representing 78 different types to bases throughout the nation.

Nearly 40 WASPs died in service during the Second World War.

After an attempt to change the WASP status from civilian to military in March 1944 a militarization bill was defeated in Congress in June and by December the program was officially deactivated.

The WASP would eventually win their militarization and veterans status in 1977 and would go on to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.

Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron

(Photo courtesy of Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University)

(Mrs. Nancy Harkness Love, founder of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron.

The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), never numbering more than 28, was created in September 1942 within the Air Transport Command, under Nancy Harkness Love’s leadership. WAFS were recruited from among commercially licensed women pilots with at least 500 hours flying time and a 200-hp rating. (Women who joined the WAFS actually averaged about 1,100 hours of flying experience.) Their original mission was to ferry USAAF trainers and light aircraft from the factories, but later they were delivering fighters, bombers and transports as well.

Women’s Flying Training Detachment

The Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) was a pioneering Second World War civilian program established by pilot Jacqueline Cochran. Approved in 1942, it trained women to fly military aircraft to free up male pilots for combat duties. In 1943, it merged with the Women Airforce Ferrying Squadron (formerly the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

While on a trip to England, Jacqueline Cochran observed that an organization had been founded for English women pilots to do jobs for male pilots, such as plane ferrying. Being quite interested, she contacted General Henry H. Arnold suggesting that a similar organization be founded in the United States. He approved on 15 Sep 1942, and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment was born. Around the same time, some other women pilots, such as Nancy Harkness Love, were also founding similar organizations in which female pilots replaced male pilots in order that the men could be moved to more important duties.

Initially, the training in Houston, Texas, lasted 23 weeks and included 115 hours of flying time. However, not long after, the program moved to Sweetwater, Texas and the training increased to 210 hours flying time and became 30 weeks long. To be accepted, trainees were required to be between 21 and 35 years of age and had to have at least 200 hours flying time before entering. This later dropped to 18 years of age minimum and at least 35 hrs. flying experience. The training consisted of mostly cross-country flying with no gunnery.