american female wwii pilots

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During World War II, a select group of young women pilots became pioneers, heroes, and role models... They were the Women Air Force Service Pilots, "WASP", the first women in history trained to fly American military aircraft.

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.

Betty Gillies posing beside her plane.

Celia Hunter in the cockpit of a P-47 fighter.

In 1944, during the graduation ceremony for the last WASP training class, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry 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.

Cornelia Fort posing with a PT-19 aircraft.

Jackie Cochran in the cockpit of a P-40 Warhawk fighter, 1943.

WASP pilot Deanie Parrish in front of her P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft.

Nancy Harkness Love posing in front of a PT-19A trainer aircraft, 1942-43.

A few more than 1,100 young women, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft — including the B-26 and B-29 bombers — as part of the WASP program.

They ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country. They tested newly overhauled planes. And they towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting — with live ammunition.

WASP pilot Catherine Vail Bridge standing in front of a P-38 - 1942

WASP pilot Elizabeth L. Gardner at the window of her B-26 Marauder bomber, circa 1942-1945.

Autographed copy of a posed photo of WAFS pilot Florene Watson with an AT-6 Texan, at Love Field, Dallas, Texas, Feb 1943.

WASP cadets Leonora Anderson and Mildred Axton show off the oversized and ill-fitting jump suits provided to the WASP program, May 1943..

Pilot Nancy Harkness Love in the cockpit of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber 'Queen Bee', circa Sep 1943.

Pilot Dawn Seymour at the controls of a B-17 Fortress, circa 1944.

Pilot Ellen Wimberly Campbell, at the controls of a Beech AT-10 Wichita trainer, 1944. Location uncertain but likely Columbus Army Air Field, Columbus, Mississippi, United States.

Pilot Nancy Nesbit seated in the cockpit of an AT-6 Texan at Love Field, Dallas, Texas, 1944.

Pilot Ruth Dailey climbing into a P-38 Lightning aircraft, 1944.

WASP pilot Susie Winston Bain, Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, May 1944.

Pilot Lillian Yonally seated in the cockpit of an A-25A Shrike at Camp Irwin airstrip, California, 1944.

Pilot Margaret Phelan Taylor, Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, June 1944..

Four pilots returning from their mission 1944.

Pilot Anne Armstrong McClellan showing off the WASP dress white uniform blouse and pin showing the WASP mascot, Fifinella (designed by Walt Disney and used by the WASPs with permission), 1944.

Pilot Dorothy Olsen on the wing of a P-38L Lightning, 1945.

Pilot Vivian Eddy in the door of a P-39 Airacobra, 1945.

Betty Blake was a Women’s Air Force Service pilot during World War II and a graduate of the first graduating class in 1943.