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History tours: Third Reich, WW2WW2 category: Female Pilots of WWII :: Latest WWII news reviews. See also Hanna Reitsch, 'Flying Aces & Pilots', 'Scale Models', 'WWII and Women', 'Amelia Earhart'.
The only WASP pilot with camera - Slideshow of colour photographs of WWII female pilots npr.org :: 2010-03-11 :: WW2 Photos, Pictures
It's hard not to want to ask questions as you browse Lillian Yonally's World War II-era color photos of American female pilots in uniform. Female pilots in World War II? In color? What was their story? Yonally was one of the young women in the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a military program that trained civilian volunteers to fly planes so men could be sent to overseas for combat duty. Yonally shot the photos from 1943-1944 at Avenger Field where she trained, and Camp Irwin in California, where she would tow targets so gunners on the ground could practice shooting with live ammunition.
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to receive the Congressional Gold Medal (photos, video) latimes.com :: 2010-03-09 :: Female Pilots of WWII
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program was formed to fill a pilot shortage. 25,000 women applied, almost 1,100 completed training, and 38 perished in duty. This little-known group of female pilots did everything the men did except flew in combat. They flew test planes, delivered supplies and piloted every aircraft the U.S. Air Force had. In 1977 Congress granted them veteran status, and now they receive Congressional Gold Medal. WASP pilot Carol Brinton Selfridge's memories include everything from the difficulty of finding a uniform for a 6-foot-tall to soloing in a rare snowstorm.
Night Witches - Russian female combat pilots of 46th Night Bombers Guards Regiment bbc.co.uk :: 2009-11-03
One spring day in 1943 junior lieutenants Tamara Pamyatnykh and Raisa Surnachevskaya were on a patrol flight when they saw 42 German bombers. The women fired on the Junkers formation, both downing 2 planes. Tamara ran out of ammo and planned to ram another bomber with her airplane, but her wing was shot off. She bailed out, landing in a field. Civilians rushed over to help: "They undid the parachute straps and offered me a glass of vodka, which I refused. Nobody couldn't understand why the brave lad who had taken on a Nazi squadron wouldn't drink vodka." Then Tamara took off her helmet and the amazed crowd saw that the dashing aviator was a woman.
The only sisters to fly Spitfires in World War II are reunited with the aircraft dailymail.co.uk :: 2009-10-13 :: Supermarine Spitfire
Even away from the cockpit, the girls of the World War Two Air Transport Auxiliary turned heads. In their hastily adapted military uniforms (one had her jacket tailored in Savile Row) they became the darlings of the air – and the unknown heroines of the Battle of Britain. This was the forgotten army of women who delivered Spitfires for service in the front lines. It was a work that suited the Attagirls. Recently the only two sisters to fly Spitfires during the war recalled those exciting days – after reuniting with one of the aircraft that gave them "such a thrill".
Search begins for last lost World War II female WASP pilot Gertrude Tomkins Silver abcnews.go.com :: 2009-10-10 :: Female Pilots of WWII
The fog appeared in from Santa Monica Bay on Oct. 26, 1944, only 3 hours before Gertrude Tomkins Silver opened the hatch of her P-51 Mustang, one of the Army's fastest aircraft. The plane left from a little strip called Mines Field, now the LA International Airport, bound for a 3-day journey to New Jersey, where it would be placed on a cargo vessel and shipped to UK to fight WW2's last battles against the Third Reich. It would be 4 days before anyone realized Silver's plane crashed off the coast of California minutes after takeoff. Of the 38 WASPs who lost their lives, she's the only one unaccounted for. The percentage of fatal crashes among WASPs was much less than men.
World War II-era female pilots granted congressional medal cnn.com :: 2009-07-02
President Obama signed a measure awarding the 300 surviving WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots - known as WASPs, the first women to fly US military aircraft - the Congressional Gold Medal. "The Women Airforce Service Pilots answered their America's call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since," Obama stated. WASPs flew 60 million miles in every type of aircraft: from the PT17 and AT6 trainers, to fast attack planes like the A24 and A25 and heavy bombers like B17 and B29s. Earning $250 a month, the women were not officially part of the military, never getting benefits or honors.
Honoring WASPs - World War II female pilots aopa.org :: 2009-05-07
It was a strange work for women at the time. But for Rosa Lea Fullwood Meek Dickerson, flying was a way of life. She began flying in her early teens at her father's flight school. By her early twenties, she had made aviation history as part of the first group of women to fly military aircraft for the U.S., the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). When their country went to war, the WASP reported for duty. Dickerson was one of the 1,102 women who served as WASP, flying every sort of aircraft in the U.S. to allow male pilots be assigned for combat duty. The WASP flew 60 million miles for their country during the program's short tenure, from 1942 to Dec. 20, 1944.
Women Airforce Service Pilots may be recognized for their efforts in World War II amarillo.com :: 2009-04-06
Florene Miller Watson recalls white-knuckle flights on WW2 military aircraft: "We did not have radar, and I didn't have any help on the ground. I navigated with a compass that jiggled around when the plane bumped a little, an outdated map and a wristwatch." Watson is one of 300 surviving WASPs (1102 female pilots served) who may be recognized for their WW2 efforts. "Their service paved the way for all women who serve valiantly in the military today," said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who introduced a bill, co-sponsored by the female members of the Senate, to award the women the Congressional Gold Medal.
World War II WASPs reflect on roles as aviation pioneers maxwell.af.mil :: 2009-04-02
3 members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots recalled their WW2 life as part of Squadron Officer College Warrior Symposium series March 26 at Polifka Auditorium. --- Dawn Seymour (one of 13 women qualified to fly the B17 bombers) was one of 5 inductees into the Women In Aviation History, Int. Pioneer Hall of Fame. "One flight we were doing figure-8s when suddenly the number-3 engine caught fire. We put the fire out and continued the training mission. I knew this [B17] was the plane for me." She later went to the Florida Everglades to train gunners for the D-Day: A B-26 Marauder would pull a cloth, and gunner trainees would fire at it with color coded bullets.
3 WASP veterans will share their stories at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City orlandosentinel.com :: 2009-03-27
They weren't girls, as most men referred to them. The Fifinellas were aviators in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who proved their valor through gender barriers during the height of World War Two. While the military and most history books disregarded their feats, Walt Disney provided them with a memorable moniker: a logo of a cartoon gremlin called Fifinella, a superhero ready to go to war. It was plastered on WASP stationery, flight jackets and buildings. The special squadron - set up in 1942 by aviator Jacqueline Cochran - transported, tested and towed planes during training and taught cadets to fly.
WASP pilot recalls her time in WWII service aero-news.net :: 2009-02-04
Betty Jo Reed was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a unique corps of female pilots who were trained by the Army Air Forces to fly military aircraft during World War II. The training took place at an airfield called Avenger Field in Sweetwater, TX. 1,074 girls graduated and earned the WASP title. During the war, WASP pilots flew 60 million miles of operational flights from aircraft factories to ports of embarkation and military bases, towing targets for live anti-aircraft artillery exercise, simulating strafing missions and transporting cargo. "I was assigned to a unit in Mississippi... the boys there made it pretty clear we weren't wanted."
WASP World War II test pilot Betty Jane Williams latimes.com :: 2008-12-12
Betty Jane Williams, who joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a group that flew noncombat missions during WW2, and served as a test pilot, has passed away. The war effort "needed everybody. An airplane ... only responds to skill, and I was bitten by the aviation bug." She earned her pilot's license in a civilian training program in 1941. In Jan 1944 she returned to the cockpit with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and flew "wrecked planes that had been repaired to make sure they were airworthy." The women wore uniforms and piloted 78 types of military aircraft, but when the program ended in Dec 1944 they were denied military benefits.
World War II female pilots travel back to training site in Texas topix.com :: 2008-09-26
More than a decade before World War II the War Department thought about using women pilots, but the head of the Army Air Corps called it "utterly unfeasible" because women were too "high strung." By 1942 the War Department thought about the idea again, after it was renewed by female aviator Jacqueline Cochran in a letter to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. On Sept. 15, 1942, the Army set up a women's pilot training base, first at Houston, then at Sweetwater. 20,000 women applied, one of them Betty Jo Reed. She called the Pentagon in 1943 after seeing a magazine article about the WASP program and got Cochran on the phone.
WASP pilot Margaret Ray Ringenberg, who dropped "Japan Surrenders" leaflets, dies journalgazette.net :: 2008-07-30
Aviation pioneer Margaret Ray Ringenberg, who recently competed the 2312-mile Air Race Classic, died aged 87. She joined the WASPs in 1943, became a flight instructor in 1945 and began racing in 1957. Ringenberg announced WWII's end in 1945 to Fort Wayne residents by dropping 56,000 "Japan Surrenders!" leaflets from a plane - a radio station hired her to make the "news drop" because city newspapers were on strike. Tom Brokaw spent an entire chapter of "The Greatest Generation" on Ringenberg. When testing the space shuttle simulator NASA instructors told that most pilots crash the first few times - But Ringenberg landed faultlessly each time she tried.
Nancy Love And The WASP Ferry Pilots Of World War II by Sarah Byrn Rickman calitreview :: 2008-05-29
Nancy Harkness Love was born at the right time, and the wrong time, in history. The first woman pilot to be certified to fly the P-51 Mustang and, with Betty Gillies, the B-17 Flying Fortress, she was one of the key female figures in WW2 aviation. As the Commander of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), Love and her fellow pilots aided the Army Air Transport Ferrying Division move aircrafts from point A to B. Fighting public perception and sparring with Jacqueline Cochran, she showed that the air was gender-blind. Yet like so many others, she found little opportunity after her service.
WASP - Women Airforce Service Pilots venturacountystar :: 2008-05-27
When America entered WWII on Dec. 7, 1941, pilots headed for Europe, and there was a need for someone to do the flying at home. In late 1942 the Army Air Forces began a female pilots program under General Henry Arnold. Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic, was set up as director. 25,000 women applied, 1,830 were accepted and 1,074 earned their wings. The consensus of station commanders was that WASP were more capable than male pilots. 38 WASP died in the line of duty, but the AAF refused them military honors, and their families had to pay to have their bodies sent home.
Diana Barnato Walker flew Spitfires and was the first woman to break the sound barrier dailymail :: 2008-05-07
From 1941 Diana Barnato was one of a handful of women who moved Spitfires and Hurricanes, Wellingtons and Lancasters from factories to front-line squadrons. Known as ATA-girls (Air Transport Auxiliary) they endured all weathers, flew without radio, guns or armour-plating, radar and navigation aids. They were prey to storms and German Messerschmitts. In 3 years, she flew 260 Spitfires and mastered dozens of other warplanes, including a huge Walrus flying boat that most male pilots avoided. She was shot at, hammered by storms, stricken by engine failures, but she never lost a plane.
Liz Strohfus shares story of being a WASP in World War II lacrossetribune :: 2008-03-19
Gold B-24 bombers dangled from her ears. Pinned to her blue suit was a set of silver wings, proving she finished the WWII Women Airforce Service Pilot training. Becoming a WASP was natural, as she was fond of heights as a child: "If I couldn’t find a tree, I’d sit up on a rooftop." Only 1,800 of the 25,000 who applied [for WASP program] were accepted, and only 1,000 got their wings. Strohfus flew military trainers like the PT-19, BT-13, and AT-6. She went on to fly the B-26 Marauder, B-17 and the P-39 Airacobra. The attitude was "women couldn’t fly those airplanes, it takes a big man to fly. Well, we showed them."
Spitfire heroine Margaret Frost's joy over medal bbc :: 2008-02-25
Margaret Frost, who flew replacement fighters (spitfires, hurricanes and mustangs) to WW2 RAF bases, has spoken of her joy at the recognition for her work. She is one of 15 women and 100 men who are to have a special merit award for serving in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which had an important role in ensuring the RAF got the planes it needed as fighter pilots fought dog fights with the Luftwaffe. Made up of old WWI pilots, injured airmen and women, it moved aircraft from factories to frontline. "We were not allowed to fly above 600m and there was no radio contact so it could be quite lonely."
Zipper pull and other artifacts found on Nikumaroro linked to Amelia Earhart? goerie :: 2008-02-18
Amelia Earhart set off a mystery when she vanished over the Pacific in 1937. TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) members found a small brass zipper pull during their 3 week scouring of Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner Island) in 2007. Members speculate that the plane crashed on or near the island and that Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan spent their final days there. The zipper pull is one of many artifacts collected from the island. "Now we have this site on the island that is producing artifacts that speak of an American woman in her 30s, and the only one missing out there is her," said said Ric Gillespie.
Spitfire’s unsung flying heroines - The Air Transport Auxiliary timesonline :: 2008-02-01
The living members of a group of women who flew Spitfires in non-combat WW2 tasks are expected to be rewarded with a badge. The women of the Air Transport Auxiliary may not have taken part in the Battle of Britain but, without their skills in delivering the aircraft to the RAF bases for their male counterparts to clear the skies of Luftwaffe bombers, the battle would never have got off the ground. There are about 15 female pilots left. They also flew Hurricanes, Lancasters, Mosquitoes and other wartime aircraft. Margaret Frost - formally too small at 5ft 3in to become a Spitfire pilot - spent 3 years flying the aircraft, and welcomed the suggestion of a badge.
Female Aces - From world wars to modern times strategypage :: 2007-11-26
Before the 1990s, the majority of female combat pilots were those who flew for the Russian World War II air force. Most flew combat support aircraft, in some degree because many of the WWII-era warplanes did not have power-assisted controls. But where this was not a factor, many of the Russian female pilots showed a talent for winning air-to-air battles. Russia stopped using female pilots when WWII was over. The same thing had happened during WWI, when the few female pilots were dismissed once peace came. After WWII American researchers did a lot of work to determine what characteristics made aces: It was discovered that many women were potential aces.
World War II Fly Girls Exhibit - WASP: Women Airforce Service Pilots baylor :: 2007-10-16 :: Female Pilots of WWII
In Sept. 1942 1830 women paid their own ways to Texas to learn to fly "the Army way." The Women Airforce Service Pilots became the first women in history to fly America's military aircraft. The Mayborn Museum Complex is bringing their memory back to life through "Wings Across America Presents: Fly Girls of WWII Exhibit." The pilot group was formed because of the U.S. Army Air Forces' desperation for more pilots after severe U.S. losses. Nancy Parrish began working on "Wings Across America" to promote awareness of the history of WASP. There are 400 former female pilots alive today. She has interviewed 110 of them.
The Spitfire Women Of World War II by Giles Whittell - Photos dailymail.co.uk :: 2007-09-13
Wearing a summer uniform she slung a parachute over her shoulder and shook out her long blonde hair. Pilot Maureen Dunlop looked glamorous. And when the picture appeared in 1944, the world was convinced the Air Transport Auxiliary, ATA, was an-all woman outfit. The ATA, "legion of the air," performed an essential WW2 role delivering British warplanes from the factories to RAF airfields. Its death rate was higher than in RAF Fighter Command. Of 1,124 pilots nearly 1/6 was killed. Scandalously, one woman's aircraft was even thought to have been sabotaged by male rivals, threatened by the sight of attractive women emerging from the cockpits of huge heavy bombers.
Female World War II aviator donates aircraft to Pearson Air Museum columbian :: 2007-07-11
Jan Wood, who sold her accordion during WWII to pay for lessons so she could fly airplanes in the war effort, made her last flight into Vancouver to gave her favorite airplane to Pearson Air Museum. It wasn’t just any airplane: It was the 1953 model Cessna that in 1956 and 1957 she flew solo around the world. She is a member of an exclusive club, the WASP, the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the first women in history to fly American military aircraft. While male pilots flew into combat, the WASP shuttled airplanes all over the US.
World War II women flyers to be honored at Dorr - Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Article no longer available from the original source. :: bolivarcom :: 2007-05-07
During World War II, the U.S. Civil Air Patrol, a civilian group of pilots and volunteers, assisted the war effort in many ways, including flying coastal patrol missions or transporting people and materials. According to The US Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol site, www.cap.gov, CAP evolved during the late 1930s and was established on Dec. 1, 1941, as part of the Office of Civilian Defense. It became an auxiliary of the U.S. Army Air Forces under the War Department in 1943. 40000 people, from movie stars to everyday people, joined CAP after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, according to www.caphistory.org.
Sara Payne Hayden: one of the first female pilots in U.S. Army boston :: 2006-12-08
It was World War II and Sara Payne Hayden wanted something unheard of: to fly military planes. She was one of the few women to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the first female pilots in the US armed forces. Her task: to test-fly previously damaged planes to make sure that they were ready for the men headed for combat. "We did things the men weren't expected to do," said Hayden, who still fits into her petite 62-year-old navy blue WASP uniform. Thirty-eight WASPs were killed during the war. Only about 350 of the 1,074 WASPs, who flew within the US for the Army Air Corps, are still alive.
Female WWII pilot: Flying military aircraft during World War II elkodaily :: 2006-08-09
Vi Cowden was one of slightly more than 1,000 women to fly military aircraft during World War II as a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP). After she heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor, she applied to the Women’s Flying Training Detachment and she began her training in March 1943. She was one of 25,000 women to apply —and one of only 1,074 to make it through the program. She flew 19 different types of military aircraft during the war.
Russia's Top Female Fighter Ace With 12 Luftwaffe kills flightsim :: 2006-03-17
Lily Litvak is the most famous female fighter pilot of all time. Stunningly beautiful with blonde hair and gorgeous grey eyes, Lily was known as the White Rose of Stalingrad. With 12 Luftwaffe kills to her credit, she was the Soviet Union's top female ace fighter pilot. In September, 1942 flying a Yak-1 with white roses painted on both sides of her cockpit, Lily shot down a Junkers JU-88 and a Messerschmitt Bf-109 during her second combat mission while flying with the 296th IAP. The day of her final mission, Lily had already flown 4 previous sorties. She was escorting a flight of Soviet bombers when her Yak was jumped by a flight of 8 Bf-109s.
Female pilot Hanna Reitsch pitches suicide squad to Hitler Article no longer available from the original source. :: News of the Odd :: 2005-10-29 :: Hanna Reitsch - Test Pilot
Hanna Reitsch, Nazi Germany's celebrated female test pilot, suggested that Adolph Hitler should create a suicide squadron of glider pilots. Hitler was skeptical, believing that such a squadron would not be a good use of Germany's limited resources. The blonde's enthusiasm finally won Fuehrer over: he agreed to look into the adapting the V-1, which was designed to be a pilotless bomb, to a kamikaze vehicle. Reitsch promptly formed a Suicide Group, and was herself the first person to take the pledge: "I hereby... apply to be enrolled in the suicide group as a pilot of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death."
Marina Raskova and the Soviet Women Pilots of World War II monash-edu :: 2005-06-08 :: Female Pilots of WWII
On June 22, 1941, Hitler's Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union, and Operation Barbarossa was under way. In the summer of 1941, Marina Raskova, a record-breaking aviatrix, organized the 588th night bomber squadron - composed entirely of women, from the mechanics to the navigators, pilot and officers. Most of them around 20 years old. June 8, 1942, three planes took off on the first mission. The target: the headquarters of a German division. The raid was successful, but one aircraft was lost. "It was a miracle we didn't lose more aircraft. Our planes were the slowest in the air force. They often came back riddled with bullets, but they kept flying."
Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran centennialofflight :: 2005-05-08
During her aviation career, Jackie Cochran set more speed and altitude records than anybody else at her time, male or female. In 1942, Cochran got her wish as she was asked to organize the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) to train women pilots to handle basic military flight support. The WASPs were essentially two groups in one: WFTD, and the Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS), a group responsible for delivering planes to their base of operations. The WASPs proved invaluable to the war effort. They transported planes overseas, tested various aircraft and taught aerial navigation.
US Women Pilots in World War II Struggle to Tell Their Stories voanews :: 2005-05-04
During World War II, more than 1,000 women were trained as military pilots. While they were not allowed to be combat pilots, they flew all sorts of missions. But their story was a classified secret for over three decades. On the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, VOA Producer Zulima Palacio found two women determined to tell their story and keep it alive. The day Deanie Bishop turned 21, she applied to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots, known as WASP. It was 1942, and the middle of WWII. "Our basic function was to fly the missions to relieve male pilots for combat."
Fflying and caring for people - Two of her passions seniorjournal :: 2004-05-29 :: Nurses in World War II
Capt. Lillian Kinkela Keil began her career as a student nurse and shortly thereafter became a flight attendant for United Airlines, which honored her at a reception, for her heroic service during WW II. To combine two of her passions - flying and caring for people - Capt. Keil joined the Army Air Corps as a flight nurse to serve in WWII. During that time, she flew 250 air evacuation missions and 25 transatlantic flights, many in dangerous conditions, including to Normandy during the D-Day invasions, where she helped evacuate wounded soldiers from the front lines.
Female pilots were World War II's "best-kept secret" baylor :: 2003-11-11 :: Female Pilots of WWII
Theirs was among the untold stories of World War II - an elite squad of pilots soaring through the skies in PT-19s and other planes as the first group of American women trained to fly military aircraft. About a thousand women flew as members of Women Airforce Service Pilots units during the war. Fewer than 500 are still alive, by one estimate. From 1942 to 1944, women from all walks of life were trained to ferry aircraft, test planes, transport cargo and even tow targets so male cadets on the ground could practice shooting at moving objects. 38 women pilots lost their lives.
Women's Airforce Service Pilots with the US Air Weather Service findarticles :: 2003-03-13
Women's roles in the military may not have started at Offutt, but the Air Force Weather Agency was here when women stepped forward to serve their country. The Air Weather Service was one of the first military agencies to use military women as pilots during WW II. In early 1943, the first enlisted Women's Army Corps women were assigned to stateside weather units and qualified as observers through on-the-job training. One class of women observers went through the forecasting school at Chanute Field, Ill. Five graduated in September 1944.
Soviet Women in Combat neh :: 2000-05-08
Number of Soviet women combat veterans reached nearly one million, a small portion of which were involved in combat. Eugenia Ustimchouk was one of the rare women pilots. She was admitted in Jan of 1942 in the same unit as her husband. "We had a women's bomber pilot regiment who flew heavy planes called P-2. I remember one, Liuba Gubena, who studied with me and flew that plane. German planes were pursuing her and her plane caught on fire. She gave her crew the command to bail out, but her navigator's parachute got caught. Liuba started to do all kinds of maneuvers to throw off the navigator, to save her. She perished herself in trying to save her navigator."
See also:
Hanna Reitsch
'Flying Aces & Pilots'
'Scale Models'
'WWII and Women'
'Amelia Earhart'.