World War II Woman

A Women Airforce Service Pilot

WASP stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots. Betty recalls receiving a letter shortly after graduating from college asking if she would be interested in joining an experimental group of women pilots. She had already taken eight private flying lessons and was indeed interested in this new group.

At Avenger Field in Texas, she received her basic training, every bit the same as the males. She learned to fly at night, do acrobatics, land on a ship, and put together the plane’s engine. The days were long – fifteen hours of classes, flying, physical education, and inspections – until finally the women were ready for their actual tasks. The main mission of these women pilots was to free up the male pilots for combat duty.

Betty explains that the women did everything the men did except go overseas. They towed targets for gunnery students to shoot at, flew mail, transported cargo, and ferried almost every kind of aircraft from factory to destination.

During the war years and for many years thereafter, these women pilots were considered civil service employees and were not granted military status. Thirty-eight of them died while performing their duties. Attempts to grant them military status were stymied until 1977. With the help of Senator Barry Goldwater, himself a ferry pilot, a law was enacted, which gave the members of the WASP full military status.

1984, each WASP was awarded the WWII Victory Medal. Those who served for more than one year were also awarded American Theater Ribbon/American Campaign Medal for their service during WWII. Many of the medals were received by their sons and daughters on their behalf.

As Betty says, “We broke the ground for many other women pilots.”

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