71), and female pilots became indispensable for getting the air "ships" where they needed to go. Women with strong ambition and patriotic goals began fervently taking flying lessons to join the ferry crews. Yvonne Pateman finished her seventy-five hours of required flying time to become eligible for the program, but had never learned how to drive a car (Willenz p.72).

Two groups of women pilots became formally recognized by the U.S. government, although not part of the military. The Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPS, were trained by Army personnel at the U.S. Army base in Sweetwater, Texas, and included the Air Transport Command, or ATC, directed by Nancy Love.

The WASPS began flying more dangerous missions, participating in training and test piloting. Pilot Yvonne Pateman recalled,

They were also called upon to fly planes with targets so that troops could practice shooting at them. There were casualties, both during the training and in the course of their ferrying planes" (Willenz, p. 72).

Clearly, American women pilots were making some serious sacrifices just as their male counterparts were. The women, although only civil servants, wore uniforms and served bravely. They had been promised military status, but when male pilots began returning from the war, there were some complaints that women had usurped their jobs as pilots. Women pilots who served in the war effort during World War II were not granted veteran's benefits until more than thirty years later. In deference to the mens' need for jobs, many of the women returned to traditional roles. At the end of the war, thousands of American women were dismissed from military service under a mandate passed in the early forties that had...

The women's Air Transport Auxiliary was a civilian, rather than a military organization, like the WASPs. Women pilots were thought to be there just to entertain the men. However, fifteen Air Transport Auxiliary women were killed in the line of duty as they transported bombers and fighters. (Saywell).
Women pilots seemed to have a tendency to remain quiet about their service in the war. They were not particularly popular and were not recognized as heroes because they were not in direct combat. It was clearly men who fought the war, but women pilots performed dangerous and vital work that helped the military run smoothly and efficiently.

Works Cited

Carl, Ann B., a WASP Among Eagles: A Woman Military Test Pilot in World War II Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.1999

Higham, Robin Air Power: An Overview, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Air_Power/AP-OV.htm

Keil, Sally Van Wagenen, Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War Two. Rawson, Wade, Publishers, New York: 1979.

Kerber, Linda K. And Jane Sherron DeHart, Women's America, Oxford University Press, New York: 1995.

Lewis, Jone Johnson, a Chronology of Women Pilots and Women's Flight History, http://womenshistory.about.com/od/aviationpilots/a/av_timeline

Saywell, Shelley

Women in War, Penguin Books, Canada: 1985.

Willenz, June a. Women Veterans, America's Forgotten Heroines, Continuum Publishing, Nw York: 1983. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/aviationpilots/a/av_timeline_2.htm