Wii Women Pilots the Advent

WII Women Pilots

The advent of World War II opened the door to working women in many professions, particularly those in the manufacturing industries. In fact, a large percentage of the workforce involving the manufacture of war planes, bombs and military equipment was women. Moreover, a full 30% of the aviation manufacture workforce was comprised of women. Direct female involvement in the military had been, up until World War II, predominantly in the areas of nursing, clerical and other on-the-ground support personnel.

During World War II, air power had developed into a significant force, becoming the primary instrument of strategy in bombing, intelligence gathering and troop transport (Higham). Eleanor Roosevelt promoted the idea of using women pilots in the military, saying in her newspaper column, "women pilots are a weapon waiting to be used"(Carl). Women in other countries, such as Britain and Russia, were already flying for the military. Russian women were actually flying combat missions (Carl).

Although there were women in the U.S. who were trained airplane pilots, they were primarily from well-to-do families who could afford training and small planes. but, in 1941, expert pilot Jacqueline Cochran, who had come from meager beginnings, made a proposal to Secretary of War for Air, Robert Lovett. Cochran's plan involved forming a team of women pilots who would be trained to support the military in ferrying aircraft to and from air bases. The proposal was passed on to Gen H.H. "Hap" Arnold, Chief of the Air Force, who was not interested in having women fly for the military. He rejected the proposal, but suggested that Cochran present it to Britain. In 1942, Cochran provided twenty-five experienced women pilots who were willing to sign up for an 18-month tour of duty in England.

In 1942, Nancy Harkness Love, a New Englander from an affluent background, recruited forty-nine experienced commercial pilots to serve on a team to ferry planes to and from military bases in the United States. By this time, the U.S. military had taken stock of their situation and realized they were short of ferry pilots and new planes were backed up at the factories. Since there was no military precedent for female pilots, the women were hired as civil servants. Not surprisingly, there was a marked discrepancy in pay and requirements for the job. Author and former test pilot, Ann Clark, noted,

While the men were to be paid $380 per month, the women would be paid $250. The men needed only 200 flying hours to be hired, the women 500. The men did not even need a high school diploma" (Clark)

Sally Van Wagenen Keil in "Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines" describes

Nancy Love as follows:,

Love was content to get her group into the Ferry Command and to keep her WAFS as an elite group. She took good care of them, in the early days supplying them with grey-green uniforms and hats, and continuously seeing to it that they flew better and better aircraft. She even tried to get them -- and herself-on transatlantic flights, but General Arnold rejected that request, then and for the duration of the war (despite the general but erroneous belief that WAFS or WASPs "flew bombers to England")" (Keil).

America was busy building and sending fighters and bombers to England to help repel the Nazi offensive in Europe (Willenz, p.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).