Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) Betty Jane Bachman and her Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were a paramilitary aviation organization. WASP’s predecessors, the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), were organized separately in September 1942. They were the pioneer organizations of civilian women pilots, used to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Air Force during World War II. The WFTD and WAFS merged on August 5, 1943, to create the paramilitary organization WASP. WASP female pilots eventually numbered 1,074, each freeing up one male pilot for combat duty and duty. They flew over 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft
Each WASP had a pilot’s license. They were trained to fly “the Army way” by the U.S. Army Air Forces at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. More than 25,000 women applied for the WASP, and fewer than 1,900 were accepted. After completing four months of military flight training, 1,074 of them earned their wings and became the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft.
The women were not trained for combat. Their training, however, was essentially the same as that of air cadets. The WASPs received no gunnery training, and very little formation flying and aerobatics, but they were put through the necessary maneuvers to be able to recover from any position. The rate of trainees who were rejected compared favorably with the dropout rates for male cadets at Central Air Training Command.
After training, WASPs were assigned to 120 air bases across the United States, performing numerous flying-related missions and relieving male pilots for combat duty. They flew sixty million operational miles from aircraft factories to embarkation ports and military training bases. They also towed targets for live anti-aircraft gunnery practice, simulated strafing missions, and transported cargo. Women in these roles flew nearly every type of aircraft flown by the USAAF during World War II. In addition, some highly trained women were allowed to test rocket planes, pilot jet aircraft, and work with radar-controlled targets. Between September 1942 and December 1944, the WASP delivered 12,650 aircraft of 78 different types.
Thirty-eight WASP airmen died while serving during the war, all in accidents. Eleven died in training and twenty-seven in active service.
P-40 Warhawk By Gary Sausmikat
