Women's Efforts During World War II: Women Airforce Service Pilots

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“Women pilots… are a weapon waiting to be used.” Eleanor Roosevelt said this statement during her “My Day” speech on September 1, 1942 in order to promote the use of women pilots in the Second World War. She was supporting the women by saying that if they could pass the same tests as their fellow men pilots, then they should be given the same opportunity to join in noncombat service. During World War II, women had to rise to the occasion in order to help their country in a time of desperate need. With most of the American men serving in the army and other branches of the armed forces, women stepped up and took their place. Some chose to stay closer to home and took men’s everyday jobs in order to keep the country running regularly. Other women chose a different route, and strayed a little farther from home. These brave women replaced some of the men soldiers stationed in the noncombat jobs in the United States military so that the men could go overseas to Europe and contribute to fighting the enemy. These women were not always accepted by their fellow soldiers, for the men were worried that their masculinity would be undervalued as more and more women joined. An example of these very brave women was the women pilots who served in the women’s division of the Air Force. The women pilots were put in noncombat jobs that most people viewed as safer, but the women pilots were actually risking their lives every day.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran and Nancy Love achieved the unexpected; they assist in the creation of a flying program for women. It all began when Jackie Cochran first wrote a letter to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt with her idea of forming a flying program for women in the Army Air Forces (AAF). She wanted to help...

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... give them as much credit as they deserve, who had a passion for flying. Whether their fellow men pilots liked it or not, the WASPs played a vital role in World War II. By taking the non combat jobs, the men pilots were released to go fight the enemy over in Europe. Without the WASPs, the military would not have had that extra support from the incoming pilots in order to win the war.

Works Cited

Gruhzit-Hoyt, Olga. "Part Seven: Women's Airforce Service Pilots." They Also Served: American Women in World War II. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 1995. Print.

Pateman, Yvonne C. "Women Airforce Service Pilots: WASP." In Defense of a Nation: Servicewomen in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Military Women's, 1998. 113-18. Print.

Williams, Vera S. WASPs: Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Osceola, USA: Motor International & Wholesalers, 1994. Print.

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