Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

At the start of World War II, most nations were experiencing a shortage of resources. In the United States, food, gasoline, and other scarce goods were being heavily rationed, and many government controls were initiated to lessen the economic burden of the war. At the same time, unemployment was at a record low. Wartime production created a huge labor market, eclipsing the available workforce. Due to the military conscription, most able-bodied men were led overseas to fight in the war, so the country turned to civilian workers, including women. Soon, “Rosie the Riveter” had become a national heroine, representing women laborers, who began replacing men in every facet of industry and performing with excellence (Carl, 34).

Military aviation was in no way spared from the deficit of labour and resources across the globe. In 1939, an American pilot named Jackie Cochran, famous for her competitive achievements breaking speed and altitude records, wrote a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt suggesting that women aviators could help out in the face of an emergency. By 1940, Britain’s Royal Air Force began using women as ferry pilots and in Russia, women were flying combat missions (Myers, 640).

In July of 1941, At the suggestion of President Roosevelt, Cochran proposed a plan that would utilize female aviators in the United States for ferrying new aircraft to air bases, which would in turn free up men to focus on more active roles. Unfortunately, the US Military felt that they were not ready to employ women pilots and rejected the proposal. By August, Cochran, along with 25 women pilots were on their way to England to aid the Royal Air Force in the British Air Transport Auxiliary. (Carl, 36)

Meanwhile, as the ferry pilot shortage continued t...

... middle of paper ...

...

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

Merryman, Molly. Clipped wings: the rise and fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II. New York: New York University Press, 1998. eBooks on EBSCOhost. Web. 9 April 2014.

Montagne, Renee. “Female WWII Pilots, The Original Fly Girls.” Morning Edition. NPR, 9 March 2010. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 April 2014.

Myers, Sarah Parry. “Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP).” An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields. Ed. Lisa T. Frank. 610 - 613. 2013. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 April 2014

Williams, Rudy. “Women Aviators Finally Fill Cockpits of Military Aircraft.” American Forces Press Service. Washington, D.C., 19 March, 2003. Web. 9 April 2014