Women Airforce Service Pilots

“During the war about half of American women worked outside of their homes,”( Hughes 2). The number of working women rose from fourteen point six million in nineteen forty one to nineteen point four million in nineteen forty four. “Women were not just motivated by wages or patriotism; but buy the feeling of independence that they gained from the work,” (Hughes 2). Without women laborers the US economy would have never been able to produce military hardware to be successful in the war. Even though women played a huge role in the work force during the World War II, they also played an even bigger role in the war itself. Women played several different roles in the actual war. “A few of women’s roles in the actual war of World War II would be army nurses, spies, pilots and entertainers,” (Scott3). Women served as army nurses during World War 11, there were than seven thousand active nurses on duty when the United States entered the war. “Women also served as pilots, on September tenth nineteen forty two, Nancy Harkness Love, with the support of th U.S. Air Transport Command, organized twenty five women pilots into the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (W.A.F.S),” (Scott3). Women pilots were used to serve non- combat flights, to free the men for combat flights. “Women spies of the World WarII , they were often successful and unsuspected since people suspected women that women’s properly roles were solely domestic,” (Scott3). Lastly

In 1942 the United States was a shortage of pilots so women were trained to fly military aircraft so men can be released for combat duty overseas. Women can fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather as well as men. More than 1,100 young women are all civilian volunteers. Women use were train to shoot a air gunner with live ammunition. The WASP expected to

In 1944-1945, thousands of women joined the German army. During World War II, more and more girls joined the Luftwaffe under German’s control (“The Role of Women in Nazi Germany”). They replaced men, who were transferring to the Army to bear arms instead of driving planes against the advancing Allied forces. In the Luftwaffe, women operated

Before the 20th century women stayed home took care for their kids and kept the house spotless they were forced to depend on there husbands for everything. Those years are over, it was time for us to become dependent not fanatically but in the way that we no longer had to be discriminated or seen as the weaker gender. We wanted to work in a well paid job and prove to those who had no faith in us that we are capable of doing what man can do. In this century we have changed the way they look at women with great effort they have succeeded. Women in the past have made an impact, today the number of jobs for women has increased especially in fields that are traditionally for men like in aviation. With all the issues in the

Women had different perspectives during World War 2. Many served in different branches of armed forces. Some labored in war productions plants. Most women stayed at home and had other responsibilities to raise children, balance check books, and some labored in war-related office jobs, while the men went to war. In addition to factory work and other front jobs about 350,000 women joined the Armed services, serving at home and abroad. “Rosie the Riveter,” later became a popular propaganda for women. While women worked in a variety of positions closed to them the industry saw the greatest increase in female’s workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943,

During World War II, the United States had a shortage of pilots, and the leaders decided to train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas. The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP for short. Young women between the ages of twenty-one to thirty-five, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft but were not considered to be formally militarized. The program began in 1942, and was closed by 1944. But within this time frame, the female pilots flew sixty million miles in every military aircraft and thirty-eight died while serving their country as Army Air Corps arsenal. It wasn’t until many years later that the WASPS were finally given acknowledgement of their services and recognized as veterans of war.

In addition to women taking over jobs in industrialization, women also began to take jobs in the military. Approximately 350,000 American women joined the military during World War II. Women worked as nurses, drove trucks, repaired airplanes, and performed clerical work to free men from combat. Simultaneously, women also joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). These women flew planes from factories to military bases. Records show that a lot of these women died during combat or captured as prisoners, while flying planes. Women demonstrated courage solely by flying

Even after all their hard work, the women pilots were never part of any military branch. The women were never part of the armed forces, and their only benefit was the pay they received. In 1944, they almost became militarized; however the air war was simmering down and recently trained male pilots were in need of assignments. WASPs retained their domestic duties, while 36,000 male pilots joined the infantry in the War Service Training program. Director Cochran officially disbanded the WASP program in the same year.

The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) recruited thousands of women for military duties such as manning radios and anti-aircraft machinery, as drivers and in other clerical roles.

about 350,000 women worked in newly formed female army positions, such as women pilots, or WASPs, and women marine corps. Men were hesitant to let the women help out, but as stated by womensmemorial.org, “Commanders who had once stated that they would except women ‘over my dead body’ soon welcomed them and asked for more” (World War II:Women and the War). What this shows is that men were not accepting of the women, but once they realized what great workers they were, they were happy to hire them for uniformed positions. Women took jobs as cooks, nurses, factory workers, and mechanics, all of which were necessary for America to win the war. They didn’t need to draft as many men due to the increase in

During the war more than six million women joined the workforce. In August of 1943 Newsweek Magazine reported: “They [women] are in the shipyards, lumber mills, steel mills, foundries. They are welders, electricians, mechanics, and even boiler makers. They operate street cars, buses, cranes, and tractors. Women engineers are working in the drafting rooms and women physicists and chemists in the great industrial laboratories.”

     In 1943 there was a U.S. male pilot shortage. In August, the WASPS (Women Airforce Service Pilots), were formed to aid the shortage. For the most part the WASPS weren’t used for actually fighting. They were used mainly used for ferrying bomber and fighter planes from factories to airbases. Even in the Airforce, while helping the men, women were still antagonized by the men. The WASPS lasted only for one year and in 1944, when the male pilot shortage ended, a proposal to make the WASPS a part of the Airforce was submitted. The

In 1942 the Women’s Army Corps was introduced. These women worked in more than 200 non- combatant jobs stateside and also every part of the war. They served not only as common nurses but also “within the ranks of the United States Army.” There was also the Women’s Army Corps introduced in 1942. This group of 1,100 women was asked to join and fly military aircraft, due to the shortage of pilots. Their job was to fly from factories to military bases and also different take off points around the country. Even though during their enlistment the WASP were supposed to become part of the military, after a couple years the program was cancelled. The last group the, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was already established. After being absent for twenty-three years, they had to be reactivated because of WW2. While a large portion of these women did the job of secretarial and clerical they had other jobs they did. Thousands of WAVES performed duties in aviation, medical professions, communication, intelligence, science and technology. These military jobs and the other non-traditional jobs the women participated in made them almost like a ghost in their home front.

By 1943, housewife workers outnumbered single workers for the first time in history.Throughout the war women went to work in shipyards, aircraft plants and other assembly lines. They also loaded shells, operated cranes, painted ships. Many of them became welders, bus drivers, train conductors, mechanics, bellhops, nurses and day-care providers. Women comprised a third of the workers in aircraft plants and about 10 percent of the workers at the shipyards and steel mills were women. Although most war work was in factories, many women found work elsewhere. Many became secretaries and clerks in Washington D.C. and more than 200,000 women entered the special branches of the military. Such branches include Women’s Army Corp (WAC), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), and Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). These military positions allowed women to take over tasks for soldiers so they could be free to go to combat. Although women participated in jobs extremely similar to men, they were not treated equally. For the long hour’s women put in, their salaries averaged only 60 percent of men’s. However, the greatest struggle for American women throughout the war was not simply the issue of money.

General Jeanne Holm was one of the very first women in the Air Force to achieve the rank of General. Although in retirement now, she still is an important military figure. Her book, Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution, gives an impressive account of the roles that women have thus far played in the military. It was my primary source when researching the history surrounding women in the military. Due to the fact that Holm’s book is so detailed and in depth, I also used a book by Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider entitled Sound Off: American Military Women Speak Out. This book provides a timeline detailing the major points of women’s military history, so when writing, I tried to follow that guideline.