On September 10, 1942, Nancy Harkness Love, with the support of the U.S. Air Transport Command, organized 25 women pilots into the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Their first WAFS headquarters was located at New Castle Army Air Base, Delaware. The purpose of the WAFS was to deliver planes from the factory to military bases. The 25 original WAFS had an average of 1,100 hours flying time when they were accepted in the program. Forty women wore the WAFS uniform (which they had to pay for) before it was merged into the Women Airforce Service Pilots(WASP).
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jacqueline Cochran, one of the most well-known aviators of that time, tried to interest the Army Air Corps in women pilots who would be trained to fly military aircraft within the United States. When that effort failed, she recruited a group of women pilots to serve in the British Air Transport Auxiliary. She accompanied them to England, and then returned to the U.S. to recruit a second group. There she learned the WAFS had been created and convinced Gen. "Hap" Arnold of the Army Air Corps that the WAFS would be unable to supply all the women pilots that would be needed. Both Cochran and Gen. Arnold were opposed to enrollment of women pilots in the Women's Army Corps (WAC).
In Nov. 16, 1942, Cochran established the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) at Howard Hughes Airport in Houston, Texas, with an initial class of 25 women who were required to have 200 hours flying time and a commercial license. The mission of the WFTD was to perform whatever flight duties the Army Air Corps required within the United States.
They ferried planes, tested them, delivered them for repair, performed check flights, put flying time on new engines, towed targets for anti-aircraft gunnery practice, flew searchlight tracking missions, instructed male pilot cadets and performed many other tasks. Later, when the organization was moved to Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, Cochran began accepting women cadets into an intensive training program. The cadets had to be licensed pilots with at least 35 hours of flying time.
On August. 5, 1943, the WAFS and WFTD merged into the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Cochran served as director of the WASP and its Training Division, while Nancy Love was director of the Ferrying Division. In the 16 months the WASP existed, more than 25,000 women applied for training; only 1,879 candidates were accepted. Of these, 1,074 successfully completed the grueling program at Avenger Field, a better "wash-out" rate than the 50 percent of male pilot cadets.
Cochran pressed for full militarization of the WASP but resisted making it part of the WAC; she insisted it remain a women's pilot organization whose members could only be assigned to flight duties. One of her reasons for this was that WAC recruits had to be at least 21 years old and could not have children under 14 (some of the WASP's most experienced pilots were mothers of young children).
Entry standards for the WASP program were high. Women had to have a high school education, be at least five feet tall and between 18 ½ and 35 years old. Initially two hundred hours of flight time was required but that was later reduced to 35 hours. A favorable medical exam, American citizenship, and a personal interview were also part of the screening process. If they met the criteria they moved on to the actual training which was thirty weeks long and covered a wide range of topics. When the training was complete they were assigned to a military base. In all WASPs served on one hundred and twenty bases throughout the country.
WASP duties included ferrying aircraft, towing targets, simulated strafing, smoke laying, basic instrument instruction, engineering design and test flying. They ferried more than 12,000 aircraft of seventy eight types more than sixty million miles. They were also used to convince male pilots of the safety of the B-29 after several accidents during testing. WASPs were recruited to fly the B-29 from base to base to illustrate the overall safety of the bomber. In all the WASPs had 402 accidents (fewer than their comparative male counterparts) and thirty eight fatalities.
Many male pilots were uncomfortable with women flying for the military in part because they would have liked to have these stateside less risky flying opportunities. Toward the end of the war there was a concerted effort to end the WASP program which was actually accomplished on December 20, 1941 when they were officially deactivated.
Women pilots and the Tuskegee Airmen were elements of aviation that came out of World War II with no honors or benefits. WASPs remained in relative obscurity until the mid 1970s when the Air Force announced that the "first women military pilots" would be flying aircraft. In an effort to raise awareness the remaining WASPs began a petition to receive their long awaited recognition. They had to prove the military nature of their service which culminated in recognition by the United States Senate in 1977. The House of Representatives soon followed as well as President Carter.
In 1984 each of the women received the World War II Victory Medal and those who served more than a year were also awarded the American Campaign Medal.
The Colorado Springs community and the National Museum of World War II Aviation are proud to celebrate the distinguished service of Ms. Millicent Amanda Peterson Young as a WASP during World War II. Ms. Young is 88 years young and one of about 170 living WASPs. She and other WASPs received the Congressional Gold Medal which is the highest civilian honor the government can bestow.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Republican from Texas, summed up their service in her remarks in the Capitol Building's Emancipation Hall. "They paid their own way to Texas for training and they paid their own way back home. Those who were killed were buried by their families, often from collections taken up by the WASPs themselves." The women were denied all veterans benefits for thirty-two years. WASPs never received educational benefits. Those who died were prohibited from having the American flag on their burial coffins.
Millicent Young will tell you that "Our side shot at me," as she towed targets behind her plane allowing air to air gun operators to practice their aim.
Like many of the WASPs, Young had been in love with the idea of flying long before she ever climbed into a cockpit and took the controls. Growing up on a farm near Chappell, Nebraska, she recalls at age six a pilot coming to visit a neighbor and landing his fabric-skinned airplane in her family's pasture. She wasted no time making a bee-line for it, crawling under the fence and racing across the field. "The pilot made a point of telling us not to touch the plane," she says "so of course that was the first thing I did."
Millicent was a determined and focused person from an early age. Her father raised wheat grain and she learned all aspects of the family business. At the end of a particularly good harvest, her dad gave each of the four children $5 to spend. Millicent's mom took the children for a Ford Trimotor ride, however mom stayed on the ground in case something went wrong. From that experience she tried to take flying lessons but no men saw a place for a woman in flying except for ground duties.
After her first year of college, Millicent found a peice of nearby land that was not being farmed. She secured a bank loan for $40 and had a lucrative harvest. The bank got their money with interest, the landowner was paid and Millicent came away with money for flight lessons. This led to her training to become a WASP and service our nation.
Despite women's skill and dedication, not everyone in the military was happy to have them. One day, on landing her AT-6 for a routine refueling stop in Carlsbad, California, Young shocked a ground crew soldier when he discovered she was a female pilot. "What are you doing in there?" he shouted, clearly irate. "I should be flying the plane. I'm the man!" Showing a confident, prickly wit fairly typical among WASPs, 21 year-old Young was quick to reply. "Honey, if you were, I'd have noticed." The soldier jumped off the wing, and Young never saw him again. "Someone else serviced the plane, and I was off."
Besides their obvious contributions to the war effort, allowing thousands of planes and pilots to reach the battlefields as quickly as possible, the WASPs also paved the way for future generations of women throughout society. In 1977, shortly after women were first admitted into the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, an officer in charge of the new female recruits announced to an assembled crowed that the time had finally come to see if women could fly the military way. Young, sitting in the audience, stood up and raised her hand. "That question has already been answered," she told him.
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| Kent Young, Millicent Young, Jill Hopkin |
Accepting the award at the Capitol on behalf of the WASPs was Deanie Parrish, who told the crowd that she and her fellow women pilots volunteered to fly the planes without any expectation of ever being thanked. "We did it because our country needed us." Young has often said "Everyone talks about our sacrifice, but to me it wasn't about sacrifice. I was making an investment - in myself and in my country."
It is time that we in Colorado and across our nation recognize and celebrate the contributions of the Women Airforce Service Pilots as a significant element of the United States Home Front effort to win the war and secure our freedom.
Thanks Ms. Millicent Amanda Peterson Young for your service to a grateful nation in protecting our freedom for generations to come.
The 39th Fighter Squadron Association will be holding its reunion in Colorado Springs and visiting the facilities of the National Museum of World War II Aviation. Mark your calendars and save October 13, 2012, as the evening we share with the veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. These veterans include maintenance, support, and flight crews. We are inviting WASP and Tuskegee Airmen from the area to celebrate with the 39th and witness the opening of the Museum's Phase One facility and displays.
Walls were getting painted and the dropped ceiling was in the initial phases of construction. There are more recent pictures but they will be in the next newsletter which will focus on the overall construction process from start to finish. We are proud of our volunteers who are working almost every day of the week.
They are getting it done and proving to be rather skilled craftsmen. What is important at this point is that you sign up and get your check in for this grand opening and 39th Fighter Squadron Association reunion. Don't be the one who missed this event because we were sold out. Look for more details about the events in our next newsletter. This will be an experience of a lifetime.