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  • WASP DUTY BASES

    After graduating from the training program at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, TX, the WASP were stationed at more than 100 bases across the United States.Click here to return to Women Air Force Service Pilots Overview.

  • BREAKING GROUND: WOMEN AIR FORCE SERVICE PILOTS

    From 1942 to 1944, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), an organization of civilian volunteers, became the first American women to fly military aircraft. Despite their dedicated service, it would be more than three decades until the United States recognized the WASP as members of the military

  • DISBANDMENT & OVERDUE RECOGNITION

    DeactivationFrom the outset of the WASP program, the women believed they would become official members of the military. There were early attempts to militarize the WASP under the umbrella of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, but Jackie Cochran refused. She claimed pilots could be challenging to

  • WAR EFFORT

    Women at Work Initially, the WASP were only permitted to ferry light aircraft. To better support the war effort, Jackie Cochran advocated expanding the WASP mission to do any job necessary so men could be relieved for combat duty. Eventually, the women delivered fighters, bombers, and transport

  • FLYING THE ARMY WAY

    License to FlyFrom 1941 to 1944, men had to have a high school diploma and pass a physical exam and written test before they could train to become pilots in the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). However, women hoping to join the WASP were also required to have two hundred hours of flying experience (later

  • WOMEN IN THE PILOT’S SEAT

    During World War II, Nancy Harkness Love and Jacqueline Cochran independently proposed using female pilots in the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). Love sought out established female fliers, while Cochran looked to train emerging aviators. At the height of the war, female pilots across the United States

  • 1942 Packard Clipper Army Staff Car

    Packard: A Car Worthy of Admirals and GeneralsKnown for its luxurious, durable, well-engineered cars, Detroit’s Packard Motor Car Company outsold all other domestic luxury automobiles combined in the late 1920s including Cadillac. Unlike many luxury brands, Packard survived the Great Depression and

  • CONVAIR LV-3B / SM-65D ATLAS

    America's Multi-Mission RocketAtlas rockets lifted some of the first US astronauts and satellites into Earth orbit in the 1960s. Atlas also was the first American nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. Atlas and its US Air Force managers and technicians played vital roles in both the

  • McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender

    The KC-10A Extender is a US Air Force advanced tanker and cargo aircraft whose primary mission is aerial refueling. Within the same mission, the KC-10 can refuel US and coalition forces aircraft using either a hose and drogue centerline refueling system or an advanced aerial refueling boom. KC-10s

  • Cessna 172 Skyhawk

    Following the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, this Skyhawk, tail number N9344L, was the only civilian aircraft authorized to fly in and around New York City on September 12, 2001.To evaluate the damage caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center, the