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 answered the call to help their country.
Nancy Harkness Love
In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, Nancy Harkness Love wrote a proposal for experienced female pilots to ferry aircraft, allowing male pilots to be available for active duty. Ranking officials approved the plan. However, then Major General Henry "Hap" Arnold, Chief of the US Army Air Corps, did not. Three years later, in September 1942, Colonel William Tunner, Commander of the Air Transport Command (ATC) Ferrying Division, was impressed to learn Love flew to work each day and began discussing the organization of a female ferrying squadron. This time, now Lieutenant General Arnold, Commanding General of the US Army Air Forces, approved the plan. Nancy Love was appointed director of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) within the ATC in Wilmington, Delaware. At twenty-eight years old, she became the first female pilot for the USAAF.
Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS)
The twenty-eight women who joined Nancy Love in the WAFS are known as "The Originals." These women averaged 1,100 hours of flying time and were among the most highly skilled and experienced commercially licensed female pilots. Stationed in Delaware at New Castle Army Air Base, the WAFS were among the first to fly nearly every aircraft in the USAAF inventory. Four “Originals” modeling WAFS uniforms. Left to Right: Barbara Poole in winter flying gear, Evelyn Sharp in a flying uniform, Esther Manning in a duty uniform, and Barbara Erickson in a dress uniform.
Jacqueline Cochran
Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran began petitioning for the use of female pilots in the military only 25 days after Hitler invaded Poland. In conversations with the President, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and top USAAF officials, Cochran promoted the proper training of female pilots to fly couriers, transports, and ambulance aircraft. Additionally, she wanted the women to have official military standing, claiming hundreds, if not thousands, of patriotic female pilots would join the cause. Though Gen Arnold had called the idea "utterly unfeasible," stating that women were too "high-strung," Cochran's persistence paid off. In early 1942, Gen Arnold sent Cochran to Great Britain to work with the Air Transport Auxiliary, which already employed women to fly transport aircraft. She returned stateside in September 1942 and was appointed Director of the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) in Houston, Texas.
Women's Flying Training Detachment
As Director of the WFTD, Jackie Cochran began recruiting and training female civilian pilots to fly military aircraft. Her program was approved for 500 women to undergo twenty-three weeks of training, which included 115 hours of flying time. The school operated out of a military subdepot at Houston Municipal Airport. After graduation, the women, now experienced with military aircraft, could be assigned to ferry operations.
Women Airforce Service Pilots
On August 5, 1943, WAFS and WFTD merged into one organization known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). The program, headquartered at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, was commissioned to train female pilots under the direction of Jackie Cochran. Nancy Love would continue as an executive in the Ferrying Division in Delaware, overseeing six ferrying divisions of more than 300 female pilots.
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