Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines The Unknown Heroines of World War II PDF
Preview Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines The Unknown Heroines of World War II
^m HPRIN COUNTY FREE LIBRARY 31111006385478 wjnherfu Those women 1heir in fmng machines UNKNOWN THE HEROINES OF WORLD WAR II eneiiKei' — -• ISBN: 89256-066-5 $10.95 From 1942 to 1944, almost two thousand wom- en pilots left their civilian lives as students, movie stuntwomen, secretaries, blackjack deal- ers, and wives with husbands overseas to con- verge on Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. There, the only all-female cadet air base in his- ^CO tory, they slipped into ill-fitting men's GI flying suits and marched into the "Army Way" oflife. Six months later, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) were ready to fly every air- plane in America's air arsenal, from the colossal B-29 Superfortress to the lightning-fast P-51 Mustang fighter. These unsung heroines flew some of World War II's most dangerous missions, many that men refused to perform. "If there was a doubt in anyone's mind that women can become skill- ful pilots," said the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, "the WASPS have dis- pelled that doubt." But not before they were forced to fight for transition training to bigger airplanes, subjected to unnecessary physicals, even jailed, for being what they were—the most adventurous superwomen of the war era. Over seventy of these air heroines were killed or injured, flying for their country. As well as relating the story of the WASPS, Sally Keil tells the romantic story of America's entry into the Air Age. She recreates the era of barnstormers, biplanes and record-breaking air races, when our century was just awakening to the awesome potential of the airplane and America's new role as world air power. It was an era wildly exuberant in its idoliza- tion of the heroes and heroines of the air—Lind- bergh, Byrd, Earhart, Cochran, whose stories are told here. The book is also a splendid history of World War II, the greatest mobilization of capabilities (con*ir*"*'i"i backflap) m 4 DATE DUE \M ^mm 8 1998" Ctf-SRf fa\hi ~~ ,-. , . . 1 ,UJ MAR ?m* i \. \ \ \ r - \ - __ \ Women Those Wonderful in Their Flying Machines Women Those Wonderful Their Flying Machines in THE UNKNOWN HEROINES OF WORLD WAR II BY SALLY VAN WAGENEN KEIL RAWSON, WADE PUBLISHERS, INC. NEW YORK LibraryofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data Keil, SallyVan Wagenen. Thosewonderful women in their flying machines. Includes index. 1. World War, 1939-1945—Woman. 2. Air pilots, Military-United States. 3. United States. Women's Women Air Service Pilots. 4. in aeronautics. 5. World War, 1939-1945—Aerialoperations, American. I. Title. D810.W7K43 1978 940.54/49/73 78-55606 ISBN 0-89256-066-5 © Copyright 1979 by SallyVan Wagenen Keil All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada by McClelland and Stewart, Ltd. Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica by American Book-Stratford Press, Saddle Brook, NewJersey Designed by Helen Barrow First Edition
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