Womens Airforce Service Pilots
(WASPs)

WASP Uniforms

One of the many challenges for these early pilots was finding uniforms to fit a non-male aviator!

When the order went out to the unenlightened Supply Corp to supply flight gear, they assumed (of course) that meant for men. The WASPs had great fun clowning around in those ill-fitting garments.

Uh…small problem!

Click Here to enlarge

Drawing by Dot Swain
from “We Were WASPs.“

Ferrying Also Had Tense Moments

(May 1988, Lightning Strikes)

Nancy Batson Crews delivered many P‑38s from California to the P.O.E. at Newark, NJ, but one trip left her less than ecstatic. Preparing to land at Pittsburgh, she saw that the nose wheel was not coming down. Although weary from the three-hour leg, she dutifully set to work with the manual pump.

“Ah lost track of the number of pumps,” recalls Alabama-born Crews, “But mah arm sure was sore.” Finally, when the nose wheel still would not budge, she used the C02 bottle . Ferry pilots had been instructed not to touch emergency equipment and WASPs assiduously obeyed instructions. But enough was enough.

So the landing was made, and the plane was inspected. After a day’s delay and the assurance that the problem had been fixed, Crews took off for Newark. As she approached , guess what? Same balky nose wheel. This time exasperated ferry pilot said the equivalent of “to‑H‑with‑it” and blew it down again.

That was one P‑38 which did not receive the customary friendly farewell pat.

Nancy Batson Crews:
High school cheerleader, campus queen,  pilot, wife, mother, politician and business woman!

Alabama’s First Lady of Flight”

Origins of the
Women Airforce Service Pilots

Ferrying Division Air Transport Command
Up until three o’clock in the afternoon of May 29, 1941, there was no organization of any kind in American military aviation to provide for either the delivery of planes or air transport of material.

By the end of that day, the Air Corps Ferrying Command, which grew into the Air Transport Command with its major component the Ferrying Division, was in existence with an assigned military personnel of two. William H. Tunner, a Major, was one of the two. By June 1944 there were 50,000 personnel, 8,500 of which were pilots and the Major was a General.

Those chosen for ferry duty in the early part of the war were the experienced pilots of the time, most from civilian life. Among them were many famous names – Barry Goldwater, Gene Autry, racing pilot Joe de Bona, and Indianapolis racer Rex Mays. Usually considered too old for the combat training much to their disappointment, they had nevertheless been welcomed into the Ferrying Division of the Army Air Corps, Ferrying Division. They performed the invaluable service of flying all military aircraft types from factories to various destinations around the world.

Enter the WASPs

By September 1941, the shortage of pilots was acute and licensed women pilots were selected for ferrying duty.

Although restricted to flights within the U. S., they satisfactorily crisscrossed the country in all directions to deliver various types of planes (i.e., primary, basic and advanced trainers, small tow-target planes and large cargo carriers).

Eventually over a thousand women were hired to fly military planes, with 303 in the Ferry Division. This dropped to less than 150 when the restrictions for women to remain in ferrying demanded qualification in fighter aircraft, because many preferred other duties such as target towing, instrument instructing, flight testing after repair and overhaul, etc.

Those remaining in the AFC ferried all types of fighters, bombers, drones, and transports to assigned destinations within the confines of North America. Besides the twin and four engine bombers such as the B‑25, A‑20, B‑26 and B‑17, these women ferried the single engine P‑39, P‑40, P‑47, P‑51 and P‑63 plus the twin engine pursuits, the P‑38 and the P‑61.

After completion of Pursuit School for the P‑39, P‑40, P‑47 and P‑51 the pilot returned to home base (Long Beach, Palm Springs, Dallas, Wilmington or Romulus). There the types of fighters to be delivered largely depended on geography. Although capable of flying any of the four, Wilmington pilots consistently flew P‑47’s from the nearby Republic factory, Romulus WASPs went to Bell for the P‑39’s and P‑63’s, and those from Dallas, Long Beach, and Palm Springs had P‑51’s to deliver, being close to either a modification center or the North American factory.

Orders for flying the various types of pursuits and bombers usually depended upon one’s base of operation. Those in the west near the Lockheed factory, considered themselves extremely fortunate to have access to the famous P‑38 “Lightning.” Some few of these pilots were able, because of seniority and luck, to ferry the Lockheed P‑38 and Northrop P‑61 Black Widow. Only twenty-three WASPs were so fortunate as to ferry the P‑38 to destinations in WWII.

38 WASPs Died while Serving our Country

In Memoriam
(Unfortunately, there is no sound and no names on these images)

WASP Artwork by Independent Artists

We ran across these cool pieces of art, which are a tribute to the WASPs. If you like them as much as we do, as of this publishing, it looks like you can order the artwork directly from the creators by licking on their image or their title.

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Lightning Lady
by Stan Vosburg

She may have come from a Kansas farm or a New York College. She was probably single and in her early 20s. She had dreamed of flying most of her life. The folks back home said she had “stars in her eyes and the sky on her mind.” We see her standing in the cockpit of a newly minted Lockheed P-38 Lightning. She was flying for the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP of the Army Air Corps.

ORDER HERE

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WASP Special delivery
by Gil Cohen

During the late Autumn of 1944 on the tarmac of the Lockheed Aircraft Plant in Burbank, California, a group of four Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) are gathered around their flight leader. She is kneeling and pointing to a significant rendezvous point on an aerial map, reinforcing the path of the WASP flight plan. Their mission is to ferry five P-38 Lightning fighters to a port of embarkation where the planes will be shipped to bases overseas.

ORDER HERE

 

The P-38 Association does not receive a commission from referring you to these artists. We just thought they were beautiful!