Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

Before the United States entered World War II, Jacqueline Cochran, the foremost female pilot in the country, recognized there was a shortage of male pilots and convinced the U.S. Army Air Force that women could help fill the gap. In 1942, a flight training program for women was established in Sweetwater, Texas. During the war, Women Air Force Service Pilots, or “WASP,” were stationed at 120 bases throughout the United States and flew more than 60 million miles in every type of aircraft and on every type of mission other than combat. The program was dismantled before the end of the war, but not before the traditional concept of a woman’s role in military aviation was permanently shattered.