American Women Pilots

NO OBJECTION TO PUBLICATION Bureou of Public Relations, Bennett the Wax Department, Washingien AMERICAN WOMEN PILOTS V.S. A large and rapidly growing group of American women pilots are flying with the American Army Air Forces in non-combat duties. They are officially known as "WASPs" which means Women's Airforce Service Pilots. Their function is to release men pilots for more advanced or combat duties, and they are accomplishing this with cumulative effect. The organised use of American wonen pilots in the war effort had its beginning in the spring of 1942, when I took 25 women to England to fly with the British Air Transport Auxiliary. Most of then are still there and doing good work. Others of the nearly 4,000 licensed American women pilots had found individual opportunity de- livering or testing planes for aircraft factories, or instructing or working with the Civiltan Air Patrol. In the fall of 1942, about 25 of the more experienced woman pilota who were not in lingland vent to work for the Air Transport Command, ferrying planes undor the leadership of Mrs. Robert (Nancy) Love. At the sane time, I returned from England to organize and supervise, under the direction of the Apmy Air Forces Training Command, a broad, advanced training program for women pilots. These women pilots are given a six months course paralleling that given to the air cadets, except for gunnery and other phases of combat training. They then receive their wings and are assigned to various using agencies within the Apay Air Forces. with several hundred graduated lest aid-year and several hundred more constantly being noved through training, the time seamed to have arrived for centralized CO- ordination of the program as a whole. The War Department appointed me Director of Women Pilots to work with the General Staff of the Agay Air Forces. The women pilota will be in uniform very shortly. Although to date, they have Civil Service status, thay live in barracks at the training fiold or in officers quarbers at the use bases and are subject to strict discipline.