Thank You, WASP

"This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and ever weapon possible. WOMEN PILOTS, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1942

I am woefully ignorant of my sisters in the military. I know more about their past contributions than I do about our present-day war in Iraq. However, the women who fought to be pilots during World War II were groundbreakers and a force to be reckoned with.

This site is full of great information, photos, bios, and a lot of fun to browse around in. You can get a wonderful poster that can be enlarged to an 11 x 17 at Kinko's with the pdf file. Embrace the little girl in you and play Paper Dolls here!

These lady pilots may not have seen active combat duty, but some performed very dangerous jobs as test pilots for BT-13's as well as several other planes. WASP flew AT-11's on bombing range runs to train bombardiers and navigators and they flew B-26's as tow target pilots for air-to-air gunnery practice by "green" gunners using live ammunition.

Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas became home for a short time to these WASP, and a museum is well underway to becoming a reality.

Ladies, you get my "Salute".