Spotlight On the WASP

During WWII, in the United States, in order to alleviate men from non-combat missions, women were trained to fly airplanes. WWII did not mark the beginning of the career for female pilots, but they were used to significantly help the war cause. Women pilots such as Jackie Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love urged the military to use women pilots and form a division for them in the Air Force. Love in fact formed what was called the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron(WAFS) and Jackie Cochran began the Women's Flying Training Detachment. On August 5, 1943, these two organizations came together to form the WASP, the Women's Air force Service Pilots. Cochran was made the leader. Thousands of women applied and the organization grew rapidly. Unfortunately, the organization did not last long, dew to controversial views and the lack of jobs for men in the forces. The WASP ended on December 20, 1944, having traveled about 60 million miles in different operations.