The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
Product ID: 179285456
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“With the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, women pilots went aloft to serve their nation. . . . A soaring tale in which, at long last, these daring World War II pilots gain the credit they deserve.”—Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls “A powerful story of reinvention, community and ingenuity born out of global upheaval.”— Newsday When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At twenty-two, Fort had escaped Nashville’s debutante scene for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student were in the middle of their lesson when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground that morning. Still, when the U.S. Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Fort was one of the first to respond. She became one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation to make it through the Army’s rigorous selection process and earn her silver wings. The brainchild of trailblazing pilots Nancy Love and Jacqueline Cochran, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) gave women like Fort a chance to serve their country—and to prove that women aviators were just as skilled as men. While not authorized to serve in combat, the WASP helped train male pilots for service abroad, and ferried bombers and pursuits across the country. Thirty-eight WASP would not survive the war. But even taking into account these tragic losses, Love and Cochran’s social experiment seemed to be a resounding success—until, with the tides of war turning, Congress clipped the women’s wings. The program was disbanded, the women sent home. But the bonds they’d forged never failed, and over the next few decades they came together to fight for recognition as the military veterans they were—and for their place in history. Review: Amazing aviators fighting multiple battles! - A wonderful and inspiring read about a dedicated and talented group of women who served their country in one of its most critical hours. You will laugh, cry, and cheer on their journeys from many decades ago and yet their heroics and sacrifice will stand the test of time. Review: Unknown flying women - Great book about the forgotten women who flew planes in wartime. They were from all parts of the country, were very brave and were often treated with little respect by their male counterparts. They were finally recognized many years after the war ended.
| Best Sellers Rank | #681,001 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #71 in Women in History #330 in World War II History (Books) #4,084 in Sociology Reference |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 843 Reviews |
J**R
Amazing aviators fighting multiple battles!
A wonderful and inspiring read about a dedicated and talented group of women who served their country in one of its most critical hours. You will laugh, cry, and cheer on their journeys from many decades ago and yet their heroics and sacrifice will stand the test of time.
J**K
Unknown flying women
Great book about the forgotten women who flew planes in wartime. They were from all parts of the country, were very brave and were often treated with little respect by their male counterparts. They were finally recognized many years after the war ended.
K**E
I cannot believe we don't talk about the WASP!
Read this book with some ladies for our feminist book club. I love history and this book was stuff full of crazy and unbelievably unique stories. I was shocked that I had never heard of any of this before. It is an inspiring and frustrating record of women who wanted to use their passion for flight to serve their nation in desperate times. They are involved with WWII so be prepared for the attitudes of the time to be grating and riddled with chauvinism. It was a truly fascinating read and well worth the time, i am still blown away that I had never before heard of the WASP!
M**E
Women of WW II
Great read of the forgotten women of WW II.
T**R
Must Read
This book was published recently and the copy that I received was from a library sale. These women have been overlooked by the general population for decades because they were women who did the same jobs as men and they were not given a second thought and it made me angry at this Country for the fact that after all that they did their sacrifices were never acknowledged by the public or our government
B**E
Lost history shared
This was an important piece of history that I loved learning about the struggles of these women deserves to be shared and remembered!
F**L
The Untold Story Of Women Air Force Pilots During World War II
Women pilots were a great help to the Air Force during World War II doing things such as ferrying planes from factories to various bases that needed the planes to send them overseas and doing testing of planes when others were too scared or unavailable due to manpower shortages. This book is the very well told story of the women who flew and who trained them to fly. It is also the story of their desperation to become officially part of the Army Air Force following their service and their desire to be recognized as officers in the Air Corps. This book brought back a lot of memories. My father was originally trained at Sweetwater, Texas, where the women needed were trained to fly. Although he didn't make it as a pilot due to issues beyond his control, he moved from Sweetwater to Big Spring, Texas where he trained to become a bombardier. Since the 2 bases were close, it is inevitable that he met the female pilots and very well may have socialized (at a minimum, knowing my father). This book uncovers a small, but very important part of the Army Air Corps that helped the United States end the wars in the Pacific and Europe. A very good read, and one I highly recommend!
T**1
Inspiring
While touring Pensacola Air Base and seeing the Blue Angels fly during a vacation, I found this book in the gift shop and was intrigued. When I returned home, I bought it again on Kindle and have so enjoyed reading about these first Women military pilots. My maiden name is Dougherty and I plan on doing some research to see if I could be related to Dora Dougherty, who is written about in this book. An easy and interesting read, unlike some history books. I will be forever grateful for all the work these women accomplished.
C**E
Definitely worth reading
I’m grateful that this book exists. It’s the work of a historian who spent about 20 years collecting oral histories and archives on the WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots. The WASP were the first American women to fly for the US military. They were supposed to be civilian volunteering to “release” men from jobs on home soil, yet in practice were treated like military personal. They have continuously been denied recognition for their service during WWII on a technicality, and therefore did not get the privileges and benefits attached to it. While the writing is sometimes repetitive and often gossipy -which can be explained by the reliance of the author on oral histories- the thrilling story of the WASP truly deserves to be told and more people should know about it. My one negative criticism of the book, besides the writing style, is that it made it painfully obvious that the author is white and tells history from her white perspective. She goes so far as to describe white as “the right skin colour”, without quotation marks. She brushed over the fact that black women were actively discouraged from applying to the WASP training program. There is only about two pages of the entire book dedicated to women of color, despite several women of Asian descent flying for the WASP, including at least one who lost her life during her service.
M**Y
disappointingly dull book
This is the story of the infighting among the members of the WASPS.It says very little about what they actually did in WW2
S**L
Good Read
Good Read I enjoyed the story although I already knew most of it.
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