Book Description

The thrilling, as-yet-untold history of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the daring female aviators who helped the United States win World War II.When Japanese planes executed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At twenty-two, Fort was a failed debutante hoping for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student had just taken off when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground that morning. Still, when the US Army put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Fort was one of the first to respond. She became one of 1,900 women from across the nation--chosen from an application pool of more than 25,000--to converge on Sweetwater, Texas, to train for the U.S. Army Air Force in the hope of earning their silver wings.In The Women with Silver Wings, historian Kate Landdeck introduces us to these young women as they meet even-tempered, methodical Nancy Love and formidable, demanding visionary Jacqueline Cochran, the women who first envisioned sending American women into the air, and whose rivalry would define the WASP. For women like Cornelia, it was a chance to serve her country--and to prove that women aviators are just as skilled and able as men.While not authorized to serve in combat, the WASP helped train male pilots for service abroad and risked their lives to ferry bombers across the Atlantic. Cornelia herself 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, in 1943, with the tides of the war turning and fewer male pilots needed in Europe, Congress pulled out the rug from under the WASP. The program was disbanded, the women sent home. But the bonds they'd made during their time together never failed, and over the next few decades, they banded together to fight for recognition as the military veterans they were--and for their place in history.Beautifully written and painstakingly researched, The Women with Silver Wings is an unforgettable portrait of these fearless, groundbreaking women and their long fight for justice.