Earning Their Wings
Recognizing the women who flew military aircraft during World War II
May and June 2018 will be banner months, literally, for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) Museum in Sweetwater, Texas.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, banners will fly for the annual homecoming of the women who flew important missions during World War II, and again in June for the activities leading to the start of the 42nd annual Air Race Classic.
Those events will be part of a seminal year in WASP history: the first group of women who trained at Avenger Field in Sweetwater earned their wings 75 years ago in 1943. Three of those originals, Nell Bright, Edna Davis and Barbara Heinrich, attended the 2016 homecoming. Davis died in 2017, as did Florence Mascott, who graduated in 1944.
The Air Race Classic traces its history to 1929 when the first Women’s Air Derby took off from Santa Monica, Calif. After lapses and name changes, the race started up again under the name Air Race Classic.
SERVICE CALL With male pilots in short supply after the Pearl Harbor attack, Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) flew every aircraft in the Army’s arsenal and were vital to the war effort. Their contributions are commemorated at the museum in Sweetwater.
This year, the pilots will take off from historic Avenger Field on June 19. Beginning June 15, the pilots, who come from all over the United States, will be treated to a Texas-sized welcome courtesy of the WASP Museum.
Ann Hobing, executive director of the museum, has been planning authentic Texas activities to entertain the women when they aren’t touring the museum or getting their planes ready. “We’re thrilled we’re going to be able to do that,” Hobing said, recognizing the opportunity for public awareness and education.
The WASP history is a fascinating one. The women weren’t significantly recognized for their war effort until 2009 when they were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress. They didn’t earn veteran status until 1977.
Despite the lack of official acknowledgement of the WASPs, people familiar with their history are amazed. The WASP program was a merger of two previous all-female pilot organizations that were formed to free up male pilots for combat during World War II — the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment.
AT EASE (left to right) Pilots Millicent “Millie” Young, Shirley Kruse, Shutsy Reynolds, Dorothy Lucas, Florence Mascott, Mildred “Jane” Doyle, Roby Anderson, Kay Hilbrandt, Nell Bright and Barbara Heinrich attended the 2017 WASP Homecoming.
The WASP program came to Sweetwater in 1943 from Houston after a merger of the two predecessors. Sweetwater Municipal Airport got a new name when the women came. “Avenger Field” was chosen through a contest, appropriately won by a woman. “In her mind,” Hobing said, “it was avenging the bombing at Pearl Harbor.”
Several training classes were going at all times, Hobing said, and the 75th anniversary commemorates all the women who graduated in 1943. In the two years the program existed at Sweetwater, 1,074 women graduated. The first class of women, who started training in Houston, graduated on May 28, 1943.
There’s something poetic to Hobing about the Air Race Classic pilots coming to Avenger Field to commemorate the achievement of women who helped pave the way for them. The women pilots of the early 1940s had the same spirit of adventure as the women who will fly in the 2018 race. “To me,” Hobing said, “that’s one of the most exciting aspects of the Air Race Class experience.”
