WWII, Paul Tibbets with WASP Trainees, 1944

Dora Dougherty, third from left in front of B-29 Ladybird with Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (left), Dorothea Johnson (2nd from left) and B-29 crew. In 1944, Dora Strother and Dorothea Johnson were selected by Tibbets to learn to fly the Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber. The plane was considered dangerous and cumbersome, and Tibbets believed the two women could learn to fly the four-engine plane to showcase its reliability. After four days of flight training, Strother and Moorman flew the B-29 from Birmingham, Alabama, to Clovis, New Mexico. There they took male crews on flights and further trained them, demonstrating the feasibility of flying the B-29.The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was a civilian women pilots organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became trained pilots who tested aircraft, ferried aircraft and trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during WWII. Despite various members of the armed forces being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing. WASP was preceded by the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Both were organized separately in September 1942. They were pioneering organizations of civilian women pilots, who were attached to the United States Army Air Forces to fly military aircraft during WWII. On August 5, 1943, the WFTD and WAFS merged to create the WASP organization. They flew over 60 million miles; transported every type of military aircraft; towed targets for live anti-aircraft gun practice; simulated strafing missions and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASP members lost their lives and one disappeared while on a ferry mission, her fate still (2019) unknown. In 1977, for their WWII service, the members were granted veteran status, and in 2009 awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. USAF photo, 1944

Picture No

12697533

Media ID

47705118

Size

4500px x 2988px (3.5MB)

Credit

USAF/Science Source/Mary Evans

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