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The women with silver wings : the inspiring true story of the women Airforce service pilots of World War II / Katherine Sharp Landdeck.

by Landdeck, Katherine Sharp, author.

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New York : Crown, [2020]

Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.)

World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Female.

Air pilots, Military -- United States -- Biography.

Women air pilots -- United States -- Biography.

9781524762810 (hardcover) :

1524762814 (hardcover) :

435 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Prologue -- Airminded -- The experiment begins -- She will direct the women pilots -- Outstanding woman flier of the world -- Ferry pilots -- The fabulous first -- A chance to serve -- Carrying on -- The Army way -- The hopefuls -- Earning those wings -- Avenger field -- Expansion -- The Women Airforce Service Pilots -- England -- Aerial dishwashers -- A secret little deal -- The lost last class -- I regret to inform you -- Simple justice -- Disbandment -- The end of the experiment -- Finding their way -- Moving on -- Reunited -- The flight begins -- The year of the WASP -- The final flight -- Epilogue -- Author's note -- Acknowledgements -- In memoriam -- Notes.

"The thrilling true story of the daring female aviators who helped the United States win World War II-only to be forgotten by the country they served 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"--

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