Fifi’s Daughters: The Women’s Airforce Service Pilots in Southeastern North Carolina
by John Moseley, Interpreter III, Fort Fisher State Historic Site
As America entered World War II, the needs of industry and the military drew women into roles they could never have dreamed. By 1943, the iconic picture of “Rosie the Riveter” was cemented in American history through a Westinghouse J poster, a popular song, and a Norman Rockwell painting. That same year, more t than 310,000 women were working in the U.S. aircraft industry. Women make a up 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years. In addition to factory work and other home front jobs, some 350,000 women joined the Armed Services, serving at home and abroad.
At different times between 1940 and 1942, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran, and Nancy Harkness Love, would suggest a role for women pilots in America’s war effort. These three a women advocated for an created programs to employ women pilots during the war. One of these most unique military programs to utilize available women was the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots. At the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt, General George Marshall supported the idea of introducing a women’s service branch into the Army.
By May 1942, Congress instituted roles for women in all branches of the military. Jackie Cochran, America’s most famous female racing pilot, wrote to the Chief of the US Army Air Forces, General Henry Arnold, about her idea to utilize women pilots. He turned her down but sent Ms. Cochran to England to observe and report on the role of women in the British air service. At the same time, another famous female pilot, Nancy Harkness Love, convinced members of the Army Air Corps’ Ferry Service to allow women to fly new warplanes from the factories to Air Corps bases. Mrs. Love quickly hired 29 women and four months later, she commanded the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS).
By mid-1942, General Arnold requested Jackie Cochran to create a role for women pilots based on her earlier letter. She was given command of the Women's Flying Training f Detachment (WFTD). Unlike other women who t joined the military, the women of WAFS, WFTD, and WASP would be treated as civilian contractors. Even though both units had separate c missions to accomplish, on August 5, 1943, the WFTD and WAFS were merged to create a single program - the WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots).
Flight requirements were originally set at two hundred hours of flight time, but, to increase the candidate pool, requirements dropped down incrementally from two hundred to thirty-five hours. Along with personal interviews with Director Jackie Cochran, a WASP needed to be between 21 to 32 years old, pass an Army Air Forces physical, and provide character references. They were re- quired to complete the same primary, basic, and advanced training courses as the male pilots. Trainees could be eliminated from the program at any time for failure to meet the requirements whether they were flying, school, or personal conduct requirements. The women of this program were extremely prepared to become the first women to fly American military aircraft thanks to their training and personal experience.
After training, WASP were stationed at 120 air bases across the U.S., assuming numerous flight-related missions, and relieving male pilots for combat duty. In mid-July 1943, what would eventually total 50 pi lots, were sent to Camp Davis Army Air Field in Southeastern North Carolina. On July 24th, they started learning about the worn-out Army planes they would be piloting during their assignments for the Searchlight and Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalions. By August 1st, the WASP were divided into two target towing squadrons. They were put to work flying thousands of miles each week along the coast. Daylight would find them towing target sleeves on long cables behind their planes above the beaches of Fort Fisher and Camp Davis' other artillery firing ranges. At night, the planes gave the searchlight battalions practice in picking up enemy raiders in the darkness.
On August 22, 1943, the Camp Davis WASP lost their first member. Mable Rawlinson, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was killed when the engine cut out 700 feet in the air while attempting to land. Hitting the top of some pine trees at the edge of the runway, she hit the ground hard enough to shear the plane in two and it caught on fire. The second causality occurred nearly a month later, when Betty Wood, of Auburn, California, developed engine problems on takeoff and plowed into the trees at the end of the runway.
Since they were civilian contractors, the women we not eligible to receive the same benefits as other women serving in the military. A fallen WASP was sent home at her family’s expense without traditional military honors or note of heroism. The Army would not even allow the U.S. flag to be placed on the coffin of a fallen WASP. At Camp Davis, the WASP pooled their money to help defray the cost of shipping the bodies of Miss Rawlinson and Mrs. Wood back home for burial.
During the summer and fall of 1944, the WASP attempted to become a part of the US Air Force. Congress rejected the idea of female military pilots. The program was officially cancelled December 20, 1944. To maintain their bonds of friendship and service they created the Order of Fifinella. The women struggled for years to get credit for their service during the war and worked to have that changed. The G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977 formally recognized the WASP as members of the military and eligible to receive veteran’s benefits. They were recognized in 1984 for their wartime service with the World War II Victory Medal. In March 2010, the surviving WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal - the highest award given to a civilian in the United States.
In their few years of existence, the WASP were credited with flying sixty million miles of operational flights from aircraft factories to ports of embarkation and military training bases. Over the course of the program, roughly 25,000 women applied. Only 1,830 were accepted and of those, only 1,074 of them graduated. These women are credited as being the first women to fly what was at the time “state-of-the-art” military aircraft. Since US military units love to trace their heritage through the history of America, all women pilots of today’s military can trace their lineage to this program and the nearly 1,100 women who were a part of it. When the last WASP passes away, the Order of Fifinella will cease to exist.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cole, Jean Hascall. Women Pilots of World War II. University of Utah Press; 1992.
Haydu, Bernice Falk. Letters Home 1944-1945. TopLine Printing and Graphics, 2003.
Hodgson, Marion Stegeman. Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War. Bright Sky Press; 2005.
Nathan, Amy. Yankee Doodle Gals: Women Pilots of World War II. National Geographic Society; Washington DC, 2001.
Rickman, Sarah Byrn. The Originals: The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of World War II. Braughler Books, LLC; 2017.
Stallman, David. Women in the Wild Blue: Target-Towing WASP at Camp Davis. Echos Press; 2006.
Verges, Marianne. On Silver Wings: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Ballantine Books; 1991.
