WASP Female Military Pilots Receive Congressional Gold Medal

During World War II, young women known as WASPs risked their lives to fly planes to help the US military. 65 years later, they're finally getting the recognition they deserve.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on March 10 2010

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If someone says the word “WASP” you probably imagine one of two things: a terrifying insect with a sharp stinger, or Lacoste-clad woman named Bitsy. But how about a WWII-era female pilot?

These Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs, for short) are the antithesis of Bitsy and her ilk. Between 1942 and 1944, more than 1,100 young women braved the skies in B-26 bomber jets and other military aircrafts, chartering the planes to military bases, testing the planes, and taking on other risky tasks to help the Allied Forces.

One of the WASPS, Margaret Phelan Taylor, recalls a dangerous moment in the sky when she noticed smoke coming from the cockpit during a transfer. She’d been taught to jump out with her parachute in case of trouble, but she believed that might be even more dangerous, as the parachutes hadn’t been properly fitted for the female pilots.

“I thought, ‘You know what? I’m not going until I see flame. When I see actual fire, why, then I’ll jump,’” she told NPR’s Morning Edition, more than half a century later.

Though the WASPS didn’t engage in active warfare, they still paid an essential role in helping the U.S. military—but these young women didn’t receive official military status until decades after the war, and they were never honored for the work they did.

But yesterday, 65 years after the end of the program, the WASPs were granted Congressional Gold Medals in a special ceremony on Capitol Hill. For the surviving WASPS, now women in their 80s and 90s, it’s a historic moment that’s been a long time coming, but they’ve finally gotten their due.

“We acknowledge that for too long the proud service of the WASPs was not recognized in word or in deed,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the group of women. “Today, we honor you as the heroes that you are.”

“We are all your daughters,” she added.

Learn more about these remarkable aviators from NPR’s Morning Edition.

Filed under: Heroes, History,

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