The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II

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.

"A must-read for those interested in women's and World War II history." Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Texas Woman's University history professor Landdeck debuts with an entertaining chronicle of the Women Airservice Pilots (WASP) program during WWII....[T]his colorful history soars." Publishers Weekly

"Landdeck's profiles of these daring World War II heroines are so brilliantly and vividly drawn that I felt as if I working alongside them — ferrying bombers, towing flying shooting targets (a potentially deadly exercise), and piloting difficult aircraft that the men were too terrified to attempt. The Women with Silver Wings is not just an important slice of history, it's a thrilling page-turner that explores the patriotism, sexism, and camaraderie of the WASPs' world." Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park

"In this breezy and fascinating history that touches on dramas large and small, members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) come alive....[A] fresh, detailed account." Booklist

"A compelling history that brings forgotten heroes back in the spotlight." Kirkus Reviews

Katherine Sharp Landdeck is an associate professor of history at Texas Woman's University, the home of the WASP archives. A Guggenheim Fellow at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she earned her Ph.D., Landdeck has received numerous awards for her work on the WASP and has appeared as an expert on NPR's Morning Edition, PBS, and the History channel. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and HuffPost, as well as in numerous academic and aviation publications. Landdeck is a licensed pilot who flies whenever she can.

I always wanted to fly. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, not far from Offutt Air Force Base and even closer to the small Millard Municipal Airport, so there were always planes flying overhead...

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