Women's Pilot Training Patch
date: label: date made
content: 1942-1945
name: label: copyright holder
content: Disney
notes: label: Description
content: Hand-painted letter insignia of the female gremlin Fifinella, from British author Roald Dahl's 1943 children’s novel, The Gremlins. Dahl produced the book for Walt Disney Productions for an animated film which never materialized. Fifinella represents female gremlins overall, seen with horns coming out of her yellow flight cap, a red top, yellow slacks, long black gloves, red high-top boots, and goggles. The name, Fifinella, is in homage to the filly racehorse of the same name which won the Epsom Derby and Epsom Oaks races in 1916.
label: Description
content: The character found life outside of the book as the mascot for the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), who received permission from the Disney Company to make the image the organization’s official mascot. This patch shows Fifinella in her original Disney design, coming in from a landing with a red disk in the background. Other versions used by the WASPs had Fifinella in a landing pose sitting astride a bomb while wearing a red coat and purple trousers.
label: Description
content: Army Air Forces First Lieutenant Ruth Lindley Muller (1920-2007) of San Diego, California owned this example of the Fifinella patch. She entered the WASP program in 1943 and trained at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas with WASP Class 43-W-5. After earning her wings, she ferried an array of military aircraft and had an affinity for the North American P-51 Mustang until the disbanding of the WASPs on 20 December 1944.
topic: label: related event
content: World War II
label: related event
content: The Great Depression and World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
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content: Military
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content: ThinkFinity
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1999.0323.18
label: accession number
content: 1999.0323
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0323.18
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patch
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 5 in; 10.16 cm x 12.7 cm