Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots ( WASP ) was a paramilitary aviation organization . The WASP ' s predecessors , the Women ' s Flying Training Detachment ( WFTD ) and the Women ' s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ( WAFS ) organized separately in September 1942 . They were the pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots , employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . The WFTD and WAFS were merged on August 5 , 1943 , to create the paramilitary WASP organization . The female pilots of the WASP ended up numbering 1 , 074 , each freeing a male pilot for combat service and duties . They flew over 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft . The WASP was granted veteran status in 1977 , and given the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009 . Some 25 , 000 women applied to join the WASP , but only 1 , 830 were accepted and took the oath . Only 1 , 074 of them passed the training and joined . Creation of the WASP . By the summer of 1941 , Jacqueline " Jackie " Cochran and test - pilot Nancy Harkness Love , two famous women pilots , independently submitted proposals to the U . S . Army Air Forces ( the forerunner to the United States Air Force ) to use women pilots in non - combat missions after the outbreak of World War II in Europe . The motivation was to free male pilots for combat roles , by employing qualified female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to military bases , and to tow drones and aerial targets . Prior to Pearl Harbor , General Henry H . " Hap " Arnold , commander of the USAAF , had turned down both Love ' s 1940 proposal and that of the better connected and more famous Cochran , despite the lobbying by Eleanor Roosevelt . But he essentially promised the command to Cochran , should such a force be needed in the future . While the U . S . was not yet fighting in World War II , Cochran had gone to England to volunteer to fly for the Air Transport Auxiliary ( ATA ) . The ATA had been using female pilots since January 1940 , and was starting to train new ones as well . The American women who flew in the ATA were the first American women to fly military aircraft . They flew the Royal Air Force ' s front - line aircraft — Spitfires , Typhoons , Hudsons , Mitchells , Blenheims , Oxfords , Walruses , and Sea Otters — in non - combat roles , but in combat - like conditions . Most of these women served in the ATA during the war . Only three members returned to the U . S . to participate in the WASP program . The U . S . was building its air power and military presence in anticipation of direct involvement in the conflict , and had belatedly begun to drastically expand its men in uniform . This period led to the dramatic increase in activity for the U . S . Army Air Forces , because of obvious gaps in " manpower " that could be filled by women . After the attack on Pearl Harbor , it became evident there were not enough male pilots . To those most involved within the new Ferrying Division of the Air Transport Command ( ATC ) , the numbers were painfully obvious . Brig . Gen . William H . Tunner was in charge of acquiring civilian ferry pilots . He decided to integrate a civilian force of female pilots into the AAF , after speaking with Major Robert M . Love , ATC staff officer , and his wife Nancy . Convinced of the feasibility of the program by Mrs . Love , who had a Commercial Pilot License , he asked her to draw up a proposal , unaware that Arnold had shelved a similar proposal by Tunner ' s superior , Maj . Gen . Robert Olds . Cochran had committed to go to Great Britain in March 1942 for the trial program of female pilots with the ATA . She used her association with the President and Mrs . Roosevelt to lobby Arnold to reject any plan that did not commission women , and set up an independent organization commanded by women . Ironically , Tunner ' s proposal called for commissioning women in the WAACs , but was turned down after review by Arnold . By the mid - summer of 1942 , Arnold was willing to consider the prior proposals seriously . Tunner and Love ' s plan was reviewed by the ATC headquarters , and forwarded by commander Gen . Harold L . George to Arnold , who was fully aware of it and gave it his blessing , after Mrs . Roosevelt had suggested a similar idea in a newspaper column . The Women ' s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ( WAFS ) was headed by Mrs . Love , and went into operation on September 10 , 1942 . Soon , the Air Transport Command began using women to ferry planes from factory to airfields . Cochran returned to the United States on September 10 , 1942 , as the new organization was being publicized , and immediately confronted Arnold for an explanation . Arnold claimed ignorance and blamed the ATC staff , in particular George ' s chief of staff , Col . ( and former president of American Airlines ) C . R . Smith . With the publicity involved , the WAFS program could not be reversed , and so on September 15 , 1942 , Cochran ' s training proposal was also adopted . Cochran and Love ' s squadrons were thereby established separately . The 319th Women ’ s Flying Training Detachment ( WFTD ) at the Municipal Airport ( now Hobby Airport ) in Houston , Texas , with Cochran as commanding officer , and the Women ' s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron , the 2nd Ferrying Group at New Castle ( Delaware ) Army Air Base ( now New Castle Airport ) . Though rivals , the two programs and their respective leaders operated independently , and without acknowledgment of each other until the summer of 1943 . When Cochran pushed aggressively for a single entity to control the activity of all women pilots . Tunner , in particular , objected on the basis of differing qualification standards , and the absolute necessity of the ATC being able to control its own pilots . But Cochran ' s preeminence with Arnold prevailed , and in July 1943 he ordered the programs merged , with Cochran as director . The WAFS and the WFTD were combined to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots ( WASP ) . Love continued with the program as executive in charge of WASP ferrying operations . Initial WASP training . The WASP training spanned 19 groups of women : The Originals , or WAFS led by Nancy Love , and The Guinea Pigs — Jacqueline Cochran ' s first of 18 classes of women pilots . They were required to complete the same primary , basic , and advanced training courses as male Army Air Corps pilots and many of them went on to specialized flight training . There were two Chinese - American women in the WASP , Hazel Ying Lee and Maggie Gee . Hazel Ying Lee died following a runway collision , but Maggie Gee survived the war . Ola Mildred Rexroat , an Oglala Sioux woman from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation , South Dakota , was the only Native American woman in the WASP . She survived the war and later joined the Air Force . All the other members of the WASP were white ; no African - Americans were allowed to join the WASP . The WAFS each had an average of about 1 , 400 flying hours and a commercial pilot rating , They received 30 days of orientation to learn Army paperwork and to fly by military regulations . Afterward , they were assigned to various ferrying commands . The Guinea Pigs started training at Houston Municipal Airport ( Texas ) on November 16 , 1942 , as part of the 319th Army Air Force Women ' s Flying Training Detachment ( AAFWFTD ) . This was just after the WAFS had started their orientation in Wilmington , Delaware . Unlike the WAFS , the women that reported to Houston did not have uniforms and had to find their own lodging . The " Woofteddies " ( WFTD ) also had minimal medical care , no life insurance , crash truck , or fire truck , and the ambulance was loaned from the Ellington Army Airfield , along with insufficient administrative staff , and a hodgepodge of aircraft — 23 types — for training . As late as January 1943 , when the third class was about to start their training , the three classes were described by Byrd Granger in On Final Approach , as " a raggle - taggle crowd in a rainbow of rumpled clothing " , while they gathered for morning and evening colors . This lack of resources , combined with the foggy and wet Houston weather delayed the graduation of the first class from February to April 1943 . Conditions included the wet , sticky , clay soil everywhere , and a scarcity of rest rooms , which made the potential for morale problems significant . To minimize this , the " Fifinella Gazette " was started . The first issue was published February 10 , 1943 . The female gremlin Fifinella was conceived by Roald Dahl and drawn by Walt Disney , and used as the official WASP mascot that appeared on their shoulder patches . The first Houston class started with 38 women with a minimum of 200 hours . Twenty - three graduated on April 24 , 1943 , at the only Houston WASP graduation at Ellington Army Air Field . The second Houston class , started in December 1942 with a minimum of 100 hours , but finished their training just in time to move to Sweetwater , Texas and become the first graduating class from Avenger Field on May 28 , 1943 . The third class completed their advanced training at Avenger Field and graduated July 3 , 1943 . Half of the fourth class of 76 women started their primary training in Houston on February 15 , 1943 , and then transferred to Sweetwater . On March 7 , 1943 , the Houston classes incurred their first fatality . Margaret Oldenburg of 43 - W - 4 and her instructor , Norris G . Morgan , crashed seven miles south of Houston and were killed on impact . By the end of May 1943 , the Houston 319th AAFWFTD was history . Later in the summer of 1943 , both the WAFS and WFTD were combined into the WASP . Duties of the WASP . Each WASP had a pilot ' s license . They were trained to fly " the Army way " by the U . S . Army Air Forces at Avenger Field in Sweetwater , Texas . More than 25 , 000 women applied for the WASP , and fewer than 1 , 900 were accepted . After completing four months of military flight training , 1 , 074 of them earned their wings and became the first women to fly American military aircraft . The women were not trained for combat . Their course of instruction , however , was essentially the same as that for aviation cadets . The WASPs thus received no gunnery training , and very little formation flying and aerobatics , but went through the maneuvers necessary to be able to recover from any position . The percentage of trainees eliminated compared favorably with the elimination rates for male cadets in the Central Flying Training Command . After training , the WASPs were stationed at 120 air bases across the U . S . , assuming numerous flight - related missions , and relieving male pilots for combat duty . They flew sixty million miles of operational flights from aircraft factories to ports of embarkation and military training bases . They also towed targets for live anti - aircraft artillery practice , simulated strafing missions , and transported cargo . Women in these roles flew almost every type of aircraft flown by the USAAF during World War II . In addition , a few exceptionally qualified women were allowed to test rocket - propelled planes , to pilot jet - propelled planes , and to work with radar - controlled targets . Between September 1942 and December 1944 , the WASP delivered 12 , 650 aircraft of 78 different types . Thirty - eight WASP fliers lost their lives while serving during the war – - all in accidents — eleven in training and twenty - seven on active duty . Because they were not considered military under the existing guidelines , a fallen WASP was sent home at family 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 the fallen WASP . Battle for militarization . The WASP was considered civil service and did not receive military benefits , unlike their male counterparts . On the other hand , they were not administratively tied to the Army Air Forces and could resign at any time after completion of their training , although few , if any did . On September 30 , 1943 , the first of the WASP militarization bills was introduced in the United States House of Representatives . Both Cochran and Arnold desired a separate corps headed by a woman colonel ( similar to the WAC , WAVES , SPAR , and Marine heads ) . The War Department , however , consistently opposed such a move , since there was no separate corps for male pilots as distinguished from unrated AAF officers . Instead , it preferred that women be commissioned in the WAC , and added to some 2 , 000 " Air WAC " officers assigned to flying duty , legally permissible . On June 21 , 1944 , the House bill to give the WASP military status was narrowly defeated , The civilian male pilots lobbied against the bill : reacting to closure of some civilian flight training schools , and the termination of two male pilot training commissioning programs . The House Committee on the Civil Service ( Ramspeck Committee ) reported on June 5 , 1944 , that it considered the WASP unnecessary , unjustifiably expensive , and recommended that the recruiting and training of inexperienced women pilots be halted . Cochran had been pushing for a resolution of the question : in effect , delivering an ultimatum to either commission the women or disband the program . The AAF had developed an excess of pilots and pilot candidates . As a result , Arnold ( who had been a proponent of militarization ) ordered that the WASP be disbanded by December 20 , 1944 . Arnold is quoted from a speech he delivered at Avenger Field in Sweetwater , Texas on December 7 , 1944 : " The WASP has completed its mission . Their job has been successful . But as is usual in war , the cost has been heavy . Thirty - eight WASP have died while helping their country move toward the moment of final victory . The Air Forces will long remember their service and their final sacrifice . " At the conclusion of the WASP program , 915 women pilots were on duty with the AAF : 620 assigned to the Training Command , 141 to the Air Transport Command , 133 to the numbered air forces in the continental United States , 11 to the Weather Wing , 9 to the technical commands and one to the Troop Carrier Command . Legacy . All records of the WASP were classified and sealed for 35 years , so their contributions to the war effort were little known and inaccessible to historians . In 1975 , under the leadership of Col . Bruce Arnold , son of General Hap Arnold , the WASP fought the " Battle of Congress " in Washington , D . C . , to have the WASP recognized as veterans of World War II . They organized as a group again and tried to gain public support for their official veteran recognition . Finally in 1977 , the records were unsealed after an Air Force press release erroneously stated the Air Force was training the first women to fly military aircraft for the U . S . This time , the WASPs lobbied Congress with the important support of Senator Barry Goldwater , who himself had been a World War II ferry pilot in the 27th Ferrying Squadron . President Jimmy Carter signed legislation # 95 – 202 , Section 401 , The G . I . Bill Improvement Act of 1977 , granting the WASP corps full military status for their service . In 1984 , each WASP was awarded the World War II Victory Medal . Those who served for more than one year were also awarded American Theater Ribbon / American Campaign Medal for their service during the war . Many of the medals were accepted by the recipients ' sons and daughters on their behalf . Because of the pioneering and the expertise they demonstrated in successfully flying military aircraft , the WASP records showed that women pilots , when given the same training as men pilots , were as capable as men in non - combat flying . On July 1 , 2009 President Barack Obama and the United States Congress awarded the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal . Three of the roughly 300 surviving WASPs were on hand to witness the event . During the ceremony President Obama said , " The Women Airforce Service Pilots courageously answered their country ' s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since . Every American should be grateful for their service , and I am honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard - earned recognition they deserve . " On May 10 , 2010 , the 300 surviving WASPs came to the US Capitol to accept the Congressional Gold Medal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders .