Women in the Air Force Women in the Air Force ( WAF ) was a program which served to bring women into limited roles in the United States Air Force . WAF was formed in 1948 when President Truman signed the Women ' s Armed Services Integration Act , allowing women to serve directly in the military . The WAF program ended in 1976 when women were accepted into the USAF on an equal basis with men . WAF was distinct from the Women ' s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ( WAFS ) , a small group of female civilian transport pilots that was formed in 1942 with Nancy H . Love as commander . WAFS was folded into the Women Airforce Service Pilots ( WASPs ) in 1943 ; WASP was disbanded in December , 1944 . Life in the WAF . When the USAF was officially formed in 1947 , a number of former Women ' s Army Corps members ( WACs ) continued serving in the Army but performed Air Force duties , as the Air Force did not admit women in its first year . Some WACs chose to transfer to the WAFs when it became possible . At its inception in 1948 , WAF was limited to 4 , 000 enlisted women and 300 female officers . Women were encouraged to fill many different roles but were not to be trained as pilots , even though the United States Army Air Corps had graduated their first class of female pilots in April 1943 under wartime conditions . The WAF directorship was to be filled by a non - pilot . All WAFs were assigned ground duties , most ending up in clerical and medical positions . Women who were already pilots and who would have been good candidates for WAF leadership were instead diverted to the Air Force Reserves . For example , Nancy Harkness Love , founder and commander of the Women ' s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ( WAFS ) and executive of the Women Airforce Service Pilots ( WASPs ) , was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Reserves in 1948 after it was directed to admit women . Jacqueline Cochran , who had volunteered in the RAF and had demonstrated solid leadership in greatly expanding the WASP program , was similarly directed to join the Reserves in 1948 within which she rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1969 . Female pilots in the Reserves were classified as federal civilian employees , not active military personnel . Directors . The first director of WAF was Colonel Geraldine Pratt May , who received her first commission in August 1942 . She had been among the first women officers assigned to the Army Air Forces , where she served as WAC staff director within Air Transport Command . May ' s wartime command at " Air WAC " included 6 , 000 enlisted women and officers . On becoming director of WAF , May was promoted to full colonel , the first woman in the Air Force to attain that rank . May served until 1951 at which time she accepted a non - military government post . Mary Jo Shelly picked up the WAF directorship in 1951 . Shelly was among the first women officers in the Navy and had been instrumental in setting up WAVES training in 1942 ; after the war she had returned to civilian life as assistant to the president of Bennington College . In WAF , Shelly worked to expand women ' s assignments within the USAF , as most women were still being placed in traditional " women ' s jobs " such as stenographer or nurse . A push to employ women in more technical fields was undertaken . Some male USAF commanders were interested in the good results obtained by using women in air defense control centers , passenger air transport operations and in data processing and analysis . Others wanted to see women restricted to a few tightly defined roles . Against the ingrained male - dominated military habits , Shelly achieved only limited success ; her outgoing report in 1954 stated that the WAF was fated to remain small and exclusive as long as Selective Service applied only to men . Colonel Phyllis D . S . Gray , another ex - WAVE , was director of WAF starting in 1954 . She passed the baton to Colonel Emma J . Riley in 1957 . Riley linked forces with Army Colonel Mary Louise Milligan ( WAC ) to work with the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services ( DACOWITS ) in a successful attempt to retroactively grant active military service status ( and its benefits ) to former WAACs ( Women ' s Auxiliary Air Corps ) who had served in World War II and had also been in WAC , WAF or one of the other women ' s services . Riley pointed out to a Congressional subcommittee that SPARS , WAVES and female Marines had been given active duty status but Army and Air Force women had not . The bill passed in 1959 and approximately 1 , 400 women gained additional active duty credit . WAACs who had chosen not to continue service would wait until 1980 to be granted this status . Further directors : Recruits . The first WAF recruit was Sergeant Esther Blake who enlisted July 8 , 1948 in the first minute that regular Air Force duty was authorized for women ; Blake transferred from the WACs where she had a post in Fort McPherson , Georgia . Lackland Air Force Base , near San Antonio , Texas , was where the first cadre of WAFs reported . Recruits were expected to appear attractive and were schooled in posture and cosmetics along with their physical training and military indoctrination . African - American recruits joined the WAFs in greater numbers in 1949 when basic training for women was desegregated in the USAF . Integration of quarters and mess was slower in coming . Barbara A . Wilson started as a Private at Lackland then steadily moved up the ranks . She was the first WAF to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree through a military program at Long Island University . She was the first enlisted WAF NCO ( T . Sgt . ) to become an officer via Officer Training School ( OTS ) . She retired at the rank of Major , and earned a Master ' s degree in an Air Force Program at Southern Illinois University . She produced and hosted a TV program about antiques and wrote as a syndicated newspaper columnist in the ' 80s . Wilson , writing as " Captain Barb " , maintains a website with information about women in all branches of the military : " Women Military Veterans : Yesterday — Today — Tomorrow " . The first African - American female brigadier general of the USAF was Marcelite J . Harris who attained the rank in 1990 . Harris took OTS at Lackland in 1966 , after traveling with a USO tour to military bases in Germany and France . Harris said in a 1992 interview with Ebony : " Originally , I wanted to be an actress . " After graduating from Spelman College with a BA in speech and drama she joined the WAFs . Specializing in aircraft maintenance , she served as a supervisor at Korat Air Base in Thailand , servicing Vietnam war aircraft . Harris later became Air Officer Commanding at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado . She even picked up a degree in Business Management along the way . Circa 1992 Harris held a command at HQ USAF , Washington , DC , where she was responsible for 125 , 000 airmen and an annual budget of $ 20 billion . She retired in 1997 . Uniforms . The first WAFs wore men ' s uniforms with neckties . Geraldine Pratt May quickly ordered women ' s uniforms , selecting herself the particular shade of blue . The cut of the winter uniform was modeled after those of airline flight attendants , using the same material as the men ' s winter uniforms . Instead of a necktie , tabs were worn on the collar . The effect was considered " smart and contemporary " , The two - piece summer uniform , however , made of cotton - cord seersucker , fit poorly and required frequent ironing . WAF Band . The 543rd Air Force Band ( WAF ) was organized in January 1951 by Colonel George S . Howard , Chief of Bands and Music for the Air Force . Eighteen women musicians were directed by Private First Class Mary Divens . In December 1951 , MaryBelle Johns Nissly was recruited by Howard to return to military life at the rank of captain to be given the tasks of conductor and commander of the WAF Band . Nissly had left Army service in 1946 as a warrant officer and had previously gained attention as a sergeant by starting the first Women ' s Army Band at Fort Des Moines in 1942 while she was with the Women ' s Auxiliary Air Corps ( WAAC ) . In its ten - year lifespan , the WAF Band was served by some 235 women musicians with approximately 50 members at any one time . Attrition from the organization was often caused by marriage , as band members were required to be single . They also had to be white ; the Air Force knew the WAF Band would be touring the segregated Deep South and they did not want to cross the race barrier . Concerts were played all over the nation , including Hawaii , Alaska and Puerto Rico . At least one concert took them to Mexico . The band marched in Eisenhower ' s two inaugurations , played in the freezing cold for JFK ' s inauguration and appeared occasionally on live television broadcasts . Home base for the WAF Band was first Lackland , moving in 1953 to Bolling AFB in Washington , DC , where , by Air Force Regulation 190 - 21 , published June 13 , 1955 , they were officially designated " United States WAF Band " , acknowledging their " de facto " status as USAF representatives rather than their former status as a simple base band . Their official mission became to " assist , within their capabilities , in promoting Air Force objectives and enhancing the prestige of the Air Force and the United States . " This meant there were now " two " bands serving as ambassadors of the USAF : the all - male Air Force Band and the WAF Band . In 1957 , while flying aboard a C - 124 Globemaster II , the WAF Band was invited by General James L . Jackson , Deputy Commander of the San Bernardino Air Materiel Area , Air Materiel Command , to move to his headquarters at Norton AFB in San Bernardino , California . The move took place in January , 1958 . The band retained its training and chain - of - command connection with the USAF band school at Bolling . At Norton , the band found it easier to schedule C - 124 planes and pilots to keep up their touring schedule . The WAF Band was inactivated in 1961 , most likely victims of their success . Colonel Howard , as leader of the all - male band , had apparently grown less eager to share the spotlight . In 1960 , he had diverted a special request for the WAFs to perform in Europe , substituting his band instead . That same year Howard issued a directive forbidding the WAF Band to appear at any civilian functions such as county fairs and schools where they had become popular . Nissly continued to accept these civilian invitations in contravention of the directive , allowing anti - women elements in the USAF an excuse to charge the WAF Band with insubordination . The band was dissolved . Band members were given the option of transferring to a different WAF unit but some left the service entirely . Colonel Howard retired on September 1 , 1963 . Nissly retired at the rank of Major in 1968 . The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music holds the Martha Awkerman WAF and Long Beach Band Papers , 1940 - 2002 which consists of scrapbooks , photographs , and recordings of cornet soloist Martha Awkerman and the WAF Band . ROTC program . In 1956 , a WAF section was introduced into the Reserve Officer Training Corps ( ROTC ) program . Four universities were running ROTC WAF sections in 1959 . By 1970 , the Air Force ROTC women cadet program had expanded to a more national scope . Major General Wendy M . Masiello , a 1980 graduate of Texas Tech University , is an example of high - ranking woman officer who was commissioned via Air Force ROTC . Closing chapter . In 1967 , President Johnson signed " Public Law 90 - 130 " , lifting grade restrictions and strength limitations on women in the military . 1973 saw the end of Selective Service ( the " draft " ) , meaning military recruiting practices were beginning to experience radical changes . In 1976 , women were accepted into the military on much the same basis as men ; the separate status of WAF was abolished . That same year , the United States Air Force Academy began accepting females .