ESSAY--Pistol Packin' Mamas: WWII's Forgotten Pilots

Ever since the invention of the airplane in 1903, civilian pilots have volunteered their skills during wartime.  With American barnstormers enlisting as mercenaries in armed conflicts all over the world, the daring maneuvers devised by those flying circus performers influenced modern warfare.  Takes some kind of crazy to be a fighting flyer, especially one operating in the early developmental stages of aircraft. But, then, not every bi-winged aviator joined the foreign frays just for the thrills. Some did it, because it was the only way they could fly.

At a time when the US military refused to enlist the services of black airmen, other countries weren't as discriminating. In 1914, African-American Eugene Bullard joined the French Foreign Legions as a foot soldier. Five years later he was a licensed pilot, flying for the French along with other American volunteers with the words “All blood runs red” plastered in paint on the nose of his plane. Despite that very obvious fact, when the US finally did become involved in WWI they recruited the white American fighter pilots back from the French, but denied his application. Though the US military remained racially segregated through WWII, 992 African-American men were conscripted in the Tuskegee Aircorps and trained as pilots.

At the onset of the Second World War, female pilots pleaded with military officials to be allowed to assume non military functions in order to free male flyers for combat. But, the DoD wouldn’t hear of it. So, they took off to England to volunteer in the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which had no druthers enlisting the services of female pilots. Though they flew non combat missions, they did so in combat conditions.

Eventually, the powers that be came to understand—if not fully accept-- that gaps in "manpower" could be filled by women. More than 25,000 women applied for acceptance in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program when it was created in ‘42. Only 1,078 qualified for their wings and those thousand flew more than 60 million miles stateside in military aircraft with names like “Pistol Packin’ Mamas” on behalf of the war effort. Not-a-one was black.

White women had been licensed pilots since 1911. It took another ten years for a woman of color to earn her wings, mainly because she had to cross the Atlantic in search of an instructor willing to train her. In 1921, the African American media sensation Bessie Coleman became the first American person--male or female, black or white—to receive an international pilot’s license.

The WASP, who had attended Officer's Training School and flown military planes from 120 military bases across the country, fully expected the program sponsored by the Army to be merged into one of the existing military branches during their time of service. But, that didn’t happen, even though the WASP had a lower accident rate and higher job retention then male pilots. Unlike their male counterparts that received the same training at Tuskegee, WASP were not considered military personal and, therefore, did not receive veterans benefits. Not until ’77, that is, a year after the Air Force began enrolling female recruits into their pilot training program. It wouldn’t be until 1993 before DoD sanctioned training them as fighter pilots, despite the fact that women elsewhere around the globe had been flying combat missions since 1936. Truth be told, while the WASP were kept safely in the shadows, champing at the bit, female aces were flying for the Russians, taking on the Luftwaffe.

Seasoned Soviet pilot Marina Raskova convinced Stalin to let her form three female air regiments supported by female staff and female engineers. Over the course of the war, her regiments flew more than 30,000 combat sorties.

Under Raskova’s command, Senior Lieutenant for the Soviet Air Force, Lydia Litviak flew 66 combat missions on behalf of the Allied Nations. She, along with the all-female 586th Fighter Regiment of the Air Defense Force, and later the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation who were dubbed the "Night Witches" by the Germans, became Hitler’s nemesis.

Part of an elite air tactic called "free hunter", Litviak was a natural born and very lethal aerial hunter. After word of her 12 solo kills and two shared kills spread, she was romanticized here in the States. It was only in 1990, however, that she was posthumously granted the Hero of the Soviet Union for her service during the war, along with a host of other honorary metals. She was lost in action at the age of 21 and remains the highest scoring female ace in aviation history, earning her the prestigious title of Ace of Aces.

To worsen the sting for our homebound bomber babes, who while in service earned less than two thirds the salary made by male pilots, not a single major commercial airline hired WASP once the program was canceled only two years after it had been initiated, not as pilots at any rate. While 166 female ATA flyers, who—interestingly--had received equal pay as the male pilots, were publically credited directly after the war for their contributions, WASP files were locked in a sealed vault deep in the Pentagon for 30 years.

Finally, in 2010, the Congressional Metal of Honor was awarded to 300 surviving WASP for the service they provided our country 70 years ago. There are 177 WASP still living today all of whom are now receiving veteran’s benefits. The 38 who died in the line of duty were buried without military honors.

As of March, there were 13,805 pilots enlisted in the United States Air Force, 711 of which are women. Women account for only 4 percent of the Navy’s F-18 Hornet and radar-jamming jet pilots, however, and less than 1 percent of the Marine Corps‘ fixed-wing pilots. Full integration of female fighter pilots is slated to occur by January, 2016.