Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II

Chapter 15: The Quest for Militarization

15 The Quest for Militarization M ilitarizing the women ferry pilots by making them part of the WAAC was the original plan. However, the WAAC was not yet militarized when the WAFS squadron was formed. The WAAC was an auxiliary and the legislation that created it lacked provision for flying status or ratings. Next, in the spring of 1943, the idea of commissioning the WAFS directly into the Army of the United States was suggested , but went nowhere. Why militarize the women pilots? Military status would give them military insurance, death benefits, hospitalization, and pensions. And continuity of their service would be ensured. Consequently, when the WAAC was militarized and became the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) on July 1, 1943, General Tunner contacted Colonel Hobby and requested the WAFS be incorporated into the WAC. Jacqueline Cochran, named Director of Women Pilots June 28, 1943, opposed the incorporation of the women pilots—soon to carry the name WASP—into the WAC. She recommended that “militarization be withheld until the WASPs’ 172 The Quest for Militarization 173 absolute worth was proved by performance,” despite the fact that the precedent now had been established that American women doing military work would be militarized and subject to military control. She felt the AAF should have its own organization for women pilots. More important, General Arnold concurred.1 Jackie Cochran did not like WAC director Col. Oveta Culp Hobby. In her autobiography, Cochran refers to Hobby as “the woman I love to hate.”2 Cochran resisted all attempts to put the WASP under Hobby. She did not want to be subordinate to her and the WAC could have only one colonel. On September 30, 1943, Congressman John Costello of California introduced a bill in Congress calling for the militarization of the WASP (by then the name change was official). The bill went to the House Committee on Military Affairs for study. Subsequently it was amended to include the appointment of female trainees (the women at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas) as aviation cadets and was reintroduced on February 17, 1944. The Ferrying Division played no part in the sponsorship of this bill nor was it consulted. But naturally it was concerned with the outcome. The Ferrying Division favored militarization of the women pilots, but not under Jackie Cochran.3      The entire tenor of the war had changed by the time 1944 began . Two years of uncertainty fell away as the military might of the United States began to roll. Production by American industry was, in the words of one editorial cartoon, “Putting the screws on the Axis.”4 Some headlines from January 1944: January 2—“American troops land on New Guinea taking port and airfield; January 7—Allied forces go on the offensive in Italy”; January 10—“Allied troops push forward in Burma”; January 22—“Allied forces land at Anzio and set up beachhead ”; January 31—“Allied forces attack Marshall Islands.”5 The Allies—almost overnight, it seemed—were winning the war. 174 Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II The bill to militarize the WASP was on the horizon and would soon be re-submitted to Congress. Pilot casualties had been far fewer than anticipated. General Arnold had overestimated the number of pilots he was going to need, based on earlier RAF losses. In the early days of the war in England, a novice RAF pilot was given, at best, three months to live. But American pilot casualties never were that high. On January 15, 1944, the CAA WTS program for training flying personnel was terminated and the AAF began to cut back on its own pilot training program.6 The after-shock ultimately would bring the WASP program to its knees. The availability of pilots had done a one-eighty. Now rather than a dearth of male pilots, there was a surplus. A year earlier, as Nancy Love’s WAFS were just beginning to stretch their wings and ferry airplanes—albeit single-engine trainers—the demand for more pilots was loud and insistent. The women were needed. Now, as a result of the cutbacks in pilot training, the WASP became increasingly aware that their presence was not looked on as the saving grace it had been. Before the big push toward militarization in Congress and just prior to the announcement of the release of the male flight instructors, four of the original WAFS—without Nancy Love...