womens air corp world war ii online records

#WOMENS AIR CORP WORLD WAR II ONLINE RECORDS FULL#
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Records of Military Agencies Relating to African Americans from the Post-World War I Period to the Korean War, Reference Information Paper.23, 1977.Selected Finding Aids Related to NARA's World War II Holdings African Americans President Carter signed the bill into law, Nov. 8701, as amended, passed the House with unanimous consent. The Air Force certified the WASP, and in making their determination used the discharge papers of WASP Helen Porter, 1944, which read, 'This is to certify that Helen Porter honorably served in active federal service of the Army of the United States.' It was the same wording used in 1944 for all honorable discharges from the Army. Liddy Boggs, to take action in support of the WASP amendment.Ī compromise was finally reached that if the Air Force would certify that the WASP had been de facto military personnel during the war, the WASP amendment would not be stripped.

This prompted two women representatives of the House, Rep. 19, 1977, but the committee chairs planned to strip the WASP amendment during the reconciliation process. Goldwater attached the bill as an amendment to the 'GI Bill Improvement Act' (H.R. The bill was vehemently opposed by the American Legion on the grounds that it 'would denigrate the term ‘veteran' so that it will never again have the value that presently attaches to it.' Controversy went back and forth, with the Veterans Administration opposing the bill and the Department of Defense supporting it. Barry Goldwater, who had flown with WASP during World War II he led the move to get the bill passed. It was strongly supported by both houses of Congress and Sen. 3277, a bill which recognized WASP service as active duty in the armed forces and entitled them to veterans' benefits. 20, 1977, a select House subcommittee on veteran affairs heard testimony on H.R. I want you to know that I appreciate your war service and the AAF will miss you.' WASP receive veterans status The situation is that if you continue in service, you will be replacing instead of releasing our young men. Amold's letter of notification to WASPs stated, 'When we needed you, you came through and have served most commendably under very difficult circumstances, but now the war situation has changed and the time has come when your volunteer services are no longer needed. On June 21, 1944, it was defeated by 19 votes, despite vigorous lobbying efforts. Army Air Force had been ignored since its introduction in September 1941. 4219) to make WASP a women's service within the U.S. Then, Cochran and Arnold went back to Congress, where a bill (H.R. The Comptroller General of the Army Air Forces ruled against these practices on Jan. Han, deputy chief of the Air Staff, for permission to commission into WASP directly as service pilots, a procedure the Air Transport Command used routinely with male civilian pilots.

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WASPs were accepted as young as 18 if the woman had a pilot's license and flight experience.Īrnold asked Gen. One of her reasons was that WAC recruits had to be at least 21 years old and could not have children under 14 (some of the WASP's most experienced pilots were mothers of young children).

#WOMENS AIR CORP WORLD WAR II ONLINE RECORDS FULL#

Among them, 1,074 successfully completed the grueling program at Avenger Field - a better 'wash-out' rate than 50 percent of male pilot cadets.Ĭochran pressed for full militarization of WASP, but resisted making it part of WAC she insisted it remain a women's pilot organization whose members could only be assigned to flight duties. In the 16 months WASP existed, more than 25,000 women applied for training only 1,879 candidates were accepted. Cochran served as director of WASP and its training division, while Love was director of the ferrying division. The WAFS and WFTD merged into WASP on Aug. In addition to ferrying, testing and delivering planes for repair, the WFTD also performed check flights, put flying time on new engines, towed targets for anti-aircraft gunnery practice, flew searchlight tracking missions, and instructed male pilot cadets.

Womens air corp world war ii online records