Women at War: Pilots in the US (WASP) and UK (ATA)
The Second World War was the first in which women played a role in aviation. Russian women flew combat missions as bomber and fighter pilots, but in Great Britain and the United States the role of women pilots was supportive rather than direct. The similarities and contrasts between the British and American experience are, however, striking. Below is a summary taken from my comparative study published 15 years ago.
Above: an American woman pilot in the cockpit of a B-17 (above)
Below: a British woman pilot in cockpit of a Sterling bomber (below)
Because both RAF and USAAF chose not to employ women pilots directly, women pilots in both the U.S. and the U.K. were organized in auxiliary organizations. In Great Britain, women pilots served in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and in the United States initially in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and later in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). While already qualified women pilots were the first to serve in both countries, eventually training schemes evolved in both the U.S. and U.K. to train women with no previous flying experience. Hundreds of women in both countries learned to fly during the war as a result.
Although the women who joined the ATA and WASP often faced skepticism and prejudice and in some cases encountered outright hostility, women pilots on both sides of the Atlantic rapidly proved capable of performing the tasks assigned. Yet there were some important differences between their experiences largely because the British women were fully integrated into an organization with a single purpose, ferrying, but open to both men and women, while the American women were placed in a segregated, women-only organization, yet trained for a vast variety of tasks.
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Just to be clear, to say that the ATA had only a single mission, is not to say that the flying was easy. On the contrary, extraordinary demands were made of ATA pilots, who were expected to fly any aircraft -- including types they had never seen before -- on the basis of training on "classes" of aircraft and "Pilot's Notes" consisting of vital information such as take-off speed, flaps, rpms, stall speeds, and the like, in addition to remarks on peculiarities listed on a 6x4 card. Furthermore, ATA pilots flew without radios and so without radio navigation aids, weather advisories or emergency communication. They were not trained on instrument flying yet were expected to fly across country often to fields they had never seen before. Nor should it be forgotten that they were flying in airspace that was penetrated by the enemy throughout the war.
In the course of the war, the women with the ATA steadily won the same privileges and status as their male counterparts. They wore the same uniforms, underwent the same training at the same centralized flying school, and performed the same duties as their male colleagues as they qualified successively on the classes of aircraft from training bi-planes to four-engine bombers. From 1943 onwards, they broke ground by being awarded equal pay for equal work at a time when other women's auxiliaries such as the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) were not. Last but not least, women in the ATA were promoted on merit and could exercise command authority over male colleagues.
The American women pilots, in contrast, were segregated in an exclusively women's organization. They did not wear the uniform of the organization they were supposed to support, i.e. the USAAF. They trained separately at a training base set up exclusively for them and managed by a civilian contractor. Even on completing training, they were expressly denied the same uniform, status, rank, privileges, pay and benefits of male pilots flying for the USAAF. Indeed, they were not even entitled to disability, pension or death benefits in the event of an accident. The resulted in the absurd situation when women killed in the same aircraft as male crew members were denied the military honors accorded the men who had died with them.
Throughout the war, the women in the ATA were recognized and praised both officially and publicly for their contribution to the war effort. The WASP, in contrast, were first glamorized and then demonized. At the end of the war, the British women pilots had won medals and official honors before being honorably discharged. The WASP, in contrast, were sent home before the war was even over, and treated like an embarrassment by the government and nation that had recruited them.
Why?
There was certainly no difference in the overall quality of the women pilots flying for Britain versus the United States. Women pilots on both sides of the Atlantic consistently demonstrated high levels of competence at least equal to that of male pilots of comparable experience. They were viewed as more reliable than male pilots while their safety record was above average in both the U.K. and the U.S.. Ultimately, women in both countries demonstrated that women could fly the most modern aircraft of their age, including the first jets in the UK.
What made the experience of the pilots different was the different performance
of their respective organizations. The ATA rapidly made itself indispensable to the British military (Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and RAF). It grew steadily in size and
function, responding readily and flexibly to new demands. The ATA not only made
a significant contribution to the war effort, it also left a legacy to civil
aviation in the form of pilots' and ground handling notes, an engineering school
and procedures for accident prevention and investigation, all of which were
adopted by post-war civil aviation authorities and/or the BOAC. The WASP, in
contrast, grew exponentially and sought to take over many more roles than the
ATA, yet singularly failed to make itself indispensable to the USAAF.
WASP in their mess at Avenger Field
One of the ATA's greatest contributions was the development of a pilot training program that turned out pilots trained precisely for the tasks required in a minimum amount of time. Pilots were first trained only on light, training aircraft and then put to work ferrying these aircraft to RAF training establishments. In doing the work, the pilots were already earning their keep, contributing directly to the war effort (relieving RAF pilots from ferrying), and also gaining flying time, experience and confidence. Once they had fully mastered these aircraft, the ATA pilots (whether men or women) advanced to more powerful single-engine aircraft including fighters, and step-by-step at their own pace to twin-engine aircraft and eventually heavy bombers. By allowing the pilots to progress at their own pace, no pilots were forced beyond their capabilities. There was no need for all pilots to qualify on all classes of aircraft, a policy that ensured all pilots contributed according to their abilities, reducing accidents and losses. Notably this training scheme was evolved and initially managed by some of the world's finest flying instructors -- instructors that had previously been with the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
The WASP, in contrast, singularly failed to develop a satisfying training program. Indeed, two separate USAAF inspections of the WASP training establishment identified and and catalogued myriad inadequacies in the WASP training program, but no corrective actions were undertaken. Instead, American pilot-candidates were subjected to a lengthy course cluttered with utterly superfluous training elements such as mathematics, aerobatics, and using the Norton Bomb Site -- although no one ever envisaged the women graduates serving as bombadiers on USAAF combat missions.
At great expense to the American taxpayer, the WASP training institution at Avenger Field in Texas turned out pilots who on graduation had their wings yet still needed additional training before they could meaningfully contribute to the war effort. At best, they still needed specialized training on service aircraft. "Pursuit" training was four weeks long, B-26 training nine weeks and B-17 training twelve weeks long. However, because of the substandard level of training offered at Avenger Field, most graduates failed to live up to expectations, fueling rather than diminishing existing prejudices against the concept of women military pilots. Overall, only a tiny percentage of the 1,074 women who passed through WASP training saw active service in any capacity before the decision was made to disband the organization altogether.
Because of the incompetence of the WASP management, women were sometimes left without pay for months on end. Members were arbitrarily shifted from one assignment to another, preventing the women from gaining experience, competence and confidence in any particular job -- much less the respect of the men around them. They had no uniform for most of their existence, and when a uniform was eventually issued, it highlighted their "otherness" rather than furthering integration and acceptance by the USAAF.
Worst of all, the real contributions of competent women pilots were over-shadowed by the bureaucratic back-biting and games played by the WASP leadership. Even USAAF commanders who valued the contributions of individual American women pilots, viewed the organization as a headache. When the WASP became the target of a hostile Congressional investigation, the women pilots found few supporters and so the WASP was rapidly scrapped. It had suddenly become a public embarrassment.
In contrast, the ATA managed its publicity masterfully. It consistently enjoyed a positive image with the press and public, despite its comparatively humble activities. The Prime Minister, the Minister for Aircraft Production, the RAF and the Royal Navy all officially recognized the services of the ATA as a whole, and fifty individual members of the ATA were awarded public recognition. It left behind a legacy of innovative training, outstanding accident management, and a record of equal opportunity. Below a picture of the Head of the Women's Branch of the ATA, Pauline Gower, with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
For more details see the full-length study:
My novels about the RAF in WWII are intended as tributes to the men in the air and on the ground that made a victory against fascism in Europe possible. Yet the support and participation of women in that conflagration are in integral part of that story.
they took the war to Hitler.
Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent.
Their average age was 21.
This is the story of just one bomber pilot, his crew and the woman he loved.
It is intended as a tribute to them all.
or Barnes and Noble.
"Where Eagles Never Flew" was the the winner of a Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Military Fiction. Find out more at: https://crossseaspress.com/where-eagles-never-flew
For more information about all my aviation books visit: https://www.helenapschrader.com/aviation.html
Interesting.
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