I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945!

I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945! PDF Author: Winnie LoPinto
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781491010952
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
Winnie LoPinto wrote this book as a young woman after returning from Texas in 1945. She had great dreams of becoming a pilot then and that is why she volunteered to serve at the risk of her own life with the Women's Army Service Pilots, just for the chance to fly. She was thrilled to be one of the 1800 special women to be selected for the program. The Women's Army Service Pilots (WASP) program was designed to relieve male pilots to combat duties. WASP pilots ferried planes to Europe and some actually towed targets. It was a dangerous job, but thousands of women applied for the chance to serve and fly. Only a lucky 1800 were selected and only 50% made it through the program. In Winnie's case, she spent every last cent of her salary to get her required minimum 50 hours of flight time to qualify, and she hoped to add many more hours to her license through this program. The story starts with as she boards the train to Sweetwater, full of youthful enthusiasm. She vividly describes their activities, the antics with the baymates of W7, and the flights, the instructors and Jacqueline Cochran and General Hap Arnold, who visited Sweetwater. WASP pilots flew dangerous planes by “the seat of their pants,” with little instrumentation. It took a great deal of skill and guts to get into an open cabin in freezing whether. Winnie was a slight woman, barely 100 pounds. Her legs didn't reach the brakes in certain models and she often loosened her seatbelt to try to slide down, at great risk of her life.This story brings the reader into a world of days gone by. A time of great patriotism, innocence, youthful enthusiasm, and bitter disappointments. You'll laugh, cry, and feel a part of that program through Winnie's colorful descriptions. When the book was first released in HTML on the Internet, it was available free. Thousands of readers enjoyed and sent great comments.Readers Comments:Tonight I was reading your Aunt's book on the web.I just set there and cried because it brought back so many memories as a young boy 10 yrs old growing up everyday watching and listening to the drone of training planes flying over day and night as I lived on the west side of Sweetwater. My dreams were to fly myself but I never got to as I qualified to fly and so became a gunner on B-29 during Korea.I hurt very much when There was a Crash and someone died because These Women Were So Courageous and SO determined that I never Forgot and always wanted to wanted to praise them. Thank You, for sharing,Patrick Purcell, Dallas/Grand Prairie,TX.WOW! This blew me away! I'm fascinated! My name is Susan Hansen. ([email protected])I happened to see a public TV program here about the Wasps2 years ago. I have been so fascinated with their stories. Thank you for this very precious story. I will treasure it forever.I've been looking and looking for more info. Not enough is published about the girls. I've even been up to EAA in Oshgosh, Susie Hansen

I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945!

I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945! PDF Author: Winnie LoPinto
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781491010952
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Get Book

Book Description
Winnie LoPinto wrote this book as a young woman after returning from Texas in 1945. She had great dreams of becoming a pilot then and that is why she volunteered to serve at the risk of her own life with the Women's Army Service Pilots, just for the chance to fly. She was thrilled to be one of the 1800 special women to be selected for the program. The Women's Army Service Pilots (WASP) program was designed to relieve male pilots to combat duties. WASP pilots ferried planes to Europe and some actually towed targets. It was a dangerous job, but thousands of women applied for the chance to serve and fly. Only a lucky 1800 were selected and only 50% made it through the program. In Winnie's case, she spent every last cent of her salary to get her required minimum 50 hours of flight time to qualify, and she hoped to add many more hours to her license through this program. The story starts with as she boards the train to Sweetwater, full of youthful enthusiasm. She vividly describes their activities, the antics with the baymates of W7, and the flights, the instructors and Jacqueline Cochran and General Hap Arnold, who visited Sweetwater. WASP pilots flew dangerous planes by “the seat of their pants,” with little instrumentation. It took a great deal of skill and guts to get into an open cabin in freezing whether. Winnie was a slight woman, barely 100 pounds. Her legs didn't reach the brakes in certain models and she often loosened her seatbelt to try to slide down, at great risk of her life.This story brings the reader into a world of days gone by. A time of great patriotism, innocence, youthful enthusiasm, and bitter disappointments. You'll laugh, cry, and feel a part of that program through Winnie's colorful descriptions. When the book was first released in HTML on the Internet, it was available free. Thousands of readers enjoyed and sent great comments.Readers Comments:Tonight I was reading your Aunt's book on the web.I just set there and cried because it brought back so many memories as a young boy 10 yrs old growing up everyday watching and listening to the drone of training planes flying over day and night as I lived on the west side of Sweetwater. My dreams were to fly myself but I never got to as I qualified to fly and so became a gunner on B-29 during Korea.I hurt very much when There was a Crash and someone died because These Women Were So Courageous and SO determined that I never Forgot and always wanted to wanted to praise them. Thank You, for sharing,Patrick Purcell, Dallas/Grand Prairie,TX.WOW! This blew me away! I'm fascinated! My name is Susan Hansen. ([email protected])I happened to see a public TV program here about the Wasps2 years ago. I have been so fascinated with their stories. Thank you for this very precious story. I will treasure it forever.I've been looking and looking for more info. Not enough is published about the girls. I've even been up to EAA in Oshgosh, Susie Hansen

I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945

I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945 PDF Author: Winnie LoPinto
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781491283479
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
ABOUT THE STORY: Winnie LoPinto wrote "Go Home Little Fifinella" as a young woman after returning from Texas in 1944 from her training as a WASP (Women's Airforce Service Pilots). She had great dreams of becoming a pilot then and that is why she volunteered to serve at the risk of her own life with the WASP, just for the chance to fly. Her biographical account of her experiences as a WASP trainee in Sweetwater Texas is full of the language and favor of the time. Her lively style allow us relive those times along with her. The exhilaration and the adventure of youth and the disappointments that follow. It has delighted thousands of visitors who originally downloaded it from her web site and brought tears to the eyes of those who knew her. Winnie is a young woman with great dreams of becoming a pilot. She joins the WASP in hope of serving her country and do what she loved since she was a little girl, fly! Winnie was a slight woman, barely 100 pounds. Her legs didn't reach the brakes in certain models and she often loosened her seatbelt to try to slide down, at great risk of her life. In one occasion she nearly fell out, and in another her hands were so cold riding in an open cabin in 32 degree whether, they did not respond and she almost lost control. According to the instructors, that kind of whether would ground male pilots, but the WASP were tested to the absolute limit for reasons revealed in the book. One of Winnie's friends from the WASP was browsing the web and found this book. She sent a wonderful letter where she clarified that at one point, women needed only 30 hours of flight time to join toward the end of the program! EFFECT ON WOMEN'S MOVEMENT AND BACKLASH We begin to understand, through this story, the profound effect the WASP program had on the women's right movement of the 70's and the backlash that followed. The experience as a WASP trainee changed Winnie's life for ever. QUOTES: "Tonight I was reading your Aunt's book. I just sat there and cried because it brought back so many memories as a young boy 10 yrs old growing up everyday watching and listening to the drone of training planes flying over day and night. I lived on the west side of Sweetwater. My dreams were to fly myself but I never qualified to fly and so I became a gunner on B-29 in Korea. I hurt so much when there was a crash at Avenger Field. These women were SO courageous and SO determined that I never forgot and always wanted to wanted to praise them. Thank for sharing." --Patrick Purcell Dallas/Grand Prairie, TX. WOW! This blew me away! I'm fascinated! My name is Susan Hansen. I happened to see a public TV program here about the Wasps2 years ago. I have been so fascinated with their stories. Thank you for this very precious story. I will treasure it forever. I've been looking and looking for more info. Not enough is published about the girls. I've even been up to EAA in Oshgosh. --Susie Hansen ABOUT THE CO-AUTHOR Lidia LoPinto is an engineer, technical writer and author. She and her husband Charles LoPinto, Winnie's favorite nephew (as she called him) publish environmental novels.

Flying for Her Country

Flying for Her Country PDF Author: Amy Goodpaster Strebe
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1567206727
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
During the Second World War, women pilots were given the opportunity to fly military aircraft for the first time. In the United States, famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran formed the Women Airforce Service Pilots program, where over one thousand women flyers ferried aircraft from factories to airbases throughout the United States and Canada from 1942 to 1944. The WASP operated from 110 facilities and flew more than 60 million miles in 78 different types of aircraft, from the smallest trainers to the fastest fighters and the largest bombers. The WASP performed every duty inside the cockpit as their male counterparts, except combat, and 38 women pilots gave their lives in the service of their country. Notwithstanding their outward appearance as official members of the U.S. Army Air Forces, the WASP were considered civil servants during the war. Despite a highly publicized attempt to militarize in 1944, the women pilots would not be granted veteran status until 1977. In the Soviet Union, Marina Raskova, Russia's Amelia Earhart, famous for her historic Far East flight in 1938, formed the USSR's first all-female aviation regiments that flew combat missions along the Eastern Front. A little over one thousand women flew a combined total of more than 30 thousand combat sorties, producing at least 30 Heroes of the Soviet Union. Included in their ranks were at least two fighter aces. More than 50 women pilots were killed in action. Sharing both patriotism and a mutual love of aviation, these pioneering women flyers faced similar obstacles while challenging assumptions of male supremacy in wartime culture. Despite experiencing discrimination from male aircrews during the war, these intrepid airwomen ultimately earned their respect. The pilots' exploits and their courageous story, told so convincingly here, continue to inspire future generations of women in aviation.

Women Pilots of World War II

Women Pilots of World War II PDF Author: Jean Hascall Cole
Publisher: University of Utah Press
ISBN: 9780874804935
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
An oral history of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs).

Letters Home 1944-1945

Letters Home 1944-1945 PDF Author: Bernice Falk Haydu
Publisher: Topline Print. and Graphics
ISBN: 9780974767505
Category : Women air pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
"Flying experiences of a young woman and her determination to remain a pilot throughout her life."

The U.S. WASP

The U.S. WASP PDF Author: Lisa M. B. Simons
Publisher: Capstone
ISBN: 1515779440
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
More than 1,100 women volunteered to be a U.S. WASP (Women's Air Service Pilot) to contribute to World War II. Read about the courageous women who put their lives on the line to do their part in the nation's war effort.

Skyward

Skyward PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781911171515
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
The year is 1927, and in America, England and Russia, three young girls share a dream: to fly. But it won't be easy. Against the odds, Hazel, Marlene and Lilya follow their hearts, enrolling in pilot courses and eventually flying for the countries in WWII. Follow the adventures of these young women as they battle not only enemies in the skies but sexism and inequality in their own teams. Risking their lives countless times in feats of incredible bravery, the female air pilots of the Second World War are honoured in this beautiful book, illustrated in Sally Deng's raw, dynamic style.

The Women with Silver Wings

The Women with Silver Wings PDF Author: Katherine Sharp Landdeck
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1524762822
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
“With the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, women pilots went aloft to serve their nation. . . . A soaring tale in which, at long last, these daring World War II pilots gain the credit they deserve.”—Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls “A powerful story of reinvention, community and ingenuity born out of global upheaval.”—Newsday When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At twenty-two, Fort had escaped Nashville’s debutante scene for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student were in the middle of their lesson when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground that morning. Still, when the U.S. Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Fort was one of the first to respond. She became one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation to make it through the Army’s rigorous selection process and earn her silver wings. The brainchild of trailblazing pilots Nancy Love and Jacqueline Cochran, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) gave women like Fort a chance to serve their country—and to prove that women aviators were just as skilled as men. While not authorized to serve in combat, the WASP helped train male pilots for service abroad, and ferried bombers and pursuits across the country. Thirty-eight WASP would not survive the war. But even taking into account these tragic losses, Love and Cochran’s social experiment seemed to be a resounding success—until, with the tides of war turning, Congress clipped the women’s wings. The program was disbanded, the women sent home. But the bonds they’d forged never failed, and over the next few decades they came together to fight for recognition as the military veterans they were—and for their place in history.

A Wasp Among Eagles

A Wasp Among Eagles PDF Author: Ann Carl
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588343413
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Before World War II most Americans did not believe that the average woman could fly professionally, but during the war more than a thousand women pilots proved them wrong. These were the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), who served as military flyers on the home front. In March 1944 one of them, Ann Baumgartner, was assigned to the Fighter Flight Test Branch at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. There she would make history as the only woman to test-fly experimental planes during the war and the first woman to fly a jet. A WASP among Eagles is the first-person story of how Baumgartner learned to fly, trained as a WASP, and became one of the earliest jet-age pioneers. Flying such planes as the Curtiss A-25 Helldiver, the Lockheed P-38, and the B-29 Superfortress, she was the first woman to participate in a host of experiments, including in-air refueling and flying the first fighter equipped with a pressurized cockpit. But in evaluating the long-awaited turbojet-powered Bell YP-59A, she set a “first” record that would remain unchallenged for ten years.

Fly Girls

Fly Girls PDF Author: P. O'Connell Pearson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1534404120
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
“A truly inspiring read.” —Booklist (starred review) “A solid account of women’s contributions as aviators during World War II.” —Kirkus Reviews In the tradition of Hidden Figures, debut author Patricia Pearson offers a beautifully written account of the remarkable but often forgotten group of female fighter pilots who answered their country’s call in its time of need during World War II. At the height of World War II, the US Army Airforce faced a desperate need for skilled pilots—but only men were allowed in military airplanes, even if the expert pilots who were training them to fly were women. Through grit and pure determination, 1,100 of these female pilots—who had to prove their worth time and time again—were finally allowed to ferry planes from factories to bases, to tow targets for live ammunition artillery training, to test repaired planes and new equipment, and more. Though the Women Airforce Service Pilots lived on military bases, trained as military pilots, wore uniforms, marched in review, and sometimes died violently in the line of duty, they were civilian employees and received less pay than men doing the same jobs and no military benefits, not even for burials. Their story is one of patriotism, the power of positive attitudes, the love of flying, and the willingness to serve others with no concern for personal gain.