WOMEN WHO SERVED

The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron

(WAFS/WASP)

In September 1942, the Army Air Force (AAF) created the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and appointed Nancy H. Love its commander. Love recruited highly skilled and experienced female pilots who were sent on noncombat missions ferrying planes between factories and AAF installations. While WAFS was being organized, the Army Air Force appointed Jacqueline Cochran as Director of Women's Flying Training. The first flying equipment provided the new military flyers was obsolete aircraft and described by some as quite motley. The first cadet class reported at Houston Municipal Airport, Houston, Texas where on April 28, 1943 Women Air Service Pilot Class 43-W-1 graduated Cochran's school. The WASPs eventually moved to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, TX, (1943) and trained 232 women before it ceased operations. Eventually, over 1000 women completed flight training. As the ranks of women pilots serving the AAF swelled, the value of their contribution began to be recognized, and the Air Force took steps to militarize them. As a first step the Air Force renamed their unit from WAFS to Women Air force Service Pilots (WASP).

Ms. Jacqueline Cochran

Avenger Field - Sweetwater, Texas

Barbara Erickson became the first WASP to receive the Air Medal for Meritorious Achievement as a Pilot. Erickson received her medal for completing four 2,000 mile deliveries of three different types of aircraft in slightly more than 5 days of actual flying.

Although not allowed to fly combat missions, WAFS/WASP pilots served grueling, often dangerous, tours of duty. Ferrying and towing were risky activities, and some WAFS/WASP pilots suffered injuries and were killed in the course of duty. In 1977, after much lobbying of Congress, the WASP finally achieved military active duty status for their service.

"FIFINELLA"

THE WASP LOGO

Designed by Walt Disney studios, the logo was also known as 'Fifi.'

The Table below represents all known training sites located in the State of Texas.

Aloe AAF - Victoria, Texas

Avenger AAF - Sweetwater, Texas

Biggs AAF - El Paso, Texas

Blackland AAF - Waco, Texas

Brian AAB - Bryan, Texas

Childress AAF - Childress, Texas

Dalhart AAF - Dalhart Texas

Eagle Pass AAB - Eagle Pass, Texas

Ellington AAF - Houston, Texas

Houston Muncipal Airport - Houston, Texas

Foster AAF - Victoria, Texas

Goodfellow AAF - San Angelo, Texas

Harlingen AAF - Harlingen, Texas

Hondo AAF - Hondo, Texas

Kelly AAB - San Antonio, Texas

Laredo AAB - Laredo, Texas

Love Field - Dallas, Texas

Lubbock AAB - Lubbock, Texas

Majors AAF - Greenville, Texas

Marfa AAB - Marfa, Texas

Moore AAB - Mission, Texas

Pecos AAB - Pecos, Texas

Perrin AAB - Sherman, Texas

Randolph AAB - San Antonio, Texas

San Marcos AAB - San Marcos, Texas

South Plains AAB - Lubbock, Texas

Waco AAF - Waco, Texas

WASP On The WEB

Women Airforce Service Pilots

The WASP Collection - Texas Woman's University

Embry - Riddle Aeronautical University

Lois Emma (Brooks) Hailey, WASP

Parrish Productions - Daughter of a WASP

Items shown on this page were taken from several sources. Among these are the links as shown above. Please visit them and express your interest in these American flyers and their contributions to the United States of America.