At first, Army Air Corps General Hap Arnold resisted Jackie Cochran's plan to train women to ferry military aircraft, but after seeing them perform, relented.
Not much is actually known about the WASPs.
** Official WASP files were sealed for 35 years.
** The War Department abruptly disbanded the WASP on 1944 when victory in Europe was assured.
** The women of WASP were not classified as members of the Air Force until 1966 and were denied the right to join veteran groups after the war!!
** It wasn't until 1977 that members of WASP won the right to some of the benefits of their male counterparts.
** In 2002-- 57 years later-- the WASP were awarded the right to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with honors.
** They logged more than 60 million miles of operational flights.
** They delivered 12,650 military aircraft-- more than half of all aircraft built in the US during the war.
** And, of course, their service freed up male pilots to fly in war zones.
Definitely a very overlooked and neglected branch of the military finally starting to get their due.
The Greatest Generation. --DaCoot
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