The WASP

WASP, or Women Airforce Service Pilots, was a US civilian women pilots’ organization during World War II. They did various piloting jobs for the US Army, to “free male pilots for combat roles” - ferrying and testing aircraft, air taxi, training other pilots. (Wikipedia article on WASPs)

Links

• The WASP archives of Texas Woman’s University (TWU) ^{(currently down, hopefully it will be back soon :( )}
  • Scanned issues of The Avenger, a newspaper of the Avenger Field Air Base where WASPs were trained
• WASP on the Web - a general resource about the WASP; lots of content
  • WASP Bases - list of all bases where WASPs were stationed
• WASP page of the Bullock Museum, Austin TX - some nice quotes from letters
• from archive.org:
  • audio interview with WASP member Doris Lockness
  • Sixth Ferrying Group Yearbook, 1944 - includes their WASP unit
  • “So Who Are the WASP Anyway?” - a newer article
  • Women Pilots With the AAF, 1941 - 1944 - a Army Air Forces “historical study” from… 1945; the terrible scan and all the “DECLASSIFIED” stamps are part of the experience
• “The Boundless Sky” - audio narrative by a WASP Dawn Seymour
• National WASP WWII Museum, Avenger Field, Sweetwater TX
• Articles on NPR.com
  • A Contraband Camera: Photos Of World War II WASP - color(!) photos by Lillian Yonally
  • Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls
• Andy’s WASP Web Pages - a cute “old internet” site about the WASP with a lot of info
  • The WASP Trainees of WWII - an almost complete list of all WASP trainees ordered by years, with links to other material related to them, such as…
  • Betty Deuser Budde letters, 1943 - 1944 - transcriptions of letters sent by a WASP trainee (this would be a goldmine as a writing reference)