The Women's Flying Training Detachment was a group of women pilots during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Their main job was to take over male pilot's jobs, such as ferrying planes from factories to

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

installations, in order to free male pilots to fight overseas. They later merged with the Women Airforce Ferrying Squadron (formerly the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) to form the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

Early history

While on a trip to England,

Jacqueline Cochran Jacqueline Cochran (May 11, 1906 – August 9, 1980) was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation as one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation. She set numerous records and was the first woman to br ...

observed that an organization had been founded for English women pilots to do jobs for male

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

, such as plane ferrying. Being quite interested, she contacted General

Henry H. Arnold Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (25 June 1886 – 15 January 1950) was an American General officers in the United States, general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army and later, General of the Ai ...

suggesting that a similar organization be founded in the United States. He approved on September 15, 1942, and the Women's Flying Training Detachment was born. Around the same time, some other women pilots, such as Nancy Harkness Love, were also founding similar organizations in which female pilots replaced male pilots in order that the men could be moved to more important duties.

Training

Initially, the training in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, TX, lasted 23 weeks and included 115 hours of flying time. However, not long after, the program moved to Sweetwater, TX and the training increased to 210 hours flying time and became 30 weeks long. To be accepted, trainees were required to be between 21 and 35 years of age and had to have at least 200 hours flying time before entering. This later dropped to 18 years of age minimum and at least 35 hrs. flying experience. The training consisted of mostly cross-country flying with no

gun A gun is a device that Propulsion, propels a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns or water cannon, cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). So ...

nery.

Veteran Status

Because they were not considered a real part of the army, they and other women pilot organizations were not guaranteed all the rights of

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

. If a woman pilot was killed while on duty, her family would pay for her body to be shipped home, and they couldn't hang a golden star in their window to show the sacrifice they had made. Also, any women pilots who died in training didn't have the right to have an

American Flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

draped over their coffin.{{cite web, url=http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/09/wwii_women_pilots_to_get_long-.html, title=WWII women pilots to get 'long-overdue' honor; Local woman who died while serving as a WWII pilot is among them, first=Kalamazoo Gazette, last=staff, website=MLive.com, date=20 September 2009

References

All-female military units and formations *

Early history

Training

Veteran Status

See also

References