h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I was a girl, my dream was to grow up to be a pilot - to be Biggles, or Amy Johnson on Amelia Erhardt. I was told I couldn't be a pilot, as I was a girl; there were no jobs and it was a waste of time dreaming. I did know that there were women ferry pilots in Britain.

I'm now doing some research into an entry about American women pilots, A3227879 who not only ferried aircraft, but were test pilots, instructors, and who towed targets for anti-aircraft shooting practice using live ammunition. I've heard a recording of women, who 60 years on are wonderfully inspiring.

There's *such* a lot of great information, I'm going to have to be careful not to over-egg the pudding.

There's a slightly sad tinge to it. The women, whose flying records were better than the men's (they had fewer accidents and flew in conditions the men wouldn't fly in), never got the recognition they deserved. For instance, a woman who died alongside men when a bomber went down not only didn't get the medals the men got, her family had to pay to ship her body home. After they were disbanded, the women's records were marked 'classified' and so the evidence that women were as good as the men was deliberately buried.

One woman who was just under the minimum height of 5'3" went to a chiropractor to get stretched! I love the description of 'strong willed kick ass women' and some of their songs are absolutely wonderful!

Forgot to say, I'm totally in awe of Jacqueline Cochran - what a woman! And I've never heard of her. And Nancy Love - not only a great pilot and organising force, but a stunning beauty too.

Traveller in Time flying between fighter pilots
" A3227879 It must go wrong before you realise what magic is involved A3227870.

Does WW2 has some (link) topics?

< A2021446 > Memories of Archangel
< A1363231 > The Death of Amy Johnson "

A typo to my own entry! A3227870 It was late last night when I wrote it after having done a fair amount of research. You really have to listen to these women to hear the passion they had for flying. One woman was still flying in 2002 at the age of 79. The flying school was at Sweetwater, Texas, which sounds very nice, but conditions there were far from pleasant, described one of them as 'the most god-forsaken place ... dust and sagebrush and dirt, mosquitoes and rattlesnakes.'

Thanks for the links, TiT !

At the beginning, I was thinking of doing one on 'Women pilots of WWII', but there's *such* a lot of tremendous information on the WASP and a real dearth of information on the WAAF. I might do an entry on the WAAF later, if I go into the Imperial War Museum and do some research there.

Found this wonderful sound link - I wonder if it works - it takes ages to load.

http://www.wasp-wwii.org/video/soundbytes.mpg

Traveller in Time on Windows Media Player
"This is not a sound link it is an entire video clip.

It is about half a retirement home of old, however fit women .

Hmm, some error at 2:00 minutes. I will try a download tonight and see what I can make of it."

There is a lady who lives round the corner from me who flew bombers from factory sites to bases- on one occasion she got to the base to discover that there were no male pilots available to fly an important mission, so she was sent instead, and ran a bombing raid to France.

Happy birthday to you

ltp.

Kerr! I didn't know any of our women got to fly combat! One of the women who is in a radio recording said she would have gone into combat like a shot if she had been allowed to and thought she would have been good at dogfights.

How old is she? How long did she fly transport? Did she keep it up after the war? What a story! I wonder if she got any kind of recognition for her service.

I don't know how old she is off-hand, but she must be in her 70s or 80s. She wasn't supposed to fly combat- it was just a job that needed doing and she was the only one available. I don't think she got anything, as she wasn't supposed to be doing it.

She went back to being a house-wife after the war- I don;t think I could do that.

Three odd notes just off the top of my head:

In many ways, women are better suited for flying:
1: the cockpits can be made smaller
2. they tend to drink less when they have important jobs to do
3. they maintain their equipment without being told to
4. they don't play with their planes while on duty

The lady who paid for the Supermarine Spitfire.

"Operation Pinball", where the planes actually were the AckAck targets.

Welll..... the cockpits could be smaller, but the seats might have to be a bit wider and more comfy

Why wouldn't women play with their planes when on duty?

Because the few of them who learn to use tools tend to take care of them and use them responsibly.
A female pilot would play with her plane under controlled circumstances and never on duty.

Interestingly enough, two of the women on the radio tapes I heard said that they did get to play with the planes from time to time. One said about playing 'hide and seek' in the clouds and another said something about pretending to be going along the skyscrapers in New York.

Mind you, they also said that they could cope with the tedium of flying fixed patterns rather better than young men and that they didn't need to be flying under bridges and in box canyons all the time, although the occasional bit of strafing practice did relieve the monotony. One woman was definitely 'the duck', when towing targets for anti-aircraft guns who were firing live bullets. She said that on one occasion, the flak was landing in front of the planes, rather than behind, where the targets were and they said they were not going to complete the mission, they were rolling in their targets and going home. They'd come back tomorrow 'when you can shoot a bit better.

Another of the women said she'd have gone into combat like a shot, if she'd had the training.

Kerr, going back to being a housewife was what most of the WASP women did too - there just weren't the jobs for women pilots, although some did crop dusting and other stuff. Must have been a bit of a come-down if you'd been flying B-52s like Libby Gardner, who sounds a wonderful character. Hopefully, I'll get the entry together over the weekend. This is a labour of love.

Dear Zarquhon

Wow, my What a marvellous topic you are working on. It could be a lifetime of work.

Please do phone me and give me your telephone number SLOWLY and LOUDLY!! My phone is really doing strange things. I would love to see you and yours over Christmas.

Much affection and well done.

also Ran1

OK, will do, AR1! I've been a bit fed up at having lost your e-mail address when I had to reload my computer and I lost all my previous information. Now I have a backup.

Yes, the topic's a real isn't it! Being a pilot was what I wanted to be when I was a girl. I did have a trial flying lesson once for a birthday, and that was the best birthday present I ever had.

Keep at it, 1st Flying Lieut. Zarquohn

I shall be at your passing out parade!!
In the meantime, let's get together BEFORE Christmas.

Much affectionate

also ran1

I've just left a message on your voice mail, AR1 - I hope it's clear. I did speak loudly and slowly.

I like the idea of 1st Lying Lieut Zarquon ! My best ever birthday present was a trial flying lesson.