When Women Took To The Air...
Today's post will be short...and sweet.
And you might come to have a much better appreciation for women in the service of our nation.
Most people today will hear the word WASP and they immediately think of two things:
1) those nasty bugs that manage to screw up a picnic
2) White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
But there used to be another term that word referred to.
More appropriately, it was an acronym for the Womens Air(force) Service Pilots.
In a time where fascism reared it's ugly head across Europe, and the Axis powers sought to depose freedom and democracy in the global arena, people in America were a much different sort than we see today.
They banded together as a nation against these forces of evil.
They did without so our soldiers wouldn't have to.
And everyone pitched in, regardless of race, creed, or sex.
Didn't matter who you were.
You wanted to pitch in and get the job done.


Such was the stuff that the WASPS were made of.
Women who were aviatrixes from the 1930s; a barnstorming era where a female stunt pilot was much the novelty, volunteered to be trained in fighter, bomber, and cargo aircraft of the era, earning the qualification to pilot them, and then ferry them across the oceans to our servicemen awaiting their arrival, whether in the ETO (European Theater of Operation) or the PTO (Pacific Theater of Operation).
For more information on the history of the Womens Airforce Service Pilots, follow this "Wiki" link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots

A local aviation pioneer to our city, Margaret Ringenberg died Sunday night, in her sleep at the age of 87.
She was an aviatrix.
She was a WASP.
And she was remarkable.
Here's a link to our local paper's tribute:

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080729/LOCAL/807290306

Now it goes without saying that women like Margaret were pioneers in MANY ways.
They braved "new worlds" by doing what they did.
They were not afraid to do what needed to be done.
And they did it to the very best of their abilities.
Perhaps the most notable woman in the service was Jackie Cochran (selected by none other than General Hap Arnold). Still, every woman was just as important to the service, for without them, their devotion to duty, and their passion for flying, our service men would have had a much tougher time fighting the enemy, and the war would have dragged on.
Funny how it took the womens liberation movement to provide the impetus for our nation to finally realize the importance of allowing women the same opportunities awarded to men, when women such as Jackie and Maggie were at the forefront of equality all those years. And we should not be so complacent as to dismiss this.
We have incorporated women into our military in every branch of our services, and they carry on the proud tradition of serving one's country, started by the WASPS.
We had women BUILDING the planes AND ferrying them overseas. How remarkable was that?
You can't have a much better tribute to the tenacity and uncommon valor these women provided this nation with, nor can you deny that their sacrifices during a time of war are never to be forgotten.
So let it be with women like Margaret
She has truly earned her wings...a SECOND time.
Sustineo Alas, Maggie.