Silver Wings

What drives someone to climb into the cockpit of a flying death trap to test dangerous aircraft
that most men were afraid to fly? What drives someone to rebel against social convention and
gender roles to risk their life for two thirds of the pay of their male counterparts? What drives
someone to risk their life, knowing all along that if they die in a plane crash, or training accident
that their sister pilots would end up passing the hat to pay for their funeral expenses because
you were considered a civilian contractor versus a veteran?
The answer is pure passion. Passion for flying, coupled with passion to serve and help defend
their country. These two elements combined gave the brave women of the Women Airforce
Service Pilots (WASP) the courage and the drive to overcome the obstacles preventing their
service in the air. Theirs was a sisterhood, women banded together with a common sense of
drive and purpose. They were U. S. federal civil employees, and therefore did not qualify for
military benefits. For some, it was all they could do to scrape together the money for
transportation to their training site. Once there, they were required to pay for not only their
own room and board, but also for their uniforms. Their purpose was to free male pilots to fly
combat missions by ferrying aircraft from factories to airbases, testing aircraft and training
other pilots. They risked their lives daily, not only flying and testing aircraft, but also as part of a
training program which involved towing target aircraft to be used by combat pilots on the
ground for target practice. On more than one occasion, the pilots who were practicing on the
ground mistakenly shot down the towing plane instead of target plane. The whole operation
was risky and extremely dangerous. These brave women pilots knew that going in, but
unflinchingly did it anyway.
The WASPs unselfishly served their country during World War II and above all things, wanted to
continue their service after World War II ended. In order to do that, they would need to be
granted veteran status. In 1944, U.S. House Bill HR 4219 was introduced to provide military
status for the WASP’s, but unfortunately it was narrowly defeated due to the expense of the
program and the fact that maintaining the program in peace time would take pilot positions
away from men. Many WASPs so loved their service that they volunteered to continue flying
aircraft for US$1.00 an hour, (roughly equivalent of $14.50 in 2019.) Their offer was rejected
and sadly they were disbanded. It was a crushing blow, but they did not give up on their quest
to achieve Veteran status. They launched a lobbying effort which took 33 years to come to
fruition. In 1977, a bill was signed by President Carter awarding them veteran’s status.

These women operated out of pure passion -for aviation and for service. The face of opposition
did not deter them. Instead, they pressed forward, braving the way for generations of women pilots to come. Silver wings is a tribute to them.

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Although the WASPs were not an actual branch of the military, they still had to wear uniforms. WASP silver wings were worn on the chest, along with the wing and prop insignia and gold.

“W.A.S.P.” insignia on the lapels. Early WASP wings were given as a gift to the graduating
classes. Official WASP wings were designed and made available by December 194