Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal

Associated Press - 3.10.10
Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal.

They flew non-combat missions, but 38 were killed in service.

WASHINGTON - A long-overlooked group of women who flew aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, they were the first women to fly U.S. military planes. About 200 of these aviators, mostly in their late 80s and early 90s and some in wheelchairs, came to the Capitol to accept the medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.

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Photo caption: Women Airforce Service Pilots (left to right) Frances Green, Margaret Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn at Lockbourne Army Air Field, Ohio 1944. These women pilots were some of the first to ferry B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers. More than 1,000 Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) provided essential military air support in the United States during World War II. When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II, a book by Margret Regis.