Fly Girls: The Daring American Women Pilots Who Helped Win WWII

Pearson’s accessible and immediate portrait of the women aviators whose organization became known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) highlights the courage and tenacity that bound them together during WWII. Quotations from the pilots illuminate their personalities and commitment to their country and careers in the face of gender discrimination, aircraft deemed unfit for flight, and Congress’s refusal to militarize them, denying them benefits that were awarded to other women’s auxiliaries (until some 30 years later). An early lobbyist for allowing women to fly noncombat missions on American military bases, pilot Jacqueline Cochran eventually became the lead pilot in command of an all-male crew, despite the fact that “red tape and sexist insinuations stood mountainously in my way.” In one especially intense passage, future WASP Cornelia Fort recounts being forced to alter her plane’s course to avoid the Japanese bomber headed to Pearl Harbor: “My heart turned over convulsively when the bomb exploded in the middle of the Harbor.” Archival photos and sidebars supplement this often thrilling tribute to these aviation heroes. Ages 10–up. (Feb.)