The Brave Female WWII Pilots Who Proved That Women Could Fly
Vintage EverydayWASP pilot Elizabeth L. Gardner at the window of her B-26 Marauder bomber, Harlingen Army Air Field, Texas, United States, circa 1942-1945.
In 1942, with World War II raging, the United States was running out of pilots overseas. In order to get more pilots in the air, they’d need to do something drastic: Put women in the cockpit.
The government then recruited more than 1,100 young women to become the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP. Learning how to pilot almost every kind of military aircraft — including B-26 and B-29 bombers — these women proved that gender was not a barrier to successfully navigating the skies.
“Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men,” said the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air forces, Henry “Hap” Arnold, who had previously been unsure “whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather.”
Though the program was canceled two years after its beginning, these women paved the way for future generations of female military personnel.
“If the nation ever again needs them, American women will respond,” WASP Byrd Howell Granger said. “Never again will they have to prove they can do any flying job the military has. Not as an experiment. Not to fill in for men. They will fly as commissioned officers in the future Air Force of the United States with equal pay – hospitalization – insurance – veterans’ benefits”
In 2010, these women were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Obama.
To see more photos of these barrier-breaking ladies, check out Vintage Everyday.
Vintage EverydayWASP cadets Leonora Anderson and Mildred Axton show off the oversized and ill-fitting jump suits provided to the WASP program, Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, United States, May 1943.
Vintage EverydayWASP pilot Nancy Harkness Love in the cockpit of B-17 Flying Fortress bomber ‘Queen Bee’, circa Sep 1943.
Stunning Native American Masks Of The Early 20th Century
Edward Curtis/Library of CongressNavajo man, half-length, seated, facing front, wearing a ceremonial mask with feathers and with fir or spruce branches forming a wreath around the shoulders, 1904.
From the Navajo to the Koskimo to the Kwakiutl and beyond, indigenous tribes across the Americas placed great social and cultural importance on masks, using them in storytelling, dances, spiritual ceremonies and the like. Whatever their purpose, these masks are also of course handcrafted works of art by turns gorgeous and terrifying — but always visually arresting.
For more, check out these early 20th century photos of Native Americans wearing some of their most striking masks.
Edward Curtis/Library of CongressNavajo man wearing mask of Ganaskidi, god of harvests, plenty, and of mists, 1905.
Edward Curtis/Library of CongressPerson wearing Mask of Tsunukwalahl, a mythical being, used during the Winter Dance, 1914.
