Announcing: Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)
Lecture
The WACO Historical Society is pleased to host Sarah Byrn Rickman, WASP
oral historian and editor of the official WASP newsletter on Wednesday,
September 21 at 7:00 pm as the first of our 2011-2012 adult lecture series. Ms.
Rickman will be presenting the complete history of the WASP. They were formed
in September 1942 as the WAFS (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) under
Nancy Love’s leadership. Twenty-eight professional women pilots were hired as
civilians to ferry airplanes for the Ferrying Division, Air Transport Command, U.S.
Army Air Forces. At the same time, a flight training school for women opened in
Texas to train additional women to fly for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War
II. These two groups were later consolidated under one name and two leaders –
Jackie Cochran and Nancy Love.
WASPs delivered 12,650 planes of 77 different types to fighting units before they
were disbanded in 1944. WASP ferried more than 60 percent of the highperformance pursuit planes built in the U.S. – from the factories to modification
centers or to the docks for shipment abroad. They flew a total of 60 million miles.
Of the 1,830 women that were admitted into the program, 1,074 graduated and
38 lost their lives.
Sarah Byrn Rickman is the author of four books about the WASPs, and she was
named the recipient of the 2009 Combs-Gates Award presented by the National
Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton. Sarah was a former reporter/columnist for The
Detroit News and editor of the Centerville-Bellbrook Times.
Light snacks and beverages will be provided. There is no charge for the event.
Donations will be accepted to benefit the WACO Historical Society, a non-profit
organization.
When: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Time: 7pm
Where: WACO Air Museum
1865 S. County Rd. 25A
Troy, Ohio 45373
937.335.9226