Fly Girls

Fly Girls

Juvenile herstory
"Before long, though, the women were ordered to stop their
tour. The head of the Air Staff in Washington, DC, thought that they
were 'putting the big football players to shame.' That was the end of
Dora and Didi's flying career in the B-29. Only about a hundred
pilots anywhere on Earth knew how to handle the Superfortress safely.
Now the two who'd been assigned to convince other pilots to train on
the plane were grounded as soon as the job was done. They were
grounded because they were women, and their ability as pilots might
embarass someone."
1975 was the year women were admitted to United States military
acadamies. The Air Force Academy was one of them. When they
announced that for the first time ever women would be flying military
planes, one group of people became irate. No, these weren't the folks
who felt that women shouldn't be put in danger. These were the women
who had flown those planes decades earlier in World War II. P.
O'Connell Pearson's Fly Girls brings their fascinating story to our
younger readers.
When America entered World War II, the nation was not exactly a
military super power. Among other things, a lot of military planes
had to be manufactured and delivered to where they were needed. Women
began doing this delivery, freeing up male pilots to fight overseas.
They also had other more dangerous tasks including test flying hastily
mended planes and towing target banners for live ammunition practice.
Some died in the line of duty.
Even as they lived as roughly and precariously as male military
members, they had to face challenges the guys never had to consider:
much too large flight suits, news coverage that focussed on looks
rather than abilities and hard work, and the "pressure to behave at
all times in a proper and ladylike way."
This is a fascinating (and too often unknown) chapter in
herstory. Fly Girls is a must read for its target demographics and
well beyond.
On a personal note, I adore flying, especially low altitude. My
favorite ever flights were a round trip from my undergrad college in
Massachusetts to my family's home in North Carolina in a friend's
family's 6 seater. It was like flying over a Polly Pocket queendom of
tiny houses, swimming pools, ant size cars... On the way back we flew
over New York at night. Enchanting! Sadly I can't fly because of
eyesight. But my son can and inherited my passion. The summer after
he graduated eigth grade he started flying lessons. His first lesson
I got to ride in the back seat and look down at the earth and know
that my son was in the cockpit. That was an experience I treasure.
A great big shout out goes out to all our fly girls, boys, and two
spirits.
jules hathaway


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