Background: World War II and the WASPs

Use this resource for more context about World War II and the Women's Airforce Service Pilots!

World War II was a major global conflict fought from 1939 to 1945 between two groups of countries. The “Allies,” including Britain, France, Russia, China, and the United States, fought against the “Axis powers,” which were Germany, Italy, and Japan. It was a devastating war that caused around 64 million deaths worldwide. The United States entered the war in 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

While men went abroad to fight in the war, women at home participated in the war effort and helped out in their own ways. Many women worked in defense plants or took office and clerical jobs in the armed forces in order to free men to fight. "Rosie the Riveter" is a famous symbol of women's work in factories and manufacturing plants during World War II.

How did women participate the war effort?

Many women volunteered for war-related organizations, a number of which were created during this time of war. One was the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs, later renamed the Women’s Army Corps), where women could fill office jobs in the Army, freeing men to fight instead. Other organizations included the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS), where they filled jobs civilians working for the armed forces could not fulfill, and the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES). Both the Navy Nurse Corps and the Army Nurse Corps were also options for nurses to help serve the soldiers that would experience injuries fighting in battle.

Women volunteered to join these groups because they wanted to do what they could to help out, especially with their husbands, brothers, and other men in their lives all gone away to fight. However, there were other ways they were recruited as well. At this time, women were now taking on many job roles traditionally for men and not seen as feminine. This met with some cultural resistance. In order to recruit women, the government used propaganda and advertise telling women that their work would help end the war more quickly.

The WASPs were a special group of women in World War II!

The Women Air Force Service Pilots, also known as "WASP: were a combined group of two originally separate groups, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). These two groups had formed to help find pilots to fly aircraft. When they combined to form one group of all women pilots, they originally had specific requirements for who they accepted. The women needed to have a private pilot license and 200 hours of flight time, before WASP would then train them to fly "the Army way.” However, this requirement only lasted for their first few weeks. Soon they started to accept women without any prior flying experience at all, who were trained in the program. The WASP training program had 1,074 graduates. These graduates, combined with the original trained pilots under the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), flew over 50% of the combat aircraft within the United States during the war years. Maggie Gee recounts how when the female pilots would fly into a small town in uniform, when they would get out the crew would always be shocked they were women, and it was a nice shock.

In addition to ferrying planes, WASPs also helped test new planes, train male pilots, towed targets for gunnery practice, and transported cargo. However, they were not allowed to fly in combat, so they weren't trained in any combat flight techniques.

Honoring the End of WASP!

WASP was disbanded in December of 1944. Despite their incredible value to the war effort, they were not recognized as military veterans until 1977. In 2010, the surviving WASP were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. Today, their legacy is kept alive at museums like the National WASP WWII Museum in Texas. The Museum of Chinese in America is proud to honor Hazel Ying Lee and Maggie Gee, the only two Chinese American WASPs, in our collections and exhibits.