Constance Leathart, pilot in WWII

[shenmue]

BBC story here

From the article:

She went on to become a hugely experienced pilot and flew fighters and bombers during WW2. In peacetime she flew alongside an elite band of socialite aviators and liked whisky, cigars and woodbines between flights.

[TexasProgresive]

1. Not to steal the British ladies thunder

We had our own W.A.S.P.(Women Airforce Service Pilots) who flew every kind of military aircraft ferrying them from the factories to the bases during WWII.

Here's a link to their story. And Fannie Flagg wrote a great novel about these outstanding women, The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots

Elizabeth L. Gardner, WASP, at the controls of a B-26 Marauder.

Winged Auxiliaries:
Women Pilots in the UK and US during World War Two
by Dr. Helena P. Schrader
Originally published in " THE JOURNAL OF NAVIGATION" (2006), 59, 1-13. © The Royal Institute of Navigation
doi:10.1017/S0373463306003651 Printed in the United Kingdom
(Reprinted with permission)
http://helena-schrader.com/womenpilots.html
During World War II women in the US and the UK were given the then unprecedented opportunity to fly military aircraft. Yet while the women flying in the UK soon gained the privileges and status enjoyed by their male colleagues, the American women pilots were expressly denied the same status, rank, pay, and benefits as USAAF pilots. In fact, after an ugly slander campaign against the women pilots' organization, the US programme was discontinued and the women were sent home before their job was done. The American women pilots were not less dedicated or inherently less capable than the women flying in Britain. Rather, key environmental and organizational differences and above all a failure of leadership accounts for their fate. This paper summarizes the differences and their impact.
The complete findings of the comparative research on the experiences of women pilots in the US and the UK during WWII was published by Pen & Sword Books Inc. early in 2006 under the title Sisters in Arms.

[Tipperary]

4. I love hearing these stories. And there are so many unsung female heroes.

I make a point of reading the New York Times obituaries every Sunday, and I have learned about some great women that I would never have heard of otherwise. I just hate learning it so late.

[hobbit709]

2. The Night Witches

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches

[shenmue]

3. That would make a great movie