soldiers-of-war:USA. Texas. 1943. Shirley Slade sits on the wing of her Army trainer at Avenger Fiel

soldiers-of-war:USA. Texas. 1943. Shirley Slade sits on the wing of her Army trainer at Avenger Field. This image appeared on the July 19, 1943 cover of LIFE Magazine. In 1942, the United States was faced with a severe shortage of pilots, so an experimental program to replace males with female pilots was created. The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Shirley Slade was one of about 1,100 chosen. She was trained to fly the B-26 and B-39, and that got her put on the cover of Life magazine in 1943 at about 23 years old.Those 1,100 young women, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft — including the B-26 and B-29 bombers — as part of the WASP program. They ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country. They tested newly overhauled planes. And they towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting — with live ammunition.It was unacceptable to have women replacing men. They could release men for duty — that was patriotic — but they couldn’t replace men. The WASP program was cancelled after just two years, partly because the war was winding down. In that 2 years, 38 of the women died in service. The remaining women, because they were civilians, had to pay their own bus fare to get back home. None of the WASP women were granted military status until the 1970s, but they did finally get it. Jacqueline Cochran, the leader of the WASPs, would go on later to be the first woman to break the sound barrier.Shirley Slade passed away on April 26, 2000, as  "Shirley Slade Teer", at 79 years old. She wasn’t alive to be a part of the 2010 ceremony at which the remaining 200 WASP women were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal bestowed upon them by Congress. -- source link

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