Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

NW-23

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), including Gloucester resident Margaret Ann Hamilton Tunner (1917-2009), transported and flight tested aircraft and towed targets for the U.S. military during World War II. More than 25,000 female pilots applied but only 1,074 completed the rigorous training and were accepted. The WASP delivered more than 12,260 aircraft, often with only a road map for navigation, but Congress disbanded them in 1944 without benefits. Due largely to the efforts of surviving WASP like Tunner, in 1977 Congress acknowledged their military service and granted them Veterans status. In March 2010, all WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Department of Historic Resources, 2010

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Author Unknown. Texas Women’s University Libraries-Women Air Force Service Pilot (WASP). 2 April 2010. [http://www.twu.edu/library/wasp.asp]. 6 April 2010. Author Unknown. Texas Woman’s University: History of the WASP. 6 April 2010. [http://www.twu.edu/library/wasp-history.asp]. 6 April 2010. Author Unknown. National WASP World War II Museum: Education. 2008. [http://waspmuseum.org/education/]. 6 April 2010. Author Unknown. Air Force Historical Research Agency: Tunner Papers. Date of most recent update unknown. [http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=11415]. 6 April 2010. Author Unknown. Texas Woman's University: Tunner Papers. Date of most recent update unknown. [http://cdm15075.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p214coll2&CISOPTR=1042&CISOBOX=1&REC=17]. 6 April 2010. Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation. New York: Random House, 1998. Carl, Ann B. A WASP Among Eagles: A Woman Military Test Pilot in World War II. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, l999. Gott, Kay. Women in Pursuit. McKinleyville, California: Privately Published, 1993. Harper, Lisa. Personal Interview with Margaret Ann Hamilton Tunner. 10 March 2005. Keil, Sally Van Wagenen. Those Wonderful Women in their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War II. New York: Rawson, Wade Publishers, 1979. Parish, Parish. WASP Final Flight: WASP Margaret Ann Hamilton Tunner, 43-2. 15 October 2009. [http://waspfinalflight.blogspot.com/2009/10/wasp-margaret-ann-hamilton-tunner-43-2.html]. 6 April 2010