Who were The Originals?
Based on personal interviews with the nine who were still alive as of 2000, on papers and diaries, and on interviews and correspondence with descendants and others who knew them. This book tells the story of the WAFS, who they were, how they are different from the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots), and how they ultimately became part of the WASPs. A must reference book for libraries in aviation communities, but it reads like a novel. Second Edition, Revised and Updated.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
“I knew at the moment I pulled the trigger on the collective and watched the rotor blade start turning on my medivac helicopter that history for all women was about to change in military aviation. We were all going to make history. I thought about the WASP I had read about towing targets during WWII to train our young male pilots, hopefully giving them a fighting chance to win and survive. Now, me, three wars later and a long generation since WWII, would carry the hope for all those women and this task I was about to perform would show our country ‘yes’ women can do this job of flying and be superior at it, too. I prayed not for my safe return to my family, but I prayed like those many, many, young male pilots before me that I would have the courage to do my duty.
“I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down and looked forward every single night to flying with the WAFS. While I was cozy in bed by 10 PM, the rest me was hanging around with the girls. I smoked a few cigarettes with them and had my share of Highballs... I knew what it was like to get up at o’dark thirty for formation and then wait all day for the weather to clear... When they came down with the flu, I wanted to curl up and die right along with them. But, of course, it was our commitment to the mission that made us crawl like death warmed over out of bed and into the cockpit to fly. For three nights last week I was a WAFS. Highballs, anyone?” -- Ann Hollingsworth Patrie, STC, USAR, Veteran Aviator, Desert Storm, UH-1 Medivac Pilot
“The WASP and WAFS are role models of mine. They are greatly respected for their services to our country.” -- Eileen Collins, NASA Astronaut
Rickman tells the often neglected story of the role played by a courageous and determined group of 28 women who made up the WAFS. They fought the boundaries of gender, bureaucracy and the politics of competition in order to become a part of their nation’s aviation history... a fascinating account. Rickman’s retelling of the hardships and hazards faced by these women brings a sense of comradeship, empathy and joy to all of us. Her recounting of this history in enables readers to enjoy sharing their courage and contributions, as I did. -- Dr. J. Dudley Pewitt, COL. USAF (Ret.), Distinguished Service Prof Emeritus, University of Alabama; Director, Southern Museum of Flight
Technically well researched and filled with wisely selected and wonderfully intimate details lifted from diaries, Rickman fulfills the promise of her title. The 28 women who were the first WAFS were indeed originals. Good humored, strong-minded—they had to be—and quite often beautiful, these women are depicted as being more than up to the struggles they fought, not only to be pilots in the 1930s but to answer the needs of their country in World War II. Rickman’s account is set up against that drama as well as against the conflicts of Army infighting, congressional politics and the rival ambitions of an American female icon, Jacqueline Cochran. A remarkable era and some of the remarkable women it spawned spring to life off these pages,—especially the 28 originals who changed not only the history of flight but in a very short time helped revolutionize the roles of American women in the 20th century. -- Suzanne Clauser, author of A Girl Named Sooner and East of Mandalay and award-winning screenwriter
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
£ 3.20
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_1584442638
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover1584442638
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard1584442638
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon1584442638
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 2.05. Seller Inventory # Q-1584442638
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think1584442638
Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. New. book. Seller Inventory # D8S0-3-M-1584442638-6