Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) of World War II

During World War II, all branches of the military had women's auxiliaries. Only the Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program, however, was comprised entirely of women who flew dangerous missions more commonly associated with and desired by men.
Within military hierarchies, the World War II pilot was projected as the most dashing and desirable of servicemen. "Flyboys" were the daring elite of the United States military. More than the WACs (Army), WAVES (Navy), SPARS (Coast Guard), or Women Marines, the WASPs directly challenged these assumptions of male supremacy in wartime culture. WASPs flew the fastest fighter planes and heaviest bombers; they test-piloted experimental models and worked in the development of weapons systems. Yet the WASPs were the only women's auxiliary within the armed services of World War II that was not militarized.
In Clipped Wings, Molly Merryman draws upon military documents (many of which were declassified only in the 1980s), congressional records, and interviews with the women who served as WASPs during World War II, to trace the history of the over 1,000 pilots who served their country as the first women to fly military planes. She examines the social pressures which culminated in their disbandment in 1944—even though a wartime need for their services still existed—and documents their struggles and eventual success, in 1977, to gain military status and receive veterans benefits.

• Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War Two
• Yankee Doodle Gals: Women Pilots of World War II
• A WASP Among Eagles: A Woman Military Test Pilot in World War II
• To Live and Die a WASP: 38 Women Pilots Who Died in WWII
• Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History
• WASP of the Ferry Command: Women Pilots, Uncommon Deeds
• The U.S. WASP: Trailblazing Women Pilots of World War II (Women and War)
• Women Pilots Of World War II
• The Originals: The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of World War II
• Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II