Latest news with #WomenAirforceServicePilots
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘They never expected it to succeed': Sweetwater WASP Museum celebrates 20 years honoring WWII pilots
ABILENE, Texas () – Looking back in history to World War II, the Women Airforce Service Pilots were superheroes of aviation. They were the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft, and most of them trained in the Big Country, at Avenger Field in Nolan County. This year, the WASP Museum is celebrating 20 years of honoring these pioneers who blazed through the skies more than 80 years ago. Iowa veteran cycles 800+ miles to Sweetwater to honor WASP program It was 1942 when women stepped up to the cockpit during the war, marking the start of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots, or WASP. Lisa Taylor is the executive director at the WASP Museum. She taught history for many years, and after moving to Sweetwater and taking a peek inside the museum, she was fascinated by their story, one she said she wished she could have taught her students. 'We talked about the Tuskegee and the Navajo Code Talkers, and I tried to bring in all the facets of World War II because there was so much to it. But I had never heard of these women. We talked about Rosie the Riveter,' Taylor said. 'Not only were they just fighting the barriers of being in the army, Air Corps, but just societal barriers as well, because everyone mistrusted their motivation.' Taylor said she connected with the more than 1,100 female pilots and their resilience. 'It was like, okay, we just can't make it without women. We should start this experimental program. Right. They never expected it to succeed,' Taylor said. 'It was harder as pilots. That was the one area that the government seemed really bent on keeping women out.' WASPs come home to Avenger Field 80 years later With little to no resources, the women had to find their own means to get a pilot's license and also travel to Sweetwater for training. They were given hand-me-down uniforms that the men wore, which were often too big for most women and posed a safety hazard. Jacqueline Cochran, director of the WASP, changed the masculine camouflage to a standout 'Santiago' that still leaves an impact on the U.S. Air Force today. 'Legend has it that she went back and told her, ladies, my girls are not going to wear that dreadful [army green] color,' Taylor said. 'That was how Blue got introduced into the Army Air Corps. That was the first time there was blue. So, I think that we can credit Jackie Cochran with that.' One woman who inspired her was Betty Blake. She was a flight instructor based in Hawaii with 360 hours of flight time. By the time she finished the program, she had 3,600 hours. Blake, among many of the other women, faced societal backlash and disbelief for their service. Taylor said Blake was arrested due to her uniform having pants when she had to make a pit stop from a flight due to weather. 'Betty Blake, being arrested for wearing pants, this was what they were dealing with because of the scandalous for a woman to be in public in pants like that. They could be denied meals in a restaurant on nights in a hotel room,' Taylor said. 'She inspired us': Dyess AFB pilots continue WASPS legacy When the program ended in 1944 and the men started to return from war, the WASP returned to their everyday lives, not receiving recognition until more than 30 years later, and being delayed from a return to the skies because of their gender. 'None of the women who had joined the workforce during World War II really got to stay. I mean, the men came home, and they left. It became this 'Hey, that was really nice of you, but we're back,' Taylor explained. 'For a lot of women, it was so hard. They got out and they were determined to find professional jobs in aviation, and they applied to all the commercial airlines, all the private airlines, and they were just told no again and again and again.' 17 WASP have their ashes spread across the Avenger Field as part of a new memorial garden featured outside of the museum. The museum in Sweetwater is the only one dedicated solely to the WWII WASP veterans. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Central Ohio village building memorial wall for former air force base
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — The Village of Lockbourne is working on a new memorial, the Lockbourne/Rickenbacker Air Force Base Memorial Wall. A sign with a rendering of the memorial wall is posted at the community's Veterans Park. The village is right next to Rickenbacker International Airport, formerly an Air Force base. 'Rickenbacker actually was named Lockbourne Air Force base originally. And so the village residents kind of feel like it's our base, it's kind of our home,' Mayor Christie Ward said. National Veterans Memorial Museum hosts ceremony During the community's Memorial Day parade, an early design of the wall was on the village's float. 'We're really very supportive of the military, and it's really telling our history as well. The base kids they went to Hamilton Township so many of us went to school with the base kids,' Ward said. Before Rickenbacker International Airport was the airport, it was Rickenbacker Air Force Base for Eddie Rickenbacker, Medal of Honor recipient. Before that, it was the Lockbourne Air Force Base. It was a training airfield for the Women Airforce Service Pilots, and the Tuskegee Airmen were stationed there after World War II. 'It just has a magnificent contribution not just to central Ohio history, Ohio history but American history as well,' Robert Stroup, a local author, said. See which golfers are playing at 2025 Memorial Tournament in Dublin The idea for the memorial wall began with Stroup, who wrote a book about the base. He said along with displaying facts and stories about the base, it will be a tribute to those from the base who made the ultimate sacrifice. 'I think it's going to be just a beautiful sight that will commemorate those who have served here,' he said. 'Who have made the ultimate sacrifice. And we're certainly looking to honor all in that capacity.' The memorial is being publicly and privately funded. About $300,000 of the $525,000 needed for the project has been raised, according to Ward. She said a groundbreaking will take place in August and the memorial is expected to be completed in 2026. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why Is 'DEI' Such a Dirty Word to Trump? The Answer Has Been Right There For Years
By attacking everything that has anything to do with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), what exactly is President Donald Trump trying to accomplish?All the reactionary, alarmist social media posts and videos are alarming and reactionary, but they aren't giving us any real answers to this question. They will get you up in arms about the United States Air Force removing a course video highlighting the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots from their educational materials. (Something that the Air Force has reinstated after an immense outcry online.) Folks will look at which companies are adhering to the president's three executive orders that target DEI initiatives and tell you where not to shop. (Something that those who have economic privilege can afford, but what about those who are struggling financially?) But, again, what is the point of all this? Why is he doing it, and what is the president trying to accomplish? The answer is as simple, but you need a bit of historical context to fully understand. When Trump was president the first time, he banned diversity training to 'combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping.' Biden reversed that executive order but went a step further and had the most diverse administration in American history. His cabinet looked like the Rainbow Coalition: It included the first Black defense secretary, the first Native American cabinet member and the first female treasury secretary. Everyone got a seat at the table in Biden's America. Not so in Trump's. When the 47th president got into office, one of the first thing he did was undo what Biden undid. Except this time, he went even further by targeting DEI. Critics of Biden's approach to diversity said that it resulted in government bloat. Others said that things like diversity trainings are manipulative and accuses anyone who does not see racism everywhere of being racist. Soon the acronym 'DEI' became a dog whistleand was blamed for the demise of Silicon Valley Bank and even Boeing's aircraft safety problems. Put simply, Trump's supporters have been attacking DEI for years. That's why he is attacking these programs. Conservatives wanted to do away with these initiatives but could not because Biden was in office. Now they have someone who will do their bidding. Trump has listened to his voters and is implementing their vision of America. That's why immigrants are being hunted down by ICE agents. That's why transgender people are being attacked in the military. And that's why DEI initiatives have come under fire. Remember the people who said they would not to vote for Harris because of the war in Gaza? Or what about the ones who could not stomach her prosecutorial record? In 2009, Obama famously said, 'elections have consequences.' More than ever, we see now that he was right. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump executive order erases Arizona's Tuskegee Airmen, women WWII pilots
The Trump administration seems to believe that some of the most important heroes of World War II are woke and should be erased from the books. At least, if they happen to be Black. Or women. It was announced last week that because of Donald Trump's executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the Air Force would no longer teach about the Tuskegee Airmen, Black pilots from World War II, or about that war's Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). Heroes. Both groups. The Tuskegee Airmen, some from Arizona, fought not only to defend their country but to disprove racist beliefs about African Americans. The WASPs, likewise, proved the flying prowess of women, doing test runs, working with pilots on fighter skills and ferrying what was said to be more than 50% of America's combat aircraft overseas. Each group lost members. In 2004, The Arizona Republic wrote an article featuring four Tuskegee Airmen who lived in the Valley. One of them, Bob Ashby, said he signed up in part 'to prove them wrong that Blacks couldn't fly a plane.' Opinion: Trump's orders wreak havoc while politicians do nothing Another, Thurston Gaines, said, 'I wanted to do something with a degree of competency. I didn't look at it as history at all. 'I resented that someone would say I couldn't do something, and the only reason they could give me was because I had more pigment in my skin. I thought that was ludicrous.' The Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum in Mesa, with its two enormous hangars featuring a host of aircrafts and artifacts within its 30,000 square feet, honors both the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs. It speaks of how 'WASPs flew nearly every AAF aircraft type from six bases in Arizona.' And how many of the pilots were from here. It tells how Tuskegee Airmen 'flew more than 15,000 sorties, destroyed or damaged more than 400 enemy aircraft, and supported front-line needs from their U.S. bases for the duration.' The Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs had to prove — some with their lives — that diversity matters. They had to prove — some with their lives — that equity matters. They had to prove — some with their lives — that inclusion matters. And they did. Some with their lives. No piece of paper signed by Donald Trump can change that. Reach Montini at For more opinions content, please subscribe. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump DEI order erases Black and women pilots from WWII | Opinion
Los Angeles Times
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
More DEI fallout: Air Force scraps course that used videos of Tuskegee Airmen, female WWII pilots
WASHINGTON — The Air Force has removed training courses with videos of its storied Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs — the female World War II pilots who were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military — to comply with the Trump administration's removal of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The videos were shown to Air Force troops as part of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion courses they took during basic military training. In a statement, the Air Force confirmed the courses with those videos had been removed and said it 'will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency and in alignment with national security objectives.' The problem may not be with the historical videos themselves, but that they were used in Air Force basic military training DEI coursework. However, the lack of clearer guidance has sent the Air Force and other agencies scrambling to take the broadest approach to what content is removed to make sure they are in compliance. The Tuskegee Airmen, known as the 'Red Tails,' were the nation's first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit and their all-Black 332nd Fighter Group had one of the lowest loss records of all the bomber escorts in the war. They flew P-47 Thunderbolt, P-51 Mustang and other fighter aircraft to escort American bombers on dangerous missions over Germany. Before the fighter escorts began accompanying the slow and heavy U.S. bombers, losses were catastrophic due to getting dive-bombed and strafed by German aircraft. In a statement late Saturday, Tuskegee Airmen Inc., the nonprofit foundation created to preserve the legacy of those pilots, said it was 'strongly opposed' to the removal of the videos to comply with Trump's order. The stories of the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs 'are an essential part of American history and carried significant weight in the World War II veteran community. We believe the content of these courses does not promote one category of service member or citizen over another. They are simply a part of American military history that all service members should be made aware of,' the group said. President George W. Bush awarded the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda in 2007. In 2020, in his State of the Union address, Trump announced he had promoted one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, Charles McGee, to brigadier general. McGee died in 2022 at age 102. The WASPs contributed to World War II by learning to fly and ferry new bombers off the assembly lines to airfields where they were needed to ship off to war — freeing up male pilots to focus on combat missions overseas. They earned the right to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery just in the last decade. The Air Force, like other branches, has recently tried to broaden the number of people they reach to consider military careers like aviation that historically have had few minority service members in their ranks. Copp writes for the Associated Press.
