Fly girls served on the QT

They're the original meaning of "fly girls." The real deal: The first women pilots to fly military aircraft included late-honored, local lady Betty Reed, whom Sunday's Press featured.

Even now some people just don't see girls flying planes. A few years ago in Post Falls a young man outside the Super 1 asked me as he pointed to my "I love flying" bumper sticker, "Oh, does your husband fly?" Uh, no.

To be a girl pilot in the 1940s - I can't imagine what they were up against. I also know they didn't much care, as long as they got to fly those gorgeous birds. Why should boys have all the fun?

The dedicated WASPS - Women Airforce Service Pilots - of WWII were not officially recognized by the government. They had to pay for their own uniforms and other needs, even while working full-time for their country. They received neither the salaries nor benefits given to other members of the military. It wasn't until 1977 that they were officially recognized for their service and granted veteran status under President Carter, some posthumously.

These fly girls did it for the love. Love of country and of soaring through the air in Mustangs, Thunderbolts, and the occasional bomber. Founders Jackie Cochran and the late Nancy Harkness Love (whose biography is a good read), after soliciting the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, finally made headway in creating the "Women's Auxiliary Flying Service (WAFS)" to support the war effort when General Hap Arnold declared his support.

With so many male pilots serving overseas, there was a domestic shortage. The Air Force needed pilots to ferry aircraft from manufacturers or other locations to U.S. bases (and a few secretly in the U.K.). WASPS provided this service in the latter part of the war. The later-called WASP headquarters was established in Sweetwater, Texas, at Avenger field and trained more than 1,000 WASPs.

The Seattle Museum of Flight has the largest WASP exhibit in the U.S.

Go fly girls.

Sholeh Patrick is lucky to have flown some gorgeous warbirds and hopes her daughter will too. [email protected]