Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space Number 7 nite ates women in Aviation 1940-1985 Deborah G. Douglas SERIES PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Emphasis upon publication as a means of "diffusing knowledge" was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. In his formal plan for the Institution, Joseph Henry outlined a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge." This theme of basic research has been adhered to through the years by thousands of titles issued in series publications under the Smithsonian imprint, commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the following active series: Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics Smithsonian Contributions to Botany Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology Smithsonian Folklife Studies Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology In these series, the Institution publishes small papers and full-scale monographs that report the research and collections of its various museums and bureaux or of professional colleagues in the world of science and scholarship. The publications are distributed by mailing lists to libraries, universities, and simitar institutions throughout the world. Papers or monographs submitted for series publication are received by the Smithsonian Institution Press, subject to its own review for format and style, only through departments of the various Smithsonian museums or bureaux, where the manuscripts are given substantive review. Press requirements for manuscript and art preparation are outlined on the inside back cover. Robert McC. Adams Secretary Smithsonian Institution SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN AIR AND SPACE • NUMBER 7 United States Women in Aviation 1940-1985 Deborah G. Douglas SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS Washington, D.C. 1990 ABSTRACT Douglas, Deborah G. United States Women in Aviation, 1940-1985. Smith­ sonian Studies in Air and Space, number 7, 142 pages, 70 figures, 4 tables, 1990.—Covering the years 1940-1985, this study explores two main periods—World War II and the postwar era—in the story of American women in aviation. It is a history of the female pilots, engineers, aircraft industry personnel, and flight attendants who met the challenges of the aviation world, and who had to overcome particular barriers because they were women. Their contributions and achievements in times of war and peace are illustrated by photographs, documents and newspaper accounts of the day, and by personal memoirs. The unusual experiences of these women are examined in this review of the impact of gender on aviation history. Other related numbers in Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space: 2. United States Women in Aviation through World War I, by Claudia M. Oakes 5. United States Women in Aviation, 1919-1929, by Kathleen Brooks- Pazmany 6. United States Women in Aviation, 1930-1939, by Claudia M. Oakes © 1990 by Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. FRONT COVER: Jacqueline Cochran (S I. photo 72-6626). BACK COVER: Lynn Rippelmeyer (Courtesy of David Hollander), see Figure 63. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Douglas, Deborah G. United States women in aviation, 1940-1985 (Smithsonian studies in air and space ; no. 7) Bibliography: p. Includes index. Supt. of Docs, no.: SI 1.42:7 1. Women in aeronautics—United States. I. Title. II. Series T1321.D68 1990 629.13'0082—dc20 89-600095 Contents Page Foreword v Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 WORLD WAR II 1. Students and Teachers, Clubs and Colleges: Women in Civilian Aviation Organizations 3 2. Coffee, Grease, Blueprints, and Rivets: Women at Work in the Aviation Industry 12 3. Daughters of Minerva: Military Women in Aviation 27 4. Nieces of Uncle Sam: The Women's Airforce Service Pilots .... 44 POSTWAR ERA 5. Demobilization and the Postwar Transition: 1945-1949 57 6. "The Feminine Mystique" and Aviation: The 1950s 69 7. The Impact of the Women's Rights Movement: The 1960s .... 81 8. Women with "The Right Stuff": The 1970s 93 9. Captains of Industry, Airlines, and the Military: 1980-1985 . 107 Appendixes 115 I. North American Women in ATA 115 II. Summary, Congressional Inquiry into WASP 116 III. Tables 117 Notes 119 Glossary of Abbreviations 128 References 129 Index 139 in Foreword At the dawn of this century, when the first fragile "flying machines" were taking to the air. there was much speculation on how the phenomenon of flight might affect those who ventured aloft. Some argued that the immensity of space surrounding pilots, and the tremendous field of view that they would enjoy, would ultimately have an effect on the psyche; the mental horizon would expand with the field of vision, and the aviators would be more open-minded and receptive to what was new and different. The present work, which chronicles American women's participation in aviation with their male counterparts, offers some interesting—if challenging—commentary on the "receptivity" of the flying fraternity. But Deborah Douglas' study offers much more: it illuminates the consider­ able variety of roles that American women were able to play in the development of aviation over the past half century; and the author holds these women up to the reader's view not like so many mounted specimens, but in their cultural milieu, and against the proper socio-economic backdrop. What is more, the story of women in aviation that is related in the following pages is offered as part of a larger story, one that involves us all: that of American society's struggle to adapt itself to a world ruled by technology. Then too, woven through the narrative are threads of the great social questions that have stirred our society in past decades: racial integration, the Equal Rights Amendment, the anti-war movement of the sixties, and other issues in our recent history. Yet at bottom the story related in this book is not just about social issues, but about specific women and airplanes. The narrative is peopled with remarkable personalities such as Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Love, whose differences of opinion had important consequences when women began to enter the military service. The reader will encounter General "Hap" Arnold, who stated plainly "women can fly as well as men"—yet the U.S. Army Air Forces, which Arnold headed, sometimes used women to demonstrate warplanes with fearsome reputations to airmen who would be flying them. The male reasoning of the 1940s could be counted on to draw the desired conclusion: if a woman would fly it, then it couldn't be all that difficult. Then too, the story has its curious twists and turns, its sometimes strange alliances of interest. There was, for example, the unlikely convergence of anti-war feminists and anti-feminist conservatives in their mutual opposition to the training of women as military pilots. On the other hand, between male airline pilots and female flight attendants there was at first no meaningful coalition for collective bargaining purposes; it took time for their common economic interests to bridge the gender gap. Significantly, Douglas' treatment begins on the eve of American involvement in World War II, an involvement that would prove vital for women's role in American aviation. Claudia Oakes, who traced the women's story during the preceding decade {United States Women in Aviation, 1930-1939), concluded that by 1939 "women were no longer oddities in any area of aviation"; she had found examples of women who were not only pilots and stewardesses, but also engineers, mechanics, and specialists in demonstrating and selling airplanes. In a sense the "heroic" age was over by 1939; the pioneers had staked out various claims to competence, but it remained for the succeeding generation to exploit those claims. Acknowledgments First to be thanked are the countless women from all parts of the United States who have written letters, sent photographs, shared scrapbooks, and recorded impressions of their own experiences in aviation. At conventions and lectures, I have been besieged with offers of assistance; over dinner and hours of conversation, I have learned much, and I have come to admire the passion of these women for all things involved with flight. Truly, it has been an inspiring experience for me, and this study would not have been possible without their help. A few individuals and organizations deserve specific mention. These include Jean Ross Howard and members of the Whirly-Girls, Inc., International Women Helicopter Pilots; Hazel Jones and members of the Ninety-Nines, International Women Pilots Association; Dorothy Niekamp, author of "Women and Flight, 1910-1978: An Annotated Bibliography," an unpublished bibliog­ raphy produced by the Ninety-Nines (I was given permission to use this work extensively for my own research); Lt. Colonel Yvonne C. Pateman, USAF (Ret.); and Professor Lee Kennett of the University of Georgia. The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) staff has been exceedingly helpful at each stage of research and writing. Claudia Oakes, Tim Wooldridge, and Von Hardesty deserve special thanks in addition to Dom Pisano, Bob van der Linden, Dorothy Cochrane, Tom Crouch, Anita Mason, Sybil Deschee- maeker, Larry Wilson, Bob Drieson, Phil Edwards, Mary Pavlovich, Trish Graboske, David Romanowski, and Katie Schwartzstein. Barbara Spann of the Smithsonian Institution Press was a wonderful editor. I would also like to acknowledge several other individuals. My friends with the Daedalus Human Powered Flight Team and Roadwork, Inc., provided much support throughout the time when I was writing and revising this monograph.