Fly Girls

Debutante Patricia Pearson writes in beautiful writing about the notable but often neglected group of combat pilotesses who followed the call of their countries during the war. When the Second World War reached its peak, the US Army Air Force was confronted with an urgent need for qualified airmen - but only men were permitted to use combat aircraft, even if the experienced airmen they trained to fly were males.

By sand and resolution, 1,100 of these women fighters, who had to stand the test of times, were able to transport aircraft from the factory to the base, carry target sniper education, test fixed aircraft and new gear, and much more. Although the WASPs resided on army camps, were educated as army commanders, dressed in uniform, walked back, and sometimes perished by force in the line of service, they were civil servants and were paid less than men who did the same work and did not receive either medical or burial benefit.

Debutante Patricia Pearson writes in beautiful writing about the notable but often neglected group of combat pilotesses who followed the call of their countries during the war. When the Second World War reached its peak, the US Army Air Force was confronted with an urgent need for qualified airmen - but only men were permitted to use combat aircraft, even if the experienced airmen they trained to fly were males.

By sand and resolution, 1,100 of these women fighters, who had to stand the test of times, were able to transport aircraft from the factory to the base, carry target sniper education, test fixed aircraft and new gear, and much more.

Fly Girls' is a high-flying story about how early women pilots conquered the sky.

There is a sorry response and topicality to "Fly Girls: All Odds and Made Aviation History" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 265 S., ????½ von vier Sternen). It is the real tale of another section in US civilization in which a woman was sacked, reduced, disparaged and ignored just because she was a woman.

However, writer Keith O'Brien, a former Boston Globe journalist and NPR staff member, has restored these girls to where they belonged - usually hiding and forgetting for a long time. He has done it with charm, sensibility and a keen attention to detail that makes "Fly Girls" both intoxicating and heart-rending.

Ladies wanted to be there. It was not until 1920 that the right to stand for election was granted to themselves by woman, and the notion that they could stand against men or beat them was seen as "stupid", if at all. But while O'Brien recounts it so graphically, the females pushed on, initially with their own breed rewards, mockingly shaping the "Powder Puff Derby" of none other than the US comedian Will Rogers.

Intrepidly, the women drivers organised and urged each other even more, until in 1936 they were able to compete with the men in the largest and most strenuous competition ever. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic in 1932 and vanished across the Pacific in 1937 with Fred Noonan as they tried to circle the world.

However, there were other mothers who risked their life to pursue their passions for aviation and fight for equality of respect, right and reward for their work. ouise Thaden, a dual mom, sold dough in Wichita, Kansas, just before she became one of only a dozen USA aviators.

Many thought she was the best woman to fly and the one with the most sad ending. O'Brien has achieved another win in her honour with "Fly Girls".