Fly Girls ◎

The term is frequently used to describe women in aviation, from historical pilots to modern-day professionals.

Produced by PBS American Experience, Fly Girls chronicles the relatively unknown story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. While men were fighting on the front lines, over 1,000 young female pilots were recruited to fly non-combat missions stateside—testing newly developed aircraft, ferrying planes across the country, and towing targets for anti-aircraft practice. fly girls

The contemporary resurgence of interest in figures like Earhart, Coleman, and the WASP (reflected in films like Hidden Figures and Fly Girls on PBS) indicates a hunger for a usable feminist past. However, a deep reading warns against simple celebration. The Fly Girl is not a heroine of unbroken triumph. She is a figure of profound ambivalence: a rational mind in a spectacularized body, a patriot serving a state that refused to bury her, a pioneer whose path was immediately paved over. To study the Fly Girls is to understand that the sky, like the home, is a political territory. And the fight for it is never over. The term is frequently used to describe women

During World War II, over 1,000 women joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) . These women flew every type of military aircraft, ferrying planes from factories to bases, though they did not see combat. The contemporary resurgence of interest in figures like

In the 1920s and '30s, women like Florence Klingensmith , Ruth Elder , and Amelia Earhart fought to compete in high-stakes national air races. They were often ridiculed as "flying flappers," yet they persisted, arguing they had the same "inherent right" to take risks as men.