In 1942, Jacqueline Cochran led the training of Women Air Force Pilots (WASP) to free male pilots for combat air. 1 The program trained 1,102 female pilots and lasted 29 months. During this period, 38 women were killed while transporting and testing the planes. 2During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jacqueline Cochran tried to convince the Army Air Corps to allow women pilots to fly military planes in the United States. When that failed, she decided to help the British Air Transport Auxiliary and took a group of female pilots with her. When she returned to recruit a second group, she learned that the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) had been established. Knowing there would be a need for more than 25 WAFS members, she created the Women's Flight Training Detachment (WFTD) with a starting class of 25 women. They transported, tested, delivered, put flight time on new engines, towed targets for gunnery practice, and trained male student pilots. In August 1943, the WAFS and WFTD merged to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots, also known as the WASP. In the short time the WASP program existed, 25,000 women applied to become pilots. Only 1,879 applicants were accepted and 1,074 successfully completed the program.3 To become a WASP member, a woman had to have a business license, be between the ages of 21 and 35 (women from age 18 years old were accepted if they had a pilot's license and flight experience) and had a minimum of 200 flight hours.4 Pilots also had to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall. Margaret Phelan Taylor was a WASP pilot who was half an inch shorter than the minimum height limit of 5 feet 2 inches. When it came time to measure, she simply stood on tiptoes. After arrival...... middle of paper ......nces, but now the war situation has changed and the time has come when your volunteer services are no longer needed. The situation is this: if you continue to serve, you will replace our young men instead of releasing them. I know the WASP wouldn't want that. I want you to know that I appreciate your war service and that the AAF will miss you…”8 The women flew 60 million miles aboard 77 different aircraft; maintained a slightly better safety record than male pilots; and had even trained male pilots. Yet it took 33 years after their disbandment for the WASP to gain veteran status. After the dissolution, some women remained pilots, but not at major airlines. Others got jobs as flight attendants to stay in the air. Major airlines would not hire these highly skilled and experienced pilots to fly their planes, simply because they were women..9