‘They never expected it to succeed’: Sweetwater WASP Museum celebrates 20 years honoring WWII pilots

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Looking back in history to World War II, the Women Airforce Service Pilots were superheroes of aviation. They were the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft, and most of them trained in the Big Country, at Avenger Field in Nolan County. This year, the WASP Museum is celebrating 20 years of honoring these pioneers who blazed through the skies more than 80 years ago.

It was 1942 when women stepped up to the cockpit during the war, marking the start of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots, or WASP. Lisa Taylor is the executive director at the WASP Museum. She taught history for many years, and after moving to Sweetwater and taking a peek inside the museum, she was fascinated by their story, one she said she wished she could have taught her students.

“We talked about the Tuskegee and the Navajo Code Talkers, and I tried to bring in all the facets of World War II because there was so much to it. But I had never heard of these women. We talked about Rosie the Riveter,” Taylor said. “Not only were they just fighting the barriers of being in the army, Air Corps, but just societal barriers as well, because everyone mistrusted their motivation.”

Taylor said she connected with the more than 1,100 female pilots and their resilience.

“It was like, okay, we just can’t make it without women. We should start this experimental program. Right. They never expected it to succeed,” Taylor said. “It was harder as pilots. That was the one area that the government seemed really bent on keeping women out.”

With little to no resources, the women had to find their own means to get a pilot’s license and also travel to Sweetwater for training.

They were given hand-me-down uniforms that the men wore, which were often too big for most women and posed a safety hazard. Jacqueline Cochran, director of the WASP, changed the masculine camouflage to a standout ‘Santiago’ that still leaves an impact on the U.S. Air Force today.

“Legend has it that she went back and told her, ladies, my girls are not going to wear that dreadful [army green] color,” Taylor said. “That was how Blue got introduced into the Army Air Corps. That was the first time there was blue. So, I think that we can credit Jackie Cochran with that.”

One woman who inspired her was Betty Blake. She was a flight instructor based in Hawaii with 360 hours of flight time. By the time she finished the program, she had 3,600 hours. Blake, among many of the other women, faced societal backlash and disbelief for their service. Taylor said Blake was arrested due to her uniform having pants when she had to make a pit stop from a flight due to weather.

“Betty Blake, being arrested for wearing pants, this was what they were dealing with because of the scandalous for a woman to be in public in pants like that. They could be denied meals in a restaurant on nights in a hotel room,” Taylor said.

When the program ended in 1944 and the men started to return from war, the WASP returned to their everyday lives, not receiving recognition until more than 30 years later, and being delayed from a return to the skies because of their gender.

“None of the women who had joined the workforce during World War II really got to stay. I mean, the men came home, and they left. It became this ‘Hey, that was really nice of you, but we’re back,” Taylor explained. “For a lot of women, it was so hard. They got out and they were determined to find professional jobs in aviation, and they applied to all the commercial airlines, all the private airlines, and they were just told no again and again and again.”

17 WASP have their ashes spread across the Avenger Field as part of a new memorial garden featured outside of the museum.

The museum in Sweetwater is the only one dedicated solely to the WWII WASP veterans.