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Pilots

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On Sept. 3, 1942, Arnold conceded; by Sept. 5, Love had been appointed and women were being hired to ferry military planes. On Sept.  10, the formation of the Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron, stationed at New Castle, was announced. New Castle was chosen because it was close to Eastern aircraft producers and also close to Air Corps headquarters in Washington.

Orders were to hire as many women as necessary under civil service regulations and at minimum salaries of $3,000 yearly – $500 less than was paid to civilian men with the same job.

The women had to meet the same requirements as the men: They needed at least 500 hours of certified flying time, including cross-country experience, and had to produce a letter of recommendation from an employer or someone of standing in their community.

Women who qualified were invited to Wilmington at their own expense for an interview and flight check in an Army trainer. If the applicant passed, she then met a board of three officers, who reviewed her credentials and the result of her flight check. By Sept. 17, the desired 25 women had been hired.

Once accepted, the women pilots took four to six weeks of instruction in ground school and flying time. Then, they were hired for three months. De Armond said that if the women "continued to be useful to the AAF, their employment would be extended by three additional months."

"Professionally, the great majority of the original squadron members [21 out of 25] had superior qualifications," she said. "Their flying hours ranged from 532 to 2,627.... Five owned their own planes and had flown them all over the United States. One had flown extensively in England and France before the war. All had been flight instructors, and five had made instructing their principal job for the prior two or three years."

The women pilots wore uniforms and worked under the same rules as the men pilots — but a house mother presided over their quarters.

During 1942, the women ferried trainers and liaison planes, but before long their service were required for more advanced planes — C-47s, A-36s, and B-25s.  Love and Gillies were the first women pilots to fly B-17s, the long-range bomber known as the Flying Fortress, which had four 1,250-horsepower engines.

By April 1943, the squadron at New Castle had proved its value, and the unit was split and reasigned to three other bases.

As the women's competence was established, the Air Force began a recruiting and training program for women. Cochran started the Women's Flying Training Detachment at Houston and Sweetwater Texas; in July 1943, the WAFS and the WFTDs merged to become the Women's Air Service Pilots, or WASPs.

Jan Churchill of Chesapeake City, Md., who will deliver the welcome from the Ninety-Nines, says the public is invited to the dedication Monday honoring the first squadron of female pilots to fly military aircraft for the Air Force. De Armond of the Office of Air Force History; retired Col. Henry R. Johnston of the Wilmington Warriors; and Gillies of the WAFs and WASPs, who now lives in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., will be among the speakers.