Katherine Sharp Landdeck (Book order)

Katherine Sharp Landdeck Book order

Katherine Sharp Landdeck is an associate professor of history at Texas Woman’s University, the home of the WASP archives. A Guggenheim Fellow at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she earned her Ph.D., Landdeck has received numerous awards for her work on the WASP and has appeared as an expert on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS, and the History channel. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and HuffPost, as well as in numerous academic and aviation publications. Landdeck is a licensed pilot who flies whenever she can.

Women with Silver Wings

448 pages
16 hours of reading

4.2(1513)Add rating

The thrilling true story of daring female aviators who helped the U.S. win World War II, only to be forgotten by the country they served. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already flying as a flight instructor in Hawaii. During a lesson, she and her student narrowly escaped the bombing. When the U.S. Army Air Forces sought women pilots for the war effort, Fort eagerly responded, becoming one of over 1,100 women who earned their silver wings through a rigorous selection process. The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), founded by Nancy Love and Jacqueline Cochran, provided women like Fort the opportunity to serve and demonstrate their aviation skills. Although not authorized for combat, WASP members trained male pilots and ferried aircraft across the country. Tragically, thirty-eight of these women lost their lives during the war. Despite the program's success, Congress disbanded the WASP as the war's tide turned, sending the women home. Nevertheless, the bonds they formed remained strong, and in the following decades, they united to fight for recognition as military veterans and to reclaim their place in history.