View from the Doghouse

In 1997 an instructor mentioned
to me that he would like to know what happened to his women students after
World War II. What started out as a
"booklet" turned into a "book" with profiles of the first three classes of the
319^th AAFWFTD (Army Air Force Women's Flight Training Detachment)class=GramE>. Those who trained
at Municipal Airport
had many hardships that future classes did not encounter.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> They were not given the same military
privileges as the men and had to pay their own way to the training
facilities. They were required to have
at least 200 hours of flying time and had to pay all of their own expenses
while training. Some were trained by
instructors who had less experience flying than they had.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

Quite a few books have been
written about the WASP in Sweetwater, Texas
but very few about the Houston
group. They were known as the 319^th
AAFWFTD and were not named WASP until August of 1943.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> My job was to keep up with their flying time
to submit reports to the government for payment.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> My office was called "The Doghouse" and was a
glass building sitting near the runway.
I was completely in awe thinking what these ladies had to go through in
order to serve their country. They have
since been recognized by the military, but it took many years to obtain that
status.