Fifty American women, chosen for their courage, alertness and flying experience, will be the cornerstone of the newly formed U.S. Women’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron.

About to start on four weeks of intensive training under Army Air Force officers, these first WAFS will relieve male civilian fliers now ferrying planes from U.S. factories to airfields. Like the women in England's ferry command, the WAFS represent the cream of a large group of U.S. women pilots. All had more than 500 hours of certified flying time; all have flown planes of at least 200 horsepower.
 
 

At the head of the Squadron is Mrs. Nancy Harkness Love, slender, attractive blond who has had a pilot's license since 1935 and has more than 1200 flying hours to her credit. The only woman among 33 pilots who ferried planes from the United States to Canada in 1940, before France fell, Mrs. Love learned to fly 12 years ago while attending Milton Academy, and while at Vassar College she organized students’ flying clubs.  She is the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Love, deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Air Transport Command and daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Bruce Harkness of Hastings, Michigan.

Mrs. Love has been working in the operations department of the Bureau of Air Transport for many months to familiarize herself with the problems involved in her new job.  She plans expansion for her unit to a point where it will be many times as large as the original 50; she cites the fact that America has more than 3,000 licensed women pilots, many of whom are already being trained in cross-country flying by Jacqueline Cochran, noted flyer and first woman to pilot a bomber to Britain.
 

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Mrs. Nancy Harkness Love, attractive, 28-year-old head of the newly-formed U.S. Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, is shown at the controls of her plane. As in England, American women are being trained to replace male pilots in ferrying planes from factory to airport.  (Collection Shelby Stanton)

Candidates for the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron must be between 21 and 35; they must take stiff oral and practical examinations to prove their ability; and may eventually be called upon to pilot America's multi-motored bombers to war zones. The WAFS will keep their civilian status, but will wear regulation gray-green uniforms while on duty. They will receive $3,000 a year and will live in barracks.

Among the first candidates to be accepted for the training school was Mrs. Betty Gillies, president of one of America's leading flying clubs for women, and herself a pilot of ten years’ experience.  Another applicant is Miss Cornelia Fort, who was a flying instructor in Hawaii when war broke out.  On the morning of December 7, Miss Fort was giving a lesson not far from Pearl Harbor when her plane almost collided with an attacking Japanese plane.

Thus, though America's WAFS may be new to the service, they are not without practical experience. The creation of their squadron has brought words of praise from U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. He and all Americans realize that here and in many other fields, U.S. women can and will fill the shoes of men needed in the armed forces.
 

Eight of the women pilots for the newly-formed Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron report for duty ready to start their intensive training.  Members of the WAFS are former civilian pilots. They will be trained by army officials.  (Collection Shelby Stanton)

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