CHAPTER ONE TRAIN TWO WOMEN TO FLY IT Dora Dougherty climbed into the cockpit of the B 29 bomber with copilot Dorothea Didi Johnson right beside her The two women had never flown a four engine bomber before but they were determined to learn This airplane the Boeing B 29 Superfortress was the most powerful bomber of World War II 1939 1945 It had 12 machine guns one cannon and a maximum bomb load of 20 000 pounds 9 071 kg It also had a dangerous reputation The B 29's first test flight happened on September 21 1942 It had gone smoothly Dora Dougherty flew nearly every type of army aircraft
However the second test flight on February 18 1943 ended in disaster Fuel leaked inside a wing and then caught on fire The blaze spread to the engines The plane lost power crashed into a nearby factory and THE US AIR FORCE burst into flames All 11 In the early days of flight air power was part of the crew members including US Army A pilot's main job was to support troops Boeing's chief test pilot on the ground As planes were killed Twenty improved air power became an important part of war factory workers and a local Planes could be used for firefighter also died missions such as surveillance or bombing When the United As a result of the States entered World War II the army's air units became crash many air force the Army Air Forces AAF pilots refused to fly the The AAF officially became the US Air Force in 1947 B 29 As far as they were A year later women were concerned the aircraft was allowed to join the air force They could only perform a death trap with unreliable ground duties however such as operating radar reporting engines habitual fires weather conditions or nursing and inadequate testing patients The military changed its policies in 1976 and from Dougherty and Johnson then on women could join the US Air Force as pilots They could two female aviators who not fly in combat however were Women Airforce until 1993 Today more than 62 000 women serve in the Service Pilots WASPs US Air Force They are pilots had a different opinion navigators and mechanics They jumped at the chance
The B 29s were put into production before all testing was completed so the army set up modification centers where last minute alterations could be made to the aircraft to learn to fly such an impressive plane We thought it was a great opportunity for us said Dougherty We wanted to be part of the effort of proving this plane in any way we could Tibbets's Plan The United States and its allies desperately needed the B 29 Superfortress in the skies to win World War II It had many advantages The Superfortress could hold enough fuel to fly long distances which was critical for long range bombing missions It also flew 30 percent faster than other bombers and it had a pressurized cabin so it could fly at high altitudes The Army Air Forces needed to convince male pilots the B 29 was safe That job fell to Paul Tibbets Tibbets
