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
had approximately 1 000 flying hours in the B 29 and he knew it could be flown safely He just needed to figure out how to prove it to other pilots Then Tibbets had an idea According to Tibbets he heard they were having trouble at the ſairbase in Clovis New Mexico trying to get college football heroes to fly the B 29 Didn't take me long to figure it out What would you do I said train two women to fly it At that point Tibbets recruited Dougherty and Johnson to train on the B 29 As WASPs Dougherty and Johnson were licensed pilots who flew US military airplanes during World War II When Tibbets approached them in 1944 they were both stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida They flew planes that towed targets for aerial shooting practice Despite their training neither WASP had flown a four engine plane before In fact Dougherty who was five feet five inches tall Our heroes back then weren't 165 cm wasn't even movie stars and rock stars sure she was big enough to Our heroes were the people who were pushing back the handle such a large aircraft frontiers in the sky people who But Dougherty was excited had made headlines gone faster gone farther to learn We realized why Dora Dougherty WASP they had us fly it said Dougherty showing how
easy it was to fly that even a girl could do it We didn't feel bad about that Training on the B 29 Dougherty and Johnson left Eglin Air Force Base and traveled to Birmingham Alabama Tibbets chose Birmingham because it had a large modification center where workers outfitted B 29s for the war The center always had many B 29s in stock so Tibbets knew that if one plane broke down during training they would have access to another one right way Tibbets hoped this supply of B 29s would allow the training to go quickly and without interruption In May 1944 the two WASPs began their training with Tibbets and flight DORA DOUGHERTY Dora Dougherty was born in Saint Paul Minnesota in 1921 Her love of flying started early when her family would go to the airport on Sundays after church There the family spent time watching planes take off and land Dougherty's interest in flying grew After her first year of college she signed up for the Civilian Pilot Training Program CPTP and learned to fly It was a thrill I think that a lot of the excitement is that it's something new that you're in control and that the success of the flight depends on you she said After flying with WASPs in World War II Dougherty earned a doctorate in aviation education and psychology She went on to work at Bell Helicopter and later broke helicopter records for distance and altitude Dougherty died in 2013 but her legacy in women's aviation lives on
