The Role of Female Pilots in World War II by Hallie Murray

Author:Hallie Murray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
Published: 2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Our new home was built from two-by-fours, planks and boards. One window per room, two if you had a corner room … I never expected to see such a barren structure, because I had been informed that the men who had occupied BOQ 14 had moved to another building. I …was astonished at the sunlight peeking through the cracks in the walls … I picked out a room with the least daylight peeking through the cracks. Furnishings consisted of one sagging cot and one iron chair.1

The building had a common bathroom, but the shower stalls had no curtains, and the toilets were out in the open. Modesty would become a thing of the past. Because many buildings at NCAAB were under construction, the ground was a sea of mud. To avoid sinking to her ankles, Sharp had to walk across planks from the road to the building. During her thirty-day training period, Sharp paid seventy-five cents a day to live in these conditions at BOQ 14.

While training, Sharp spent twenty-five hours flying and seventy-two hours at ground school. By November 1942, she had completed her training and was eligible to wear the WAFS uniform: a belted jacket, matching shirt and slacks, and an overseas cap. Despite their training, the WAFS pilots weren’t considered an official part of the military and therefore had to pay for their own conditions. It was neither fair nor right, but the women of the WAFS suffered through these difficult conditions in order to gain the opportunity to fly for their country.

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