I Was a Woman Pilot in 1945!

Winnie LoPinto wrote this book as a young woman after returning from Texas in 1945. She had great dreams of becoming a pilot then and that is why she volunteered to serve at the risk of her own life with the Women's Army Service Pilots, just for the chance to fly. She was thrilled to be one of the 1800 special women to be selected for the program. The Women's Army Service Pilots (WASP) program was designed to relieve male pilots to combat duties. WASP pilots ferried planes to Europe...
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Winnie LoPinto wrote this book as a young woman after returning from Texas in 1945. She had great dreams of becoming a pilot then and that is why she volunteered to serve at the risk of her own life with the Women's Army Service Pilots, just for the chance to fly. She was thrilled to be one of the 1800 special women to be selected for the program. The Women's Army Service Pilots (WASP) program was designed to relieve male pilots to combat duties. WASP pilots ferried planes to Europe and some actually towed targets. It was a dangerous job, but thousands of women applied for the chance to serve and fly. Only a lucky 1800 were selected and only 50% made it through the program. In Winnie's case, she spent every last cent of her salary to get her required minimum 50 hours of flight time to qualify, and she hoped to add many more hours to her license through this program. The story starts with as she boards the train to Sweetwater, full of youthful enthusiasm. She vividly describes their activities, the antics with the baymates of W7, and the flights, the instructors and Jacqueline Cochran and General Hap Arnold, who visited Sweetwater. WASP pilots flew dangerous planes by "the seat of their pants," with little instrumentation. It took a great deal of skill and guts to get into an open cabin in freezing whether. Winnie was a slight woman, barely 100 pounds. Her legs didn't reach the brakes in certain models and she often loosened her seatbelt to try to slide down, at great risk of her life.This story brings the reader into a world of days gone by. A time of great patriotism, innocence, youthful enthusiasm, and bitter disappointments. You'll laugh, cry, and feel a part of that program through Winnie's colorful descriptions. When the book was first released in HTML on the Internet, it was available free. Thousands of readers enjoyed and sent great comments.Readers Comments:Tonight I was reading your Aunt's book on the web.I just set there and cried because it brought back so many memories as a young boy 10 yrs old growing up everyday watching and listening to the drone of training planes flying over day and night as I lived on the west side of Sweetwater. My dreams were to fly myself but I never got to as I qualified to fly and so became a gunner on B-29 during Korea.I hurt very much when There was a Crash and someone died because These Women Were So Courageous and SO determined that I never Forgot and always wanted to wanted to praise them. Thank You, for sharing,Patrick Purcell, Dallas/Grand Prairie,TX.WOW! This blew me away! I'm fascinated! My name is Susan Hansen. (hansens@milwaukee.tec.wi.us)I happened to see a public TV program here about the Wasps2 years ago. I have been so fascinated with their stories. Thank you for this very precious story. I will treasure it forever.I've been looking and looking for more info. Not enough is published about the girls. I've even been up to EAA in Oshgosh, Susie Hansen