From the Beginning
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was created in the summer of 1943 when two pilot training programs were combined into one. In 1942, Pilot Nancy Harkness Love created the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), which provided a very small handful of women to transport military aircraft from factories to Air Force bases.
Nancy Harkness Love September 1942. Photo by Nara Archives / Shutterstock
Nancy’s husband, Robert Love, was part of the Army Air Corps Reserve and worked for Colonel William H. Tunner. When Robert mentioned to William that his wife was a pilot, William became interested in training more female pilots for the military. He and Nancy worked together to get approval for WAFS, which was rejected at first. But four days after Eleanor Roosevelt supported the idea of women flying military planes in her “My Day” newspaper column, WAFS was approved, and Nancy got to work.