Why Can’t We Have One, Too?
In the same year, fellow female pioneer, Pilot Jacqueline Cochran, started the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). This military program trained women to become pilots for domestic non-combat missions. Jacqueline came up with the idea while she was on a trip to England. She saw that England already had programs for training women to take over male pilot’s domestic duties.
Jacqueline Cochran and Pilot Wesley Smith October 1934. Photo by Associated Newspapers / Shutterstock
When she returned to the States, Jacqueline contacted General Henry H. Arnold to suggest that a similar program be created in the United States. The General, who had just approved Nancy’s WAFS program, liked the idea. When these two groups formed the WASP, Jacqueline ran the program, and Nancy was in charge of the ferrying division. But while this program was military approved, it officially held civilian status.