Student Presentations
Purpose: Understand the history of the female in air combat. Compare and contrast the US and Soviet Union women’s flying roles. A few thousand women flew combat missions for the Soviet Union during World War II. The Red Air Force formed three all-female units of fighters, dive bombers and night bombers. Together these units survived over 30,000 combat sorties, produced well over thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union and included at least two fighter aces. Their amazing story, recounted by Bruce Myles in Night Witches honors this group of fearless women and chronicles the creation, organization and leadership of the regiments. How did the Russian and American women’s flying missions differ? Why weren’t American women allowed to be combat pilots? What were some of the obstacles these women faced in both nations air power services?
Required
1) Bruce Myles. Night Witches the Amazing Story of Soviet Women in Combat, Chicago Review, 1997.
2) Sarah Byrn Rickman. "So, Who Are the WASP Anyway? Friends Journal: The Magazine of the Air Force Museum Foundation.
Winter 2010/2011
3) Cochran, Jacqueline: Record Setter, National Aviation Hall of Fame
4) Legends of Airpower--Jackie Cochran. Legends of Airpower: A Youtube Series
Supplemental Materials
Kathleen Cornelsen. “Exploring Military Aviation, Encountering Discrimination, and Exchanging Traditional Roles in Service to America,” Journal of Women's History 17.4 (2005) 111-119.
Lois K. Merry. Women Military Pilots of World War II: A History with Biographies of American, British, Russian and German Aviators, (2010).
Anne Nogel. A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. (2001).
Reina Pennington. World War II Combat (Modern War Studies) Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. University Press of Kansas. (2001).
Elizabeth Simpson Smith. Coming Out Right: The Story of Jacqueline Cochran, the First Woman Aviator to Break the Sound Barrier. Walker and Company. (1991).
Rhonda Smith-Daugherty. Jacqueline Cochran: Biography of a Pioneer Aviator McFarland and Company (2012).
Vera S. Williams. Wasps: Women Air Force Service Pilots of World War II. Motorbooks International (1994).
Film: Mary McDonnell. The American Experience: Fly Girls.
Supplemental Spotlight: Female Astronauts The Right Stuff, The Wrong Sex
This supplemental theme is presented for two reasons. Many of the female astronauts in the U.S. space program are or were military officers. An often left out story in the history of space training is that of the thirteen female Mercury astronauts. These women were pioneers in space flight as much as were their male counterparts. Medical issues with women have often been cited as a primary reason they should not serve in combat situations. A female’s physiology and physicality are still considered barriers to contributing to front line missions. Medical arguments have been especially studied in space flight programs.
YouTube In Search of History: The Mercury Channel
Mercury 13--The Secret Astronauts (Pt 1)
Mercury 13--The Secret Astronauts (Pt 2)
Mercury 13--The Secret Astronauts (Pt 3)
Mercury 13--The Secret Astronauts (Pt 4)
Mercury 13--The Secret Astronauts (Pt 5)
Martha Ackmann. The Murcury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight, 2003.
Tanya Lee Stone. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream, 2009.
Namni Goel, et.al. "Effects of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space: Behavioral Health," Journal of Women's Health,
2014, 23 (11): 975-986.
Saralyn Mark. "Effects of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space: Commentary," Journal of Women's Health,
2014, 23 (11): 948-949.
Steven H. Platts, et.al. "Effects of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space: Cardiovascular Alterations," Journal of Women's
Health 2014, 23 (11): 950-955.
See the complete issue of this issue of Journal of Women's Health.