Ok.. I'll admit it.. I'm a book SNOB... yup... well.. maybe I'm more of a "publishing company" snob. I tend not to read books unless they are by a certain publishing company. I'm going to be honest... I don't like books with swears in them, murders, or sex. It doesn't intrigue me one bit. By checking the publishing company I know what books are safe for me to read.

I went to the library this week and picked up a book that looked interesting... you know the old saying don't judge a book by it's cover... well.. I do it all the time. I found this book. I was going to put it back on the shelf but I was glad I didn't.

It's actually only about 150 pages long but it's FULL of history... I love history that is no surprise.. but I'll be honest... I never knew OR didn't pay attention to the history of WASP--
Women Airforce Service Pilots.

In the 1940's during WWII a woman by the name of Jackie Cochran founded this group. These very few selected women were the FIRST women ever to fly American military Aircraft.

The Training all took place in Sweetwater TX... hence the name of the book. The girls were fed like Movie Stars..for some the first time in a long time due to war rationing. They wore MENS hand-me-downs for their Zoot Suits... so NONE ever fit the women properly.

The WASP had a mascot that they presented on their uniform that was drawn by non other Walt Disney himself. Walt intended to use Fifinella as a character in a movie he was thinking about "Gremlins" By Roahl Dahl.. but handed over the design to the women.


Here is a picture of a group of WASP and if you look closely you can see the patch on their "bomber" jackets.

Each woman had to already obtain a student pilots license.. Some obtained extra jobs in the factories so they could pay for them so they too could make more of a difference for our country.
If then they were selected by Miss. Cochran they could go to Sweetwater and train to be a WASP..many failed and were sent home.

In the book I'm reading.. of course it's based on fictional characters but it has many of the historical facts during this time. I know personally I could NEVER have done this.. so I think these women were VERY BRAVE!!

This is an EXCELLENT web-site to peek at and learn more about these women. If I'm understanding the site correctly 38 women lost their lives for our country during the war flying the aircrafts. WINGS ACROSS AMERICA is the site... It has games, facts, interviews, posters and more... I think I could spend all day looking through the site... but... daily duties call!! My tiny little history lesson for the day.. Ü I will be learning more that's for sure!


And just for more info.. this is the book I just finished reading!! It's book two to a series.. and it was GOOD!!