Amelia Earhart's Daughters

by Haynsworth, Leslie

• ISBN13: 9780380729845
• ISBN10: 0380729849
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-12-31
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

In 1942, with war raging on two fronts and military pilots in short supply, the U.S. Army Air Force enlisted a handful of skilled female aviators to deliver military planes from factories to air bases--expanding the successful program to include more than one thousand women. These superb pilots flew every aircraft in the U.S. Army Air Force--including B-26s when men were afraid to--logging more than siz million miles in all kinds of weather. yet when World War II ended, their wartime heroism was left unheralded. In 1961, with the dawn of the space age, a handful of top female pilots took part in a new program termed "Women in Space." Subjected to the same rigorous tests as the Mercury astronauts, thirteen women--top-notch pilots--were admitted to the program. Once again women had reason to dream...that at least oneof them would be the first of their sex in space. The matter went as far as Congress, where dramatic hearings included testimony from astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. But their hopes were dashed. These skilled aviators had the "right stuff" at the wrong time, and again women were denied their place in history. This is their story, one of courage, ferocity, adn patriotism.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Cape Canaveral---February 3, 1995, 12:10 A.M.	xi
PART I
Jackie	3	(5)
The Golden Age	8	(8)
Epiphany	16	(6)
The Army Way	22	(4)
Nancy	26	(7)
The Experiment	33	(8)
SNAFU	41	(4)
Hanger Talk	45	(8)
The WAFS	53	(5)
The Guinea Pigs	58	(8)
Christmas, 1942	66	(8)
``Kid, You Never Had It So Good''	74	(8)
Ferrying	82	(16)
The Trojan Women	98	(16)
Ladies Outrageous	114	(8)
Spring, 1944	122	(9)
Decision Height	131	(10)
``But My Mother Flew B-17s''	141	(10)
PART II
Nobody's Angels	151	(24)
PART III
Project Astronaut	175	(22)
Jerrie	197	(15)
Lovelace Clinic	212	(18)
1961	230	(14)
``The Girl,'' Redux	244	(5)
Glenn	249	(7)
The Hearings	256	(23)
The Missiles of October	279	(5)
Chaika	284	(13)
Inner Space	297	(4)
Epilogue	301	(6)
Selected Bibliography	307	(5)
Index	312