I don't know if the British were more forward thinking or simply more desperate, but they involved women pilots before the United States did. I interviewed one of the American women pilots who joined WASPs. https://ww2thebigone.com/2016/04/26/367/#more-367
This is a fantastic article! I live in Lafayette, that's really neat to know she went to the university here. Do you know if she formally graduated from the university? Every graduate gets their name on a brick, so if she graduated and you know the year, I might be able to go find it and snap a photo.
Nice article. Another great example of women's contribution to the war. These organizations were immeasurably valuable to allied success. Some additional quick hit resources... http://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p214coll2 http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp/
Here's an article about a Canadian woman named Vi Milstead who joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in England. These women were really something! http://elinorflorence.com/blog/ferry-pilot
British experience developed from WWI where women worked in the munitions industries. The British were far shorter of labour in both WWI and WWII than the US so women were forced into both the armed serives and industry. The UK had universal FEMALE conscription in WWII and it was found they functioned just as well a men under battle conditions during the German bombing raids. There is a notable scene in the film 'The Battle of Britain' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c0l-Szr9Rk British nurses were generally deployed far further forward than American nurses and were landed on D-Day during the second assault wave. In HMSO 'The Medical History of WWII - Lesson's Learned' Army Medical Officers concluded that should be deployed with frontline units 'nothwithstanding the objection that they are likely to be raped' The formation of the ATA in the UK (equivalent of the WASP's) was the result of a shortage of skilled crews. Anyone who could fly was put into service. There were 4 female GC's (equivalent to the Legion of Honor) in WWII 3 for services with the underground in France 1 for rescuing a bomb crew under 'battle conditions' Perhaps the most outstanding British female combantant of WWII was Pearl Witherington who took command of a battlion of French resistance fighters during the Normany campaign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Witherington
