A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
WAVE Ensign Mary McLean steps into the cockpit in flight gear while on duty at NAS Squantum, Massachusetts. Looking on are Lt. Leo J. Houle, the pilot, and Ensign Barbara Hunter. Lt. Houle was a former Flying Tiger pilot on the Chinese front.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
This image looks really similar to the one we featured yesterday, from the cover of the WAVES Newsletter. But in this image from October of 1943, the two WAVES are studying the technique of air traffic control at the Air Traffic Control Tower Operators School, NAS Atlanta, Georgia.
The women’s course of study was six weeks long beyond boot camp. When they completed, they received a rate at 3/c petty officer and were assigned to air traffic control towers across the country.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
WAVES at the Hunter College boot camp get a chance to try out the Link Instructor first hand, c. 1943. The machine was used to train pilots during World War II. In this photo, you see a WAVE in the cockpit holding a mic, and in the background a second WAVE giving her “instructions” from the controller desk.
The photograph comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
An close-up shot of the “plane” used as part of Link training, on display for WAVES boots at the Hunter College boot camp in the Bronx, c. 1943. The “plane” sat on a pedestal and helped pilots learn the techniques of flight.
The photograph comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
WAVES at the Hunter College boot camp see the controller of a Link Instructor up close. The machine was used for pilot training, and the instructor would sit at this control panel manipulating the “plane” port of the device to simulate flight.
The photograph comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
In our final photo in our series of WAVES in naval aviation, WAVE Mary Anne Gasser assembles a generator that has been cleaned and overhauled. The photograph was taken in September 1943 at NAS Jacksonville, Florida.
The image comes from the National Archives.
The magneto is a type of electric generator that uses magnets to generate an electric current. Magnetos have traditionally been used in aviation piston engines, keeping the ignition separate from the batter and charging system, keeping the engine running in case the battery fails.
Aviation machinist’s mate Dorothy Wuester is using a paint brush to work on the magneto in the engine machine shop. Today’s entry in our series of photographs of WAVES at work in the Naval aviation was taken at Los Alamitos Naval Air Station in September 1943.
The photograph comes from the national archives.
WAVES Bernice Sansbury and Violet Falkum work on the engine of an SNJ, in today’s entry in our series of photographs of WAVES at work in the Naval aviation. The photograph of the aviation machinist’s mates was taken in Jacksonville, Florida, in September 1943.
The photograph comes from the national archives.
In today’s entry in our series of photographs of WAVES at work in the Naval aviation, WAVE Evelyn Schultz works in the waist blister of a PBY patrol bomber. The photograph of the aviation machinist’s mate was taken in Jacksonville, Florida, in September 1943.
The photograph comes from the national archives.
Inside this Navy aviation hangar (the O&R Building), WAVE Ann Garman talked with a seaman guard. We had a chance to shoot inside some of these hangars for the film, and the light and architecture is amazing.
This September 1943 photograph was taken at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, and is today’s entry in our series of photographs of WAVES at work in the Naval aviation.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
Hinges of History 