A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
In the Link trainer, the instructor sits at a desk while the “pilot” goes into a flight simulator. In this photo from 1944, Hannah Barnes and Elizabeth Ripley practice the new desk techniques when using the new machine for celestial navigation during their 10-week training at NAS Seattle.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
WAVES learned all sorts of things during the 10-week course in celestial navigation, which began in 1944. Here, Waneta Miller learns how to handle a sextant, an arced device used to measure distances between objects and altitude in navigation.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Each month training facilities published their own newsletters. This is the July 1943 verision of Iowave, the base newsletter for the yeoman training facility at Iowa State Teachers College Cedar Falls.
It comes from the archives at the University of Northern Iowa.
From the Navy caption of this July 1943 photograph:
Margaret Cherry, Sp(T) 3c is shown at one of the most important and helpful jobs the Waves are doing in aviation activities. She teaches aviation cadets and flight students instrument flying on the ground at NAAS Whiting Field, Pensacola, Fla.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
WAVE Link instructor Emily Jump goes over with Ens. Charles Harrison the course he has just flown and points out his errors. Blind flying if difficult because students prefer to trust their instincts rather than instruments.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
WAVES do exercises on the lawn of Hunter College, which was used at the Navy’s boot camp for women during World War II.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
This paperwork from the U.S. Naval Training School in the Bronx for WAVES (at the former Hunter College) outlines the schedule for religious services. Note there are only three options: Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. It dates from June 11, 1943.
It comes from the special collections in the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Two WAVES on duty in the Link trainer of the Navy Department, Washington DC, c. June 1943.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
It’s graduation season! And even WAVES marched in formation to celebrate their matriculation.
In this photo from 71 years ago, WAVES at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma graduated from their advanced training.
This group marched to commencement in 1943. The photo comes from the National Archives.
Another shot of the airplane that went down in that fatal plane crash, December 13, 1943. Pilot training was often more dangerous, WAVES tell us, than the actual battle combat.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Hinges of History 