A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
During the Sixth War Loan Drive in Chicago, Lt. Martha E. G. Perrill and WAVE Liane Rose demonstrate aerology (meteorology) skills for the public. The drive began 70 years ago this today, November 17, 1944.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
Lt. Rosamond D. Sells, USNR, swears the first African American WAVES into the Navy, November 16, 1943. Miss Frances Willis and Miss Harriet I. Pickens being sworn in as apprentice seaman. They would head to Smith College in Northampton for officer training.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
Lt. Rosamond D. Sells, USNR, swears one of the first African American WAVES into the Navy, Miss Harriet I. Pickens on November 16, 1944. She and Frances Willis, would head to officer training at Smith College.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Coast Guard recruitment poster during World War II, for the SPARs featuring the popular phrase, “Don’t be a Spare, be a SPAR.” The Coast Guard fell under Navy jurisdiction during the war.
Coast Guard recruitment poster during World War II, for the SPARs. The Coast Guard fell under Navy jurisdiction during the war.
Welcome, November! We wrap up aviation week with the cover of the November, 1944 WAVES Newsletter. It features a WAVE loading parachute rigging gear in a Naval plane.
Moving from training to doing, as we continue aviation week. In this c. 1945 photograph, WAVES talk to pilots from the flight control tower.
The photo was published in the WAVES Newsletter, and it comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Aviation week continues with this c. 1944 photograph of a Navy WAVE working the headsets on the Link flight simulation unit. She’ll use the microphone to help direct the pilot trainee and let him know if he is flying correctly or has “crashed.”
The photo comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Continuing in our “aviation week” theme, this photo shows an unidentified WAVE and Navy pilot trainee working with the Link instructor. The pilot is learning the skills of instrument flight.
The photo comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
We’re going to round out the month of October here at the Hinges of History blog with a look at WAVES in aviation.
This photo is of an unidentified WAVE sitting in the “cockpit” of a Link trainer, which was used to train Navy pilots in the skills of instrument flight.
It comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Hinges of History 