 |
| 1937 |
July -- Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific. |
| 1938 |
 September 23 -- Jackie Cochran wins first place in the Transcontinental
Bendix Race. |
| 1939 |
June -- The Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) is established by the
U.S. government. The program provided pilot training across the country and
allowed for one woman to be trained for every ten men. |
| September 1 -- Germany invades Poland. |
| September 3 -- France and Great Britain declare war on Germany. |
| 1940 |
September 28 -- Jackie Cochran writes to Eleanor Roosevelt suggesting the
establishment of a women's flying division of the Army Air Forces. |
| 1941 |
June -- Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to ferry a bomber across
the Atlantic. |
| June -- Women are banned from participating in the Civilian Pilot
Training Program. |
| December 7 -- Japanese attacks the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. |
| 1942 |
March -- Jackie Cochran takes 25 American women pilots to Britain to fly
with the British Air Transport Auxiliary. |
 September -- Following a proposal submitted by pilot Nancy Harkness Love
to the Ferry Command of the Army Air Forces, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying
Squadron, or WAFS, is established. Twenty-five of America's top women pilots
will begin ferrying aircraft throughout the U.S. |
| September 15 -- Jackie Cochran establishes the Women's Flying Training
Detachment (WFTD) under chief of the Army Air Forces, General Hap Arnold. |
| November 17 -- The first class of 28 recruits from the Women's Flying
Training Detachment reports to the Houston, Texas, municipal airport. |
| November -- The WAFS fly their first mission, taking Piper Cubs from Lock
Haven, Pennsylvania, to Mitchell Field, New York. |
1937 - 1942 | 1943 - 1979
|
