The Pittsburgh Press (March 22, 1944)
Commissions for women fliers given approval
Washington (UP) –
The House Military Affairs Committee today approved legislation to five Regular Army commissions to women pilots, after hearing Gen. H. H. Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces, say he expects in time “to have every [male] Army flier out of the United States and overseas fighting.
The Army now has about 500 women pilots in service and 500 in training. But as members of the WASPS – Women Airforce Service Pilots – they now have civilian status.
Gen. Arnold told the House Military Affairs Committee:
We must provide fighting men wherever we can, replacing them with women wherever we can whether it be in factories or towing airplane targets.
Gen. Arnold said the need for fighting men is “so severe” that the Air Force has “returned to the ground forces some 36,000 men who were available for air service.”