Wings - A Novel of World War II Flygirls - Review and Giveaway

Sally snatched the sheet from Dixie's fingers. Typed boldly across the top were the words, "An Overview Of Facts For Personnel Considering Entering WASP Training." Her mouth turned dry. By mid-page, her tongue had become cotton.

"train in military aircraft...the same number of training hours as male pilots...learn navigation and instrument flying...station at a military airfield following graduation...fly bombers/or pursuit aircraft to wherever ordered within the contiguous United States...base pay of one hundred and fifty dollars per month during training..."

Dixie grabbed the papers back. "Didn't you get one like this?" She stuffed the papers protectively into her purse.

Sally shook her head. "I guess they forgot to put it in the envelope."

Both were well on their way to begin training in the WASP program, the U.S. military's Women's Airforce Service Pilots program. At the special school known as Avenger, they will learn to fly PT-19's. BT-13's and AT-6's. The program come from Jacqueline Cochran, director of the Women Airforce Service Pilots and the women that received invitations to join, would train in Sweetwater for a period of six months to qualify as a WASP ferry pilot to deliver airplanes to bases all over the United States. Trainees had to pay their own travel expenses to Sweetwater and, presumably, to leave should they wash out. Minimum flying hours required for WASP training: thirty-five.

Well Sally had well over 300 hours as a barnstormer while Dixie managed to log in 36 hours. Yet not everyone was happy to see the women due their part to help in the war efforts.

"Women airline pilots?" Dixie hooted. "Maybe in the next life, where everybody's got their own set of wings, so it don't matter. But if you're talking about right down here on earth in the hear and the now, I'm going to have to disagree with you hon. 'Cause a whole bunch of men had rather fight bears barehanded than see a skirt in a cockpit. The nature of the male isn't gonna change in my lifetime nor in yours."

"It'll never happen," Geri interrupted loudly. "Look at the way the army's treating us. We make half the money of men who're doing the same job. We're expendable to the army as bullets."

Twila answered, "Yes. We are expendable. If someone's got to die delivering an airplane, the army had rather it be one of us than a man. The army is saving them for combat. A man dying in combat is far more beneficial to winning the war than if he dies here at home because hopefully he'll die killing some of the enemy."

And so the training of the pilots begins while Congress looks for a way to disband the WASP program, but hopefully these flygirls will be able to change their mind after all.

In the book, Wings, A Novel of World War II Flygirls by Karl Friedrich, he takes the readers on a journey based on the true World War II story of America's first female military pilots. This is such a remarkable story that shows another side of just how some women served in assisting our war efforts in other ways besides the Rosie the Riveter working girl. I love how this portrays the stereotypes the women were faced with and how they were treated by civilians and service personnel while trying to do their job. It was not a easy one by any means.

I received this book compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and was completely captivated from the first page all the way to the end. You will see how so many people really treated these women unfairly, some local townspeople even thinking the army was bringing on whores to service the men overseas, when they simply had to reason to understand that women could actually fly the planes as well as the men could.

In fact more than 25,000 young women volunteered for training as WASP pilots. Of the 1,830 who were accepted, 1,074 graduated. Almost all went on to fly many types of aircraft, from the smallest and slowest trainers to giant bombers and hot fighters. Missions ranged from ferrying aircraft to dispersal points for shipment overseas, to towing targets for student gunners firing live ammunition. These missions were often as dangerous as combat, and in fact, thirty-eight WASP died. By the war's end, WASP has flown sixty million miles in seventy-eight different types of aircraft. This is a wonderful story and I can't wait to share this with my readers. Highly recommend and hands down 5 out of 5 stars! Would love to see this one made into a movie!!!

For more information about the book, the author, get a first chapter sneak peek and where to pick up a copy of this remarkable book, please click on the link below:

Wings ~ A Novel of World War II Flygirls by Karl Friedrich

Now for the fun part, thanks to TLC Book Tours, they are offering a giveaway copy to one lucky reader of this blog. Here are your guidelines:

1. Be a follower of my blog Reviews From The Heart.

2. "Like" this review on my Facebook page by clicking here.

3. Be a resident of the US or Canada or have a US or Canada shipping address, please No P.O. Boxes.

4. Leave me a comment why you'd love to win a copy of this book along with an email address so I can contact you if you're the lucky winner. You can use the words (at) or (dot) instead of the symbols.

The giveaway will end on Oct 25th and I will notify the winner via email.