Flying for her Country
By Amy Goodpaster Strebe
Praeger Security Int’l, 2007, $ 39.95
ISBN # 978-0-275-99434-1
www.praeger.com/PSI

Reviewed by Andrew Lubin

It is an accepted part of today’s military that women pilots today fly helicopter gunships into combat, as well as virtually all the other planes in the American air fleet. To read Amy Goodpaster Strebe’s book “Flying For Her Country” brings the reader back to those bad old days when women were known as “gals”, their temperament and qualifications to vote were hotly debated, and college was considered a waste of prime child-bearing years.

Ms. Strebe shoots those myths right out of the sky with “Flying For Her Country” as she recounts the stories of the American and Soviet women aviators in WW2.

The American WASP’s grew to a program with one thousand pilots who flew 78 different aircraft some 60 million miles. Founded by famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran, her pilots flew every American fighter and bomber ranging in size from the tiny scout planes to the massive B-29’s.

The Soviet women pilots were no less competent, and in fact were formed into their own fighter wing. Strebe describes how Marina Raskova, the first famous Russian pilot, commanded a unit flying combat missions against the Germans.

“Flying For Her Country” gives the reader an excellent view of how difficult it was for women to be allowed to fight for their country. Despite the dangers of flying (with the WASP’s losing 38 killed), the WASP’s were not officially members of the American military –  the WASP’s regularly chipped in to pay the freight charges incurred in shipping a body of one of their killed members home. Strebe recounts the problems and prejudices these patriotic and professional women encountered through the tenure of their service.

If anything, the book is far too short. Greater detail on both the American and Soviet pilots would be welcomed – as would have sections on their English and German counterparts. In all, this is a book that will be read with great interest by both pilots as well as those looking to understand how American society has changed in the last 60 years.

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