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about

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were a U.S. Army Air Forces program that hired around 1,100 civilian women with non-combat military flight duties during World War II. They were the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft. They tested planes and shuttled them from base to base and oftentimes did the work that men refused to do or were incapable of doing as well as they could. Some women lost their lives on the job and were denied military benefits and burials. The women had to collectively pool their money to pay for their fallen comrades to bring them home. I first learned about them at an exhibit featuring their story at the Bob Bullock museum in Austin, Texas. I've wanted to write my own interpretation of their experience ever since.

lyrics

She left her family on the farm
Quit her job and sold her charms
Traded in the life she knew
To fly those planes in WW2
She flew to serve her country
And she’d make history
With the Women Airforce Service Pilots
Known as WASP

It was zoot suits parachutes
Landing gear and tires
Good ol’ boys made the noise
Fly girls put out the fires

Watch them fly
High above the mountains
Watch them fly
From sea to shining sea
Lift them up
They’re the WASP
They fly on silver wings
Watch’ em fly

They tested planes and ferried them
For men in WW2
They flew 60 million miles
And did every job a man could do
The WASP
Flew without compromise
With ice on their wings
And dust in their eyes

They trained in Sweetwater Texas
At Avenger field
Cars lined highway 80
To see them lift their wheels

Watch’ em fly
High above the mountains
Watch them fly
From sea to shining sea
Lift them up
They’re the WASP
They fly on silver wings
Watch’ em fly

Nancy Love
And Jackie Cochran
Pinned those wings
And led the song
Buckle down Fifinella
Sing it loud
And prove’ em wrong
Put a flag on her casket
Let the truth be known
Put medals on her jacket
It’s time to bring the flygirls home

It was zoot suits parachutes
Landing gear and tires
Good ol’ boys made the noise
Fly girls put out the fires

Watch’ em fly
High above the mountains
Watch them fly
From sea to shining sea
Lift them up
They’re the WASP
They fly on silver wings
Watch’ em fly

credits

from Talk to a Human, released September 6, 2019

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Terri Hendrix San Marcos

Terri Hendrix is an award-winning Texas songwriter who spins sorrow into joy and wrings wisdom from the blues with a poetic grace, warmth and uplifting melodic flair that has long been her trademark. A classically trained vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Hendrix dodges musical pigeonholes by weaving folk, pop, country, blues and jazz into an eclectic style all her own. ... more

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