![]() ![]() ![]() During the 26 weeks of training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, the women get both sneers and hard work from the civilian male instructors they loam to fly many varieties of army planes they pal-up, exchanging stories of stumbling blocks thrown in their way. Benjamin the sweet innocent is Mary Lynn Palmer, married to overseas pilot Beau the all-rounder is ""Cappy"" Hayward, army brat and only child of the Army's Major Hayward and of course there's Rachel Goldman, a silent but tough, cookie from the Lower East Side. The Boy-from-Brooklyn type here is ragged-but-right Marry Rogers from Detroit the upper cruster is Eden van Valkenburgh, who makes the mink-to-Government-Issue adjustment à la Pvt. ![]() And, following the male WW II-movie format, Dailey tracks the fortunes of a cinematically assorted crew of servicewomen. Dailey leaves the wagon wheels of the Calder series to take to the air in this aviation novel: a comrade-in-arms tribute to the band of civilian female pilots who for a too-brief period (1942-43) performed valiantly for the military as WASPs (Women's Airforce Service Pilots), under the leadership of cosmetics-queen Jacqueline Cochran and USAF chief General ""Hap"" Arnold. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |