Battle of the Sexes

A howl of protest was set off by an odd piece of news last week: the Army Air Forces had been surreptitiously giving officer training to women civilians.

While a bill to commission Women's Airforce Service Pilots as Army officers was still kicking around in Congressional committee, 50 members of the WASP had completed their first week of schooling at the A.A.F. School of Applied Tactics at Orlando, Fla. How they jumped the legislative gun was an official mystery. But the news sparked new outbursts in the stalemated battle of the sexes over who is to ferry the Army's transports.

Recently General Henry H. Arnold, chief of the A.A.F., made a strong bid before attentive Congressmen for Jacqueline Cochran's WASPs, contending that all men pilots would eventually be needed elsewhere (TIME, April 3). This was a startling statement to some 11,000 experienced male pilots of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, many of whom have long been serving as instructors in Army and Navy training programs. With those programs tapering off, at least 5,000 of them will soon be out of jobs. Many are over age for combat flying, and some have minor physical defects which would bar them from battle. But most are experienced enough to hold C.A.A. commercial licenses.

In a flood of indignant letters to Congressmen, the men argued that their greater numbers and experience gave them priority over the fledgling WASPs (who number some 500) as candidates for official rating. Another point in their favor: women pilots in regular service are usually grounded several days out of every month.

Yet under present rules WASPs can qualify for transport training with 35 hours flying time while men must have 1,000, including 200 in heavier aircraft before getting into transport service. In their training duties, hardly any of the men have had a chance to fly the heavier planes.

At week's end, the controversy still raged. At Orlando the WASPs were quietly planning for the reception of additional contingents every month until all of them have been trained. Even if they are never commissioned, the Air Forces argued that the training would do them good as transport flyers.

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