It's the hen that lays the eggs.

"It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs."

~ Margaret Thatcher

I’ve been a fan of the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) of WWII all my life.  My Aunt Caryl served as a WASP, so their courage and patriotism have always inspired me.   Of the 25,000 women who applied to be WASP when the U.S. military put out the call for female pilots, only 1,800 were accepted into the program and just over a thousand graduated from the program.

The WASP played a vital role in the war effort by flying planes from factories to airbases, by towing targets for anti-aircraft training, by test-piloting experimental aircraft, and by training male pilots.

They were subject to military discipline and military conditions.  They are the only unit that flew every type of aircraft - from bombers like the B-24 to fighters like the P-51 Mustang.

In total, the WASP flew over 60 million miles, and 38 of them made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives for their country.

Here’s a true story that I learned from the National WASP WWII Museum.

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It was estimated that one million Americans would lose their lives in an invasion of mainland Japan during World War II -- and 5-10 million Japanese would die defending it.  Looking to try and avoid this carnage, the United States was working on developing the "bomb" with the Manhattan Project.

But in June of 1944 - as the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy - the United States had no way to physically deliver the bomb being developed at the Manhattan Project.

That just happened to be the same time that WASP Pilot Dorothea "Didi" Moorman was sitting in a nurse's barracks at Eglin Air Force Base outside of Pensacola, Florida reading a magazine.

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets, the American hero who would go on to pilot the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, walked in.

Lt. Col Tibbets had a BIG problem:  The B-29 Superfortress, the largest bomber the world had ever seen and equipped to eventually deliver "the bomb," had problems.

Its newly designed Wright R-3350 engines were nick-named the "wrong" engines by pilots everywhere, as they'd repeatedly overheat and burst into flames while the massive plane was midair.

In fact, renowned test pilot Edmund T. Allen, his eight crewmen, and 19 civilians in a meat-processing plant outside of Boeing's headquarters in Seattle died because of an engine fire which caused his B-29 to crash.

Some of our bravest men pilots simply refused to fly in a B-29, including Tibbets' own handpicked men.

But Tibbetts had a plan.  He knew he could "persuade" male pilots to fly the B-29 if he could find and train a couple of female pilots to fly the behemoth first.

So Tibbets ended up in Florida where he found Didi Moorman reading a magazine.  He walked up to her and asked,   "Do you have any four-engine time?  I'm looking for two WASP to check out in the B-29."

Didi responded, "I have a little time in a twin-engine trainer, sir.  That's all any of us have, sir, except Dora.  She's checked out in the A-20.  She's up there now."

Didi was referring to her friend and fellow WASP, Dora Dougherty -- whose experience piloting the A20, a powerful yet maneuverable twin-engine medium-range light bomber, made her the perfect candidate to learn to fly the B-29 Superfortress.

Tibbetts knew he just found the perfect B-29 demo pilots, and Didi and Dora jumped at the opportunity to learn to fly this huge plane.

Despite neither of the two having ever been in a four-engine plane before, they were about to show the male pilots how to handle the world's most advanced high-altitude "superbomber."

Lt. Colonel Tibbetts decided they were ready after just three days of training.  That's because, unlike some of their male counterparts, they were eager to learn and followed Tibbets' instructions to the letter.

The trick to the B-29 was to manage the engine temperature before takeoff.  You had to avoid the standard "brake" power check, and instead use a rolling start to allow air to flow over the engines while taking off.

Nonetheless, when one of the engines caught fire in mid-air, Didi and Dora handled it perfectly.  Without missing a beat, they "feathered" the engine, extinguished the fire, and landed the massive bomber perfectly with the three remaining engines.

Didi and Dora were ready to solo, and Tibbetts wasted no time.

He had Fifinella (the WASP mascot designed by Walt Disney) painted on the B-29, named the behemoth bomber "Ladybird" (to provide further "persuasion" to the male pilots), and sent them Didi and Dora off on demonstration flights.

They ferried pilots, crew chiefs and navigators from the heavy-bomber base at Almogordo, New Mexico to other bases across the country.

After a few days, they were ordered to stop their demo flights.

Needless to say, the sight of the supposedly "unflyable" warbird dramatically touching down on the runway and two women emerging from the cockpit helped the male pilots quickly get over their fear.

"From that day on we never had a pilot who didn't want to fly the B-29."
Lt. Col. Harry McKeown

Having been sufficiently motivated by Didi and Dora's demo flights, the male pilots began training to fly the B-29 themselves.

And within a year, the B-29 ended World War II.

But it may have NEVER happened without the WASP.

Col. Paul Tibbetts, pilot of the Enola Gay, praised WASP Dora Dougherty as "one of the best multi-engine pilots" with whom he'd ever flown.

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In these days of the Covid19 pandemic, I’ve been celebrating as I watch the amazing women leaders who have effectively steered their countries through this crisis with their competent, compassionate and courageous leadership.   Here’s a salute to Angela Merkel, Tsai Ing-wen, Jacinda Ardern, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Mette Frederiksebut, Sanna Marinher and all the other remarkable women with their firm action, effective communication and empathic spirit.