Spitfires

"Lively and entertaining . . . Those fearlessly determined female pilots are the professional forebears of the women who would slowly break down barriers in the U.S. military in the decades that followed . . . And what forebears those women were." -The Washington Post

"A soaring narrative." -Keith O'Brien, New York Times bestselling author of Fly Girls

The heart-pounding true story of the daring American women who piloted the most dangerous aircraft of World War II through the treacherous skies of Britain.

They were crop dusters and debutantes, college girls and performers in flying circuses--all of them trained as pilots. Because they were women, they were could not fly for their country when the United States entered the Second World War. But Great Britain was desperate for transport pilots-even American ones and even women. Thus, in 1942, 25 daring young aviators bolted for England, becoming the first American women to command military aircraft.

In a faraway land, these "spitfires" lived like women decades ahead of their time. Risking their lives in one of the deadliest jobs of the war, they ferried new, barely tested fighters and bombers to air bases and returned shot-up wrecks for repair, never knowing what might go wrong until they were in the sky. The pilots broke new ground off duty as well, shocking their hosts with thoroughly modern behavior.

With cinematic sweep, Becky Aikman brings to life nine of these forgotten heroines, drawing on unpublished diaries, letters, and records, along with her own interviews. Spitfires is a vivid, richly detailed account of war, ambition, and a group of remarkable women whose lives were as unconventional as their dreams.