WASHINGTON (CNN) -- From the time she was about 8 years old, Jane Tedeschi wanted to fly.Flight was still relatively new in the 1920s and 1930s, and female pilots were few. But Jane Tedeschi was determined.
"Everybody was doing something," she said. "I wanted to do something for my country."
Depending on the base, they did everything from participating in ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice; towing targets for air-to-air gunnery practice with live ammunition; flying drones; conducting night exercises; testing repaired aircraft before they were used in cadet training; serving as instructors; and transporting cargo and male pilots to embarkation points.
They flew more than 60 million miles in every type of aircraft -- from the PT-17 and AT-6 trainers, P-40 Warhawk, P-39 Aircobra, P-51 Mustang, the fastest attack planes like the A-24 and A-25 or heavy bombers such as B-17s and B-29s.
"We did whatever they asked us," she recalled in a CNN interview. "You knew enough about flying you could adapt ... sometimes it was a little tougher."
For instance, she would take planes up after repair which could involve acrobatic work -- "which, of course, we liked to do," or be called to do night flying.
While the work was technically non-combat, it could be dangerous. Thirty eight of the pilots were killed. Parrish recalled the military would not allow the flag to be put on a colleague's coffin. "It still bothers me," she told CNN.
--> We salute the dedication and patriotism of these female aviators. In these days of expanding liberalism and a President that 'makes excuses' for the United States and our belief in defending the freedom of others, it is refreshing to think about these more honorable times in US history.
-G
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