today in washington. we re talking about the wasps. jessica yellin explains. jane tedesky wanted to be a pilot. that was lindberg flying across the atlantic. a lot of other people were flying air races. reporter: as a young woman in her 20s, she sought out flight lessons and got her pilot s license, a rarity for a woman in those days. with world war ii gripping the nation, male pilots were desperately needed overseas for battle. jacqueline cochran came up with a radical idea, let female pilots take over domestic missions, the military approved, and wasp, women air service pilots program was born. and i thought this was something i could do and love to do and contribute to the war effort. reporter: another member was deany parrish.
battle. female aviator jacqueline cochran came up with a radical idea. let female pilots take over domestic missions. the military approved and wasp, women air service pilots program, was born. i thought, well, this is something i can do and love to do and will contribute to the war effort. reporter: another of the 1102 members was dini parish. one of her jobs was to help train gunners for combat. it was not that i was going to be any more than anybody else, because there were other females who were driving ambulances or fire trucks, working on airplanes, and i was doing the one thing that i felt i could do best. reporter: the wasps were civilians, but they were the first women to fly in u.s. military planes, in all logging over 60 million miles in all types of aircraft, from heavy bombers to attack planes. night flying occasionally was