WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- Congress approved a bill allowing female pilots who flew domestic missions in warplanes during World War II to be inurned in Arlington National Cemetery.
About 1,700 women, members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, flew bombers, fighter planes and other aircraft between U.S. airfields during World War II. They were recruited and trained to alleviate a shortage of male pilots engaged in overseas combat missions, and ferried cargo, training targets and planes in the United States. Thirty-eight female pilots died in the service.