Customer Reviews

Shuffleboard Pilots: The History of the Women's Air Raid Defense in Hawaii 1941 1945

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Gross prejudice regarding this book - my mother was a one of these Schuffleboard Pilots, and my father was the Army Intelligence Captain in charge of some of these ladies. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for this project.

It's a really good history of a little known group of women really necessary to the WWII war effort. Some of the names are a little confused, but the facts are very interesting, and would be good reading as research for papers on women working during the war in Hawaii.

Lots of detail and good period photos.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor highlighted the vulnerability of the Hawaiian Islands to air attack while at the same time the needs of war saw the manpower needs of the military become almost desperate. Out of the this combination the Women's Air Raid Defense organization came into being, an all-female force organized to monitor air traffic, identify hostile aircraft and to vector interceptors to destroy them if necessary. Employing methods which might seem primitive today, the WARDs received information from the radar sets employed at certain points in the island chain and from other sources, assessed direction of tracks and plotted the aircraft using a designation system and a giant map (this was inspired by the system in use in England during the Battle of Britain). The women who joined were military spouses, students and just plain patriots who wanted to help out their country and the war effort.

The book is well-written and based on interviews of surviving members of the WARDs. A fascinating book, I enjoyed it very much. Illustrated with photos and artwork.