Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II [Hardcover]

Marion Stegeman Hodgson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

The exuberant story of how the author and other WASPs earned their wings in 1943.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Marion Hodgson was one of the first women in the United States to train as a military pilot in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot In World War II tells an exuberant story set in 1943 when she and other WASPs earned their hard-won wings learning to fly everything from open-cockpit primary trainers to P-51 Mustangs, B-26 Marauders, and B-29 Superfortresses. Their stateside missions as plan ferriers freed their male counterparts for combat duty overseas. Winning My Wings is an action-packed story often humorous, sometimes harrowing, told mostly through letters Hodgson wrote to a Marine pilot fighting for his life after a fiery crash. Some of her letters describe the crashes that killed 38 other WASPs. Others revealed what it was like for these pioneering women as they ferried planes from factories to airfields, test-flew repaired aircraft, and performed a variety of other duties traditionally assigned to men. Winning My Wings is an important contribution to the historical literature of a very special, quite unique military group that proved itself essential in a time of global war. -- Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

Summer vacation reading recommendation - Military Trader Magazine --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr; illustrated edition edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557503648
• ISBN-13: 978-1557503640
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,072,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding insight to the joys and tragedies of flying, May 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II (Hardcover)

Marion has written an excellent insight into the experience of flying. As a fellow pilot, I greatly enjoyed reading about the experiences of Marion and the other women pilots during WWII. The story is filled with joy and tragedy splashed across her story of becoming a military pilot. Just as important as the flying, she relates how she came to marry her husband of over 50 years, Ned Hodgson. This is a wonderful book that anyone interested in flying and the romance of the air should read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very entertaining!, April 8, 2009

By 

slim "57psalm" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II (Hardcover)

I'm not a pilot, and in fact, I don't even like flying, but I heard the author speak at a conference, and just HAD to buy her book. She is a great speaker, and knows how to tell a good story.

This book chronicles the true story of what it was like for women who supported the USA by being pilots during WWII. There are some very funny anecdotes, some not really appropriate for young audiences, but very funny nonetheless. Things were different back in the 1940s, when no one had ever heard of sexual harassment or discrimination. The women who served as pilots had to put up with a lot of "wolf whistles" and insults, but they took it all with good humor. They knew how to roll with the punches, and they supported each other. They flew airplanes that men refused to fly because they thought they were too dangerous.

You don't have to be a pilot to feel inspired after reading this book. The "can do" attitude of these pilots is truly worthy of respect, and the author keeps you smiling through it all. It makes for a good read!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II, September 8, 2007

By 

M. K. Alley "M.K.A." (Kent, Washington) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II (Hardcover)

This was a wonderful book. I belong to a book club and I like to choose books about women. I was visiting the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington several months ago and came across this book. It looked so interesting that I decided to choose it for my book club to read. Everyone LOVED the book and we plan to read more books about the WASPs. You will thoroughly enjoy this book --- I love how a lot of the book is written through letters that Marion Stegeman Hodgson actually wrote to her mother and a man friend, whom she eventually married. The only thing I wish is that the book was LONGER!!! It was one of those books that you can't wait to pick up again!! ENJOY!!