WASP Pilots In NC During WWII

WASP stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots. They were girl pilots who filled the great need for stateside pilots to fly support missions such as plane ferrying, target towing and shuttling while the men were in Europe and the Pacific.

One camp for WASP operations was Camp Davis, near Topsail Island, NC:

Their main role was to ferry new airplanes from factory to air bases, fly officers to meetings, and deliver spare parts to air bases. They were so successful that Cochran urged their further training on missions like towing aerial targets for antiaircraft gunnery firing and searchlight training at night. Camp Davis, near Topsail Island, trained antiaircraft gunnery personnel for protection of our East Coast.

It was here that 50 WASP proved they were up to aerial target towing and high altitude searchlight missions. They also participated in early experiments with a top-secret drone program. Once proved as a WASP mission, other air bases began similar programs.

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