This day is the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the day Germany's unconditional surrender took effect ending World War II in Europe.

A new book, Spitfires, tells the little-known contribution 25 American women made to that outcome by flying combat aircraft, not for U.S. forces, which denied them the opportunity when America entered the war.

Instead, they flew for Britain's air transport auxiliary, or ATA.

Earlier, I spoke with Becky Aikman, the book's author, and asked her what these women did.

The British were so desperate for help in the war that they sought out pilots from around the world, even pilots with injuries

or from other countries or even women, to transport aircraft from the factories to the

air bases because they needed to have a huge number of aircraft made available very quickly.

They also transported damaged aircraft back from the air bases to where they could be repaired,

often not knowing what was wrong with them until they were high in the sky.

How did these American women get involved in this?

They were all people who knew how to fly, and they all wanted to participate in the war,

but the United States military

would not accept women as pilots. But they heard that Great Britain would allow women to fly,

and they went to Montreal to do a flight test. Twenty-five of them passed, and they went on ships

across the sea to join in this effort.

And even though they were just ferrying planes, they were moving them around England,

it doesn't mean they didn't face danger.

I think you said that nearly one in seven died during the war.

Yes, one in seven died during the course of the war.

They frequently crashed for a couple reasons.

One is that the aircraft were

just coming off those assembly lines so quickly. They weren't properly tested. The pilots often got

...