The Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one heroes, legends, histories, and mysteries

podcast. This is your host, John Haggdorn. Recently we received this 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories, and Mysteries Podcast.

This is your host, John Haggdorn.

Recently we received this letter from Bloomsbury Publishing.

It read, Dear 1001 Heroes.

I'm so thrilled to share the truly incredible little-known story of the daring American women who piloted the world's most dangerous aircraft through

the treacherous skies of Britain during World War II. Spitfires by acclaimed journalist Becky

Aikman, available May 6th, 2025, and publishing around the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the day that

marked the official end of the war in Europe. Spitfires follows the stories of

nine of the women who served, drawing on unpublished diaries, letters, and records, along with

exclusive personal interviews to bring those forgotten heroines fully to life. They were crop dusters

and debutats, college girls, and performers in flying circuses from all over the U.S.,

all of them trained as pilots. Because they were women, they were denied the opportunity

to fly for their country when the United States entered the Second World War. But Great Britain,

desperately fighting for survival, would let anyone, even Americans, even women, transport warplanes.

Thus, 25 daring young aviators bolted for England in 1942, becoming the first American women

to command military aircraft. In a faraway land, these Spitfires lived like women decades ahead

of their time.

Risking their lives in one of the deadliest jobs of the war, they ferried new, barely tested

fighters and bombers to air bases and returned shot-up wrecks for repair, never knowing what

might go wrong until they were high in the sky.

Many ferry pilots died in crashes or made spectacular saves.

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