Education

The National WASP WWII Museum provides educational programming for everyone. Contact us through this website or by calling 325-235-0099 for information about booking group tours.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) connected tours are currently available for students in 5th, 8th and High School American History. Teachers of elementary students in grades two through four may request a tour focusing on the life of WASP Charlyne Creger which features a story plus original photographs and memorabilia from her life.

Try to book your tour at least two weeks in advance. Schools may schedule any day and time during school hours. We welcome tours on weekends as well. There is no charge for tours.

Fifi’s Suitcase

Check out this new resource from the National WASP WWII Museum: Fifi’s Suitcase.

A treasure trove of lesson plans, books, photographs, artifacts and even clothing, Fifi’s Suitcase serves students in elementary and secondary grades. Lesson plans specifically geared for third and fifth graders include the following:

Lesson plans for grades eight and high school American History substitute a lesson on navigation for the ration books and recipes.

Lessons can be adapted for other grades.

The suitcases get their name from the WASP mascot designed by Walt Disney Studios. Fifi is short for Fifinella, the female counterpart of Gremlins. Learn more about gremlins and fifinellas (and widgets, too) in the book by Roald Dahl: The Gremlins. Fifi makes her debut in this wonderful tale told by a former Royal Air Force pilot and future writer of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Call the Museum at 325.235.0099 to book a week with this fun new resource. Let us know if you need the elementary or secondary level suitcase. The Region XIV Education Service Center van will deliver it to your school.

Reference Materials Available at the County- City Library Sweetwater, Texas

Alexander, Thomas E. The Wings of Change: The Army Air Force Experience During World War II. Abilene, TX: McWhiney Foundation Press, McMurry University, 2003.

Bostwick, Marie. On Wings of the Morning. Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2007.

Carl, Ann B. A WASP Among Eagles: A Woman Military Test Pilot in World War II. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, l999.

Cochran, Jacqueline. The Stars at Noon. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, l954.

Cole, Jean Hascall. Women Pilots of World War II. University of Utah Press, l992.

Dahl, Roald. The Gremlins. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2006.

Dailey, Janet. Silver Wings, Satiago Blue. New York: Poseidon Press, l984.

Gott, Kay. Women in Pursuit. McKinleyville, CA: Author, l993.

Granger, Byrd Howell. On Final Approach: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII. Scottsdale, AZ: Falconer Publishing Company, l991.

Haynsworth, Leslie. Amelia Earhart’s Daughters: The Wild and Glorious Story of American Women Aviators from World War II to the Dawn of the Space Age. N.Y.: William Morrow, l998.

Keene, Julia Moberg. Skies over Sweetwater. Warwick, N.Y.: Keene Publishing, 2008.

Keil, Sally Van Wagenen. Those Wonderful Women in their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War II. New York: Rawson, Wade Publishers,1979.

Langley, Wanda. Flying Higher: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. North Haven, Connecticut: Linnet Books, 2002.

Monde, Bennet B. A History of Avenger Field, Texas. A thesis presented to the faculty of the division of Graduate Studies, Hardin Simmons University, May 1980.

Moolman, Valerie. Women Aloft. Time-Life Books, l981.

Nathan, Amy. Yankee Doodle Gals: Women Pilots of World War II. Washington, D. C. National Geographic Society, 2001.

Noggle, Anne. For God, Country, and the Thrill of It: Women Air Force Service Pilots in World War II. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1990.

Rice, Melinda. Secrets in the Sky. Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press, 2001.

Rich, Doris L. Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane. University Press of Florida, 2007.

Rickman, Sarah Byrn. Flight from Fear. Santa Fe, NM: Disc-Us Books, 2002.

Rickman, Sarah Byrn. The Originals: The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of World War II. Sarasota, FL: Disc-Us Books, 2001.

Rogers, Mary Beth. We Can Fly. Austin: Ellen C. Temple, 1983. 140-151.

Scharr, Adela Riel. Sisters in the Sky, Vol.2: The WASPS. St. Louis: The Patrice Press, l988.

Snapp, Henry F. “Pioneer Women in West Texas Skies: Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II.” West Texas Historical Association Yearbook. 1994. Vol. 70. 19-39.

Stewart-Smith, Natalie Jeanne. The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II: Perspectives on the Work of America’s First Military Women Aviators. M.A.Thesis, Washington State University, 1981.

Tanner, Doris Brinker. Who Were the WASP? Sweetwater, Texas: The Sweetwater Reporter, 1989.

U. S. Army Air Forces, Headquarters, Washington, D. C. Final Report on Women Pilot Program.

Verges, Marianne. On Silver Wings: The Women AirForce Service Pilots. New York: Ballantine Books, l991.

Willenz, June A. Women Veterans: America’s Forgotten Heroines. New York: Continuum, l983.

Williams, Vera S. WASPS: Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Osceola WI: Motorbooks International, l994.

Yeats, E. L. & Hooper Shelton. History of Nolan County Texas. Sweetwater: Shelton Press, l975. 105-114.

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

Henderson, Sheila. “Zoot Suits, Parachutes, and Wings of Silver, Too.” Texas Highways. September 1987. 10.