Creative Notes:
This story has been inspired by stories of the WASP's. This is a original script.
FLY GIRLS
This story is about the courageous women volunteers who flew military aircraft in WWII, much to the chagrin of the men who were enlisted, and their fight to be recognized which would last sixty years.
Project collaboration:
Open
Synopsis:
Julia Saunders was just a flight instructor in Hawaii, until that fateful day in December when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. On the airfield where she taught she held a young man and watched him die as she vowed to do what she could for her country to win the war that the United States had just be thrust into.
At an awards ceremony some time later, Julia and her friend Cornelia, a fellow instructor and pilot, are approached by Jackie Cochran, founder of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. She offers the two spots on the newly formed WASP team after they witnessed what the Japanese were capable of. After they accept her invitation they fly to Texas to begin their training.
Once in Texas the two women quickly find that they are not alone in their desire to serve their country. They develop close relationships with three other women, Amy Greene, Morgan Jones, and Eugenia “Jenny” Spratt. They learn their own personal reasons for being there. In the face of adversity the women learn to fly the world’s fastest and most sophisticated aircraft.
The men charged with teaching these new recruits hate it. They don’t think women should be anywhere close to their aircraft and have no problems with telling the ladies that. As they progress through their training, Cornelia is lost to a horrible flight accident. Julia tries to leave the camp, but an instructor named Lt. Paul Myers talks her into staying. After graduation the main group of four women are separated and sent to two different bases. Amy and Morgan are sent to Lubbock to be shot at by trainees of the Army while Julia and Jenny are sent to learn to fly the B29 Superfortress, a plane the men are scared to fly.
As the war seems to be drawing to an end, the Army tells all male flight instructors they are no longer needed, enough pilots have been trained and they can enlist or risk being drafted in as foot soldiers. Horrified at the thought of battle, the flight instructors lobby for the jobs of the WASP’s, and ultimately win. Julia and Jenny learn of this through a news reel before a movie. Julia is asked to testify before Congress and Representative Smith uses everything in his power to show that the members of the WASPs are incompetent as pilots. Rep. Smith is successful and with a heartfelt letter from Gen. Henry Arnold, a long time supporter of the WASPs, they are disbanded.
In 1977, Julia reads in the paper where 8 women will be allowed to fly for the first time in the Air Force. She reconnects with many of the WASPs as they begin a campaign to remind the United States what they had done for their country during the war. In November of 1977, the WASPs are granted veteran status by President Jimmy Carter. At the conclusion of the story we see Julia, Amy and hundreds of other WASPs, now in their eighties and nineties, receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed on them.
This story has love, loss, good times, and trying times. It shows the resilience of the women who lived and died to serve their country. Although based on some actual events and people, the story is fictional but holds true to the spirit of the first women to fly for the United States Military, the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
At an awards ceremony some time later, Julia and her friend Cornelia, a fellow instructor and pilot, are approached by Jackie Cochran, founder of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. She offers the two spots on the newly formed WASP team after they witnessed what the Japanese were capable of. After they accept her invitation they fly to Texas to begin their training.
Once in Texas the two women quickly find that they are not alone in their desire to serve their country. They develop close relationships with three other women, Amy Greene, Morgan Jones, and Eugenia “Jenny” Spratt. They learn their own personal reasons for being there. In the face of adversity the women learn to fly the world’s fastest and most sophisticated aircraft.
The men charged with teaching these new recruits hate it. They don’t think women should be anywhere close to their aircraft and have no problems with telling the ladies that. As they progress through their training, Cornelia is lost to a horrible flight accident. Julia tries to leave the camp, but an instructor named Lt. Paul Myers talks her into staying. After graduation the main group of four women are separated and sent to two different bases. Amy and Morgan are sent to Lubbock to be shot at by trainees of the Army while Julia and Jenny are sent to learn to fly the B29 Superfortress, a plane the men are scared to fly.
As the war seems to be drawing to an end, the Army tells all male flight instructors they are no longer needed, enough pilots have been trained and they can enlist or risk being drafted in as foot soldiers. Horrified at the thought of battle, the flight instructors lobby for the jobs of the WASP’s, and ultimately win. Julia and Jenny learn of this through a news reel before a movie. Julia is asked to testify before Congress and Representative Smith uses everything in his power to show that the members of the WASPs are incompetent as pilots. Rep. Smith is successful and with a heartfelt letter from Gen. Henry Arnold, a long time supporter of the WASPs, they are disbanded.
In 1977, Julia reads in the paper where 8 women will be allowed to fly for the first time in the Air Force. She reconnects with many of the WASPs as they begin a campaign to remind the United States what they had done for their country during the war. In November of 1977, the WASPs are granted veteran status by President Jimmy Carter. At the conclusion of the story we see Julia, Amy and hundreds of other WASPs, now in their eighties and nineties, receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed on them.
This story has love, loss, good times, and trying times. It shows the resilience of the women who lived and died to serve their country. Although based on some actual events and people, the story is fictional but holds true to the spirit of the first women to fly for the United States Military, the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Latest Work
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Script 1 - Mandie's Original Draft11/21/10
