#the women of masters of the air

[musingsofahistorymajor]

The Women of Masters of the Air -1x02 and 1x02

Women's Land Army

Red Cross Clubmobile

Women's Army Corps

[musingsofahistorymajor]

I have a feeling she works at Bletchley Park doing Allied code breaking. The uniform she wears is of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and about 7,500 women worked at Bletchley with approximately 400 of them serving in the ATS. The women who worked there took their oath of secrecy very seriously. Most never spoke about their work ever again even after the 30 year rule ended. Given how secretive and evasive she was whenever her work came up I'd eager she works at Bletchley Park.

I'm not 100% on this. Just a theory based on what I know of women serving in the armed forces during the war.

Hi there, do you know what was the real Landra/Sandra Westgate's job?

this question has a very ambiguous answer, but you can check out @mercurygray's post here for a great answer!

additionally (from this reddit thread):

[mercurygray]

Friends, I have failed you all. I've seen a lot of posts over the last week with a lot of great biographical detail about many of the flyers and aircrew who've been name-dropped so far in Masters of the Air - and I haven't seen a single thing about the one name that is directly in the center of this blog's lane.

In Part 2, returning from their mission to Trondheim, Cleven and Egan walk into the Interrogation hut and Egan accepts a cup of coffee from a woman he thanks as Tatty. Later on, at the dance, James Douglass remarks that he will be 'coming in hot' on one of the American Red Cross women on the other side of the room, and one of his friends asks "General Spaatz's daughter? Or the other one?"

Katherine "Tatty" Spaatz was a member of the American Red Cross Clubmobile service and the daughter of General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, who commanded the Eighth Air Force on its move to England. (General Spaatz later moved to overall command of the entire Army Air Forces in the Europe Theatre of Operations, or ETO. He is, as the kids say, rather important.)

But we're not talking about him here. We're talking about her.

Katherine was 22 years old when she arrived in Europe with the Red Cross. (One of her traveling companions that trip was Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph P Kennedy Sr., also coming to serve overseas with the ARC.)

The American Red Cross's mission in Europe had many facets during the Second World War - in addition to activities we might think of today, like collecting blood, providing disaster relief at home and running first aid seminars, they were responsible for collecting and distributing packages for Prisoners of War.

They also operated large canteens like the Rainbow Corner club, a recreational facility in London where soldiers on leave could get a room for the weekend, a bite to eat, and a number of other amenities. Smaller clubs called Donut Dugouts provided a space where a serviceman could always be assured of a cup of hot coffee, a donut, and a pretty girl to talk to, specially recruited for being friendly, fair, approachable, and specially trained to be the girl next door overseas. In addition to these more permanent installations, they also operated the Clubmobile service, a mobile version of their popular Dugouts that moved operations into retooled Green Line Bus Company buses to take donuts and a taste of home to the front line.

Tatty, as she was called, worked on the Clubmobile "North Dakota" along with Julia "Dooley" Townsend, Virginia "Ginny" Sherwood, and Dorothy "Mike" Myrick. Life Magazine did a full article on their clubmobile in February of 1943, which you can read online at the link. There is another lovely blog post with pictures here. She also worked for a time in a more permanent post at the USAAF base at Snetterton Heath, and was later sent to France. You can read a little bit more about her and see more pictures at her bio page at the American Air Museum in Britain website.

If you'd like more information about Tatty, Helen, and women like them, as well as the Clubmobile service, consider reading the following:

Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys by James H. Madison Battlestars & Doughnuts: World War II Clubmobile Experiences of Mary Metcalfe Rexford War through the Hole of a Donut, by Angela Petesch Goodnight, Irene (fiction) - Although this is a novel, it is based on Luis Alberto Urrea's mother's time as a Clubmobile worker and her personal papers.

[therealslimshakespeare]

Red Cross “Clubmobile Girl” Katherine Spaatz with American servicemen

[nigesakis]

[meyerlansky]

it's an ongoing thing that i probably won't dig too much into in anything textually, maybe in cruiseverse and even less likely but still maybe in summertime, but i do have thinkythoughts about how curt and bucky handle being queer in the framework of their catholicism

gale not on the discussion board here because, while he has angst about his queerness and especially what it means wrt his [and others'] masculinity, it is in no way religious and i maintain he is three bad days away from open atheism despite the HUGE social stigma against it at the time. abused kids tend not to be much for religion anyway.

like i acknowledge how i handle curt is slightly anachronistic [though i can cite contemporary examples, don't come at me about it] in that i don't think he's ashamed of ANYTHING. careful, yes, aware it could get him hurt, yes. but he doesn't have a lot of internalized homophobia weighing him down by '43, thanks to growing up in an active queer hub in the 20s/30s AND my decision to make his family, mostly his mom, similarly slightly-anachronistically accepting—see the stuff in this post about mothers in midcentury america accepting their queer sons and encouraging other mothers to do the same. and i think that "toughened by adversity" is particularly relevant in delphia's case because on top of raising a fairly large family through the great depression, she lost an infant daughter AND her husband when all her kids were under ten years old. she did suffer the public humiliations of the depression in sending her sons to live with relatives to ease the burden of SAID fairly large, half-orphaned family. so she doesn't CARE if curt's gay, all that matters to her is that curt is—and all her kids are—alive and healthy and happy. [plus, in "practical" terms, curt has a brother, so if he's not gonna have kids rusty's around to do it, which is a safety net the other guys do not have.]

bucky, on the other hand, is 93% shame at all times. about everything. he covers it with being loud and brash and seeming unrepentant but. c'mon. look at him. he's got catholic guilt dripping off him. he does NOT have supportive family to lean back on and to insulate him from the general antipathy towards queerness in midcentury america—he doesn't even get letters from his mom or sisters in the stalag in canon. plus he has the added angst of like... he's bi, not gay, so he likes women like he's supposed to, does that not make his attraction to men something he just has to Resist, because that's what the devil does, puts shit in your path that you have to avoid to stay good or whatever. if he was exclusively attracted to men—like curt—it might bother him less because he wouldn't have a "choice." so he's got both internalized queerphobia in general and SPECIFICALLY internalized biphobia working against him.

[the other issue i have with thinking about this stuff is i was not raised catholic or even a little bit religious at all, so i don't have a firsthand perspective on rationalizing queerness with faith. i am just WINGING IT HERE.]

but, anyway, i feel like bucky's isolation from semi-normalized queerness just compounds the issue for his whole adolescence/early adulthood, and he lumps being attracted to men in with his other rule-breaking behaviors. he drinks, he gambles, he lusts, it's all getting him sent to hell anyway, so he acts like it doesn't bother him. but i think it DOES bother him, deep down. and i also think that being faced with curt/people like curt, who DON'T see their queerness as an obstacle to keeping their faith, who don't experience the guilt and shame over that as a fundamental aspect of who they are, is... tough for him? and this is why i don't think it'll come up textually in anything except cruiseverse, if that: bucky is not a talk-shit-out kind of guy, and quite frankly neither is curt. but i can't imagine that bucky at some point isn't like "...don't you struggle with it?" and curt's like "nah, if He wanted me to be different i'd be different."

and bucky just kinda has to chew on that for a bit. and this is where i think the gay vs bi tension comes in, because curt CAN be like "i tried to be straight, it didn't work, so god must not want me to be," whereas bucky COULD choose to be in a het-passing relationship, so does that make him worse??? and that's when curt stops trying that tack because it's doing more harm than good, which leads to it turning into "but HOW does it not bother you?" "it only bothers you 'cause you're letting it." cue another blue-screen for a week.

they can't even extrapolate out the concept of receiving unconditional love as one of god's children the way you do from your actual parents or whatever. because no one in bucky's life loves him unconditionally. why the hell would god?

[usairforcehistoricsociety]

[she-wolf09231982]

A War Miniseries of Their Own

Help set a timeless example that serving with pride is also a woman's prerogative in every branch of the military. Sign the petition link attached to support A War Miniseries of Their Own!

Just signatures! Not asking for any money!

This is my own personal petition I’m pushing for. I’m a veteran who is looking to do the HBO War series justice by retelling the story of the military women in America’s history. Who better to play the part than a veteran who’s already been through the training? Please support your fellow Tumblr girl and sign 💚🪖🫡

(Just imagine the fanfics you could write if this takes off!) 😉

[bandagesandloveletters]

Lilla Thornton (Masters of The Air OFC)

Note: A little introduction to my newest original female character for the Masters of The Air universe. Look out for all her adventures in the weeks to come. Word Count: 895 words.

Glass plasma bottles clicked against each other as they moved inside the chipped wooden crate marked "Medical Supplies". Pyramids of morphine syrettes threatened to spill with every second step heavier than the opposite. In a different setting, desperate hands would be grabbing at the morphine, like kids to a bowl of candy. It was a highly sought-after substance on the frontlines by medics, but in the ghostly quiet hallways of the on-base infirmary, no one dared to steal from what supplies graced the stockroom. 

In the middle of the infirmary's hustle and bustle lay a heavy oak desk, out of place and odd for its surroundings but very fitting for the occupier who worked upon it, hour after hour.

Thud! Rattle! Clunk! The wooden crate came to rest upon the paper-laden desk as dainty hands rifled through its contents, determined to find the item that she so urgently needed.

"Ah-ha!" the gentle rasp with a Texan accent piped up as she grasped what she was looking for in her left hand. "There you are, you little rascal."

"Still talking to the medical supplies, I see."

"You know me, Nora. If a seasick-riddled boat journey across the pond can't change my ways, it will never happen," Second Lieutenant Thornton chirped as she turned to stand before the friendly face.

Lilla Thornton was a petite girl from Fredericksburg, Texas. Although she was small in stature, she had a big personality. As head nurse, the tiny Texan often had to drum up morale as her fellow medics worked tirelessly on wounded men evacuated from the battle-damaged aircraft returning from missions into occupied Europe. It was almost like working on a production line; as soon as a patient was stable, they'd be moved to a more suitable bed within the infirmary, away from all the chaos.

A no-nonsense kind of girl, Lilla was known for throwing herself into her work, placing it on top of her list before pleasure. Her time at Thorpe Abbotts was a perfect example of this practice. As her nurses clung to the men of the 100th every Friday at the Half Moon Inn, the young Lieutenant would spend her night taking stock of supplies and rolling bandages. Even back home, she'd rather spend her weekends studying or helping her father run the family ranch than travel the hour into Austin to go drinking and galavanting with her friends.

Growing up, she had to learn and take responsibility more quickly than most girls. At the age of seven, her dear mother Tabitha passed suddenly of an unknown illness that doctors were trying to grasp a better knowledge and understanding. Lilla was the eldest of three siblings, meaning any extra time she had after her classes were finished was spent working to bring in extra money to aid the family finances.

Her father, a cripple who couldn't work, always encouraged the brunette to follow her heart, and on the 18th of August 1941, Lilla Thornton joined the Army Nurse Corps. With a passion for helping those in need and a hard-working ethic, Army life came as easy as learning to crawl as an infant.

Training started at Brooke General Hospital, San Antonio, Texas, before she was assigned to the Eighth Air Force as a breakaway unit in September of 1942. A single gold bar sat proudly upon the collar of her dress uniform and the new role of head nurse upon her shoulders.

At Kearney Army Airfield, Nebraska, Lilla made friends with a fellow nurse from Louisiana. Like Lilla, Nora was a serious person putting just as much dedication into her role as a nurse as the Texan girl did. Nora and Lilla forged a friendship that would stand the test of time.

Thrusting the two bottles of saline towards the medic, followed by some syrettes of morphine, Lilla raised an eyebrow in question at the female before her.

"This should be more than enough for now. You don't happen to have any chocolate in your magic box, Lieutenant Thornton?" Nora’s Southern drawl emphasized certain words as she asked the smaller female. 

Holding up a finger, Lilla turned and began to search through a heavy oak drawer connected to her desk before producing a foil-covered article. Chocolate had become a rare commodity, especially with all the rationing the Americans faced while living in England, and what they could get a hold of tasted far from what they were used to back home. 

"This is my last ration for this month. It better be for a good reason you’re looking for some. You owe me one, Nora."

"You got my word, Li. If you have the time, can you check on Lieutenant Payne? I think he's coming down with pneumonia."

Looking up from her clipboard at the mention of one of the navigators, Lilla nodded. It was apparent there was some kind of bug going around the base. She’d already treated a few men with similar symptoms.

"I don't have long left until I've finished my shift here, but I'll be round as soon as possible. Just make sure he's kept warm until I get there."

Returning her attention to the crate of supplies, Lilla sat down behind the desk to begin the final stock check of her shift.

[musingsofahistorymajor]

Bel Powley as Sandra Westgate

Masters of the Air 1x06

[mastersoftheair]

this isn't even me being a certified CrozGirl (i'm an hbo* war girl, if anything)- but some of the reactions to croz getting it on with sandra feel very "i can excuse war crimes, but i draw the line at extramarital affairs" tbh

[cheesuschrist-iii]

Am I the only one who wants a war show but it’s historically inaccurate and has both men and women fighting in ww2?

Like I love a good war show and I kinda get trying to be accurate to the fact that only men properly fought (and were allowed to).

But like everyone knows that so why not tweak history a bit in one show and see how women would have fought.

Idk it just seems like a cool doable thing.

[mercurygray]

Women in World War Two Aviation Reading List

As we gear up for Masters of the Air coming out in January, if I know fandom (and I like to think I do) someone is going to want to write some original female character fanfic after seeing this show. Friends, have I got you.

Please find here linked my Women in World War Two Aviation Reading List.

A few notes about this list:

It’s not exhaustive. There are many, many more books on any of these topics than the ones listed here, but this can serve as a starting point for your reading. Often, if you can find one of these at your local library or bookseller, you can also find some keywords or subject headings to find similar books.

This is a very (white) American-centric list. Experiences vary greatly from country to country, and on whether or not you’re a person of color.

I haven’t included any general World War Two histories, or any specific battle or theater histories. It’s easy enough to find those somewhere else.

You will notice I haven’t included any unit histories or Donald Miller's book, either. I'm assuming you know about that already. See #3.

I have read most, but not all, of the books on this list. Those I haven’t read were recommended to me by people whose taste and opinion I trust.

There are several great online resources linked on this list as well as books.

This is a fun period in history to be a woman in flight, and a lot of work has been done over the last ten or twenty years about the WASPs and the ATA. If you'd like your OFC to be a little more ground-bound and are looking for some additional inspiration, I also have a more general Women In World War Two reading list here.

Feel like I’m missing something? I take (kindly worded) suggestions.

Well, who died and made you a subject matter expert here? Absolutely no one. I've been in history fandoms for a long time, and it always really confused me when people got angry at other fans for not knowing the history, but also not sharing resources for where to find out more! Women's history is sometimes a hard topic to find books on, and I want to share what I have so people who are interested and excited can learn more!

[bcolfanfic]

forgot jean died before him until i was flipping through this book in the memorial room at thorpe abbotts and felt like someone punched me in the head

[basilone]

KILLY!!!! hello! here to send in a prompt for my girl Stella and prompt 46 - protection! :) thank youuuu!

Hiii! 💙 Love that you wanna see more of Stella, ty!! Hope you'll like this one. 😊

protection

She should have waited.

Waited for Max and Jules, at least, because waiting for Tiny to get ready would have meant waiting for half the party to be over by the time they finally got there. Dee was out of the question – a stomach bug even Lucy couldn’t fix – and Lord only knows where Nora disappeared off to after dinner. She’d half-expected to find the others at the party, laughing and joking and drinking, but…

Stella heaves a sigh. Then another one. Locks eyes with Douglass, who seems to be waiting for a response she’s not about to give him. Lets her gaze slide over his buddies – Blakely the only one she can name – before fixing on the same piece of wall that’s gotten her through one-sided conversations like this one before. She should get Push to mention to Lemmons that the wall’s paint is peeling off in the corner right above that ugly armchair. Maybe he can spare it a lick of paint or figure out what to do about it that’d make it less crooked.

“Hey, that wall isn’t gonna dance with you,” interjects Douglass, stepping back into her line of sight in a way that’s got her balling both fists. “We’re all friends here, right?”

We work the same job, sure, she almost retorts. Just because we blow things up together doesn’t mean we’re friends now. Stella knows he won’t get the nuance. Guys like him never really do. She allows her eyebrow to raise just a little, just enough.

“Come on, Lombardi”– and he doesn’t even pronounce it right, elevates her name too much –“us bombardiers, we got a bond, don’t we?”

An arm slips over her shoulders before she can convey her new retort with a well-practiced huff. A thumb rubs a small circle over her insignia, soothing, while she’s pulled against a very warm side. Soap and aftershave are playing tug-of-war with a sharp whiskey twang, settling in her nostrils and coating her tongue with the urge to feel the latter’s burn in her throat. She knows this scent and touch as well as she knows her bomb visor. Relaxes into it the moment it fully registers, letting her shoulders drop and her balled fists unfurl.

“You trying to get between that pilot and bombardier bond, Doug?” His question is good-natured. Upbeat, even. Teasing where it counts, defusing the fact that he’s interceding at all. “Lombardi here”– and of course he gets her name pitch perfect, rolling off his tongue like that’s where it’s always been –“is owed a drink by me tonight. Gonna get her one before Lottie shows up and takes that glass outta her hand!”

Somehow, he’s already managed to steer her away from the offending party. Somehow, his hand’s clasped firmly around her shoulder and squeezing her to his side as he guides her over to the bar. She just about manages to nod at Cleven in passing – his answering nod is minuscule – but lets her gaze slide straight over Egan, who’s far too busy pontificating about which song he wants to be singing later tonight. There’s still a half-full glass on this side of the bar. A spare coaster. Meatball’s leash dangling from a stool – the dog itself being entertained by the Clubmobile girls who don’t really talk to the bomber girls any – and his jacket hanging over that.

“You looked like you needed a rescue there,” he says, smiling, leaning them both against the bar before letting go of her. “You should just tell him no next time, all right? He’s good about that. Not that good about silences.”

“No often comes with the why not,” she reminds him, “and I don’t have enough breath in my lungs for how long that answer would be.”

Benny’s eyes crinkle further in amusement. “That bad, huh? Poor Doug.”

“He’ll live,” judges Stella archly, following that group’s new beeline for the Clubmobile girls. “Would you look at that. I guess the bond between bombardiers is forgotten real fast after all, huh.”

He nudges her side. “Pilot and bombardier have the better one, don’t ya think?”

The safer one, she almost says. The one that gives me some protection among the wolves. “You fishing for compliments here, DeMarco?” she laughs instead, nudging his side back in response. “Shame on you.”

“Ow, Frosty, watch where ya put that damn elbow!”

“You’re such a baby,” she sighs, shaking her head in dismay. “That wasn’t even that hard. You’re real fragile, sir.”

“Lombardi,” he grumbles, rubbing his eyes as though he’s already tired of her, “call me fragile one more time…”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll be on your own, kid,” decides Benny, raising his glass to her. “So you better be nice to me now, huh?”

Stella affects a pout she doesn’t mean a lick of. “I’m always nice to you.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” he chuckles. “Bossy as hell, you are. Those guys should be thankin’ me for rescuing them from you.”

She stops. Stares. “Benny,” she says, “that’s some bullshit.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, it is.” She rolls her eyes. Locks her hand around a new glass, half-full like his, once it’s set in front of her. “You already got plenty of bossy girls in your life.” She knows Lottie is. Darlene, too, though most wouldn’t peg her like that. “Hardly need me adding to your troubles there.”

He shoots her a long, searching look out of the corner of his eye. “Who says I’ve got troubles?”

Stella snorts out a laugh. “You did, last time we were drinking.” She remembers him clinging to her shoulders. Whiskey breath mingling with chocolate. “Hope you solved them,” she laughs, sipping her drink exactly the way she was taught not to, “because I’m sure as shit not gonna help.”

“Cold, Frosty, real cold.”

She shrugs. “Hazards of the job, mio fratello.”

“Remind me why I like you.”

“I’m the best bombardier in the Hundredth, that’s why.”

“Ego.”

“All true, baby.” She grins. “Now, how about you tell me more about that bet you got going on with Lottie?”

His answering groan just makes her laugh out loud even more.

[belovedastolove]

indiana military museum pt. 2!

not hbowar related, but super cool! youngest navy pilot of ww2 was from vincennes (where the museum is located):

some women’s uniforms! from LtoR women’s marines uniform (like what lena basilone would’ve worn), a WASP uniform, and rosie the riveter:

one of my fav ww2 propaganda posters and i know it’s pretty popular on tiktok lol:

recreation of air force base rooms like infirmary and yes, bathrooms. i had a giggle personally. also the man in the infirmary looks like callum turner kind of sorry lol:

recreation of a pt landing boat and bastogne w/101st airborne mannequins in bastogne: