Help with ID of photograph

[sgtbrown]

I was sorting through my JPEGS and came across this photo I had forgotten I had. It shows a group of women in uniform standing in front of what I suspect to be an AAF trainer. The thing I find interesting is how the women are all uniformly attired except for their shoes - which run the gamut from flats to dressy high heels. Kinda weird.

 

Anyhow, can anyone shed any light on what organization they might belong to? Does the patch jump out at any one?

 

I am going to post a note in the Patch section to see if any of those guys could help.

 

Thanks,

Tom

[1SG_1st_Cav]

How about a close-up of one of the sleeves with a patch on it. 1SG

 

 

 

I was sorting through my JPEGS and came across this photo I had forgotten I had. It shows a group of women in uniform standing in front of what I suspect to be an AAF trainer. The thing I find interesting is how the women are all uniformly attired except for their shoes - which run the gamut from flats to dressy high heels. Kinda weird.

 

Anyhow, can anyone shed any light on what organization they might belong to? Does the patch jump out at any one?

 

I am going to post a note in the Patch section to see if any of those guys could help.

 

Thanks,

Tom

[Darktrooper]

I can tell you the era is pre-1941 (US entry into WWII) . It looks like and SBD-1 and appears to be a "yellow wing warrior," meaning the fuselage is Aluminum, and the wings are painted yellow.

 

WAVES maybe?

[sgtbrown]

1SG,

 

If you click on the photo, it will enlarge to original size. Best I can do.

 

Darktrooper,

 

I doubt WAVES. Totally different uniforms and they did not wear any patches. Oh yeah, not WASPS, either. I am suspecting some type of para-military civilian organization like WOW or even stewardesses. That shoe thing really throws me. If they were a government organization, they would be in FULL uniform.

 

Tom

[tredhed2]

The patch looks like a one for a flight school. The women are probably civilian employees.

 

9th Service Command, which had control over Ft. MacArthur, CA, a POE, had civilian women employed there during the war who wore military style uniforms (blue) and 9th Svc Cmd patches.

[Garth Thompson]

Check DRESSED FOR DUTY pg 144. This chapter covers Women employed at AAF posts. Here is a quote from the book:

" Women serving with the AAF Technical Training command in the Los Angeles area wore a blue single-breasted blouse with two pocket flaps and buttons on the bodice and two patch pockets with straight flaps and buttons on the side"

It appears from the book that each installation had it's own unique patch. In the book there is a picture of three women wearing the uniform but each has different shoes. I suspect we are looking at a group picture of women employed at a AAF Technical Training Command installation circa WW2.

Neat and probably quite scarce picture.

Garth

[clyde]

The airplane is a BT-9, predecesor to the AT-6 Texan. The BT-9 had fixed landing gear. The tail coding was used from May,1940 to about early 1942. the ED refered to a school squadron, in this case number 92. Reference is AIRFORCE COLORS by Dana Bell. In Jill Halcomb Smiths book DRESSED FOR DURY, volume two, she discusses women employed at Army Airforce posts and describes some of the uniforms and insignia.

[clyde]

The USAF Reference Series,AIRBASES,lists a 92nd School Squadron at Maxwell AAF from15 sept. 40 to 16 Dec. 40.

[Lee Ragan]

The airplane is a BT-9, predecesor to the AT-6 Texan. The BT-9 had fixed landing gear. The tail coding was used from May,1940 to about early 1942. the ED refered to a school squadron, in this case number 92. Reference is AIRFORCE COLORS by Dana Bell. In Jill Halcomb Smiths book DRESSED FOR DURY, volume two, she discusses women employed at Army Airforce posts and describes some of the uniforms and insignia.

Clyde,

The airplane is a Seversky (but dang... can't remember the designation). The give-away is the vertical stabilizer. Also notice the eliptical shape of the wing tips where as the BT-9 had squared-off wing tips. This was a 2 seat variation of the old P-35 design and best I remember it was a prototype attack plane that never got into production.

[atb]

The aircraft is a Seversky AT-12 "Guardsman," a two-seat trainer aircraft built originally as a two-seat version of the P-35 for export. Of 52 of the type that were built for Sweden to be used as attack aircraft, 50 were seized by the US War Department in 1940 and used as advanced gunery trainers and "hacks." This information is from the 1994 Squadron/Signal publication "P-35."