Madalyn Radlauer

WASP piece (Women Pilots of WWII)

Look for:

Elements that go into the piece

  1. Intro – sets time frame and
  2. Elizabeth Taylor – talks about flying, and how the wasps though obviously necessary from the intro were not known
  3. Sound effects – motor noises and plane noises
  4. Libby Gardener, Katie Steele…
  5. Theme song of the WASPs
  6. Personal accounts
  7. Letters
  8. Historical information
  9. FDR – day of infamy speech
  10. Radio quotes
  11. B29
  12. 38 deaths
  13. music – correct time period
  14. reading from the dispatch at the end of the WASP program
  15. speech – “women can fly as well as men”
  16. Song – last class
  17. Personal accounts and memories - wistful

Transitions (this piece is narratorless so they will be subtle)

  1. No one knows who they were – current position
  2. “we all loved to fly”
  3. “they needed us”
  4. “my god I’ve been drafted” – “mine (my suit) stood by itself”
  5. instruction to work – from danger to danger – “they were shooting live bullets at the targets” – “B29” “each airplane had it’s own reputation”
  6. “my roommate was killed” – “she went in with the airplane” – “they had to tell her parents” – “wars aren’t very much fun” – want it to end
  7. but “you must understand that we love to fly” – it was awesome
  8. but then it ended
  9. it was so great, I dream about it, it seems amazing that it ever happened

Argument of piece/ Point of View – where is it?

  1. The WASPs were needed
  2. They were required and put through very rigorous training – drafted in a sense – wore men’s flight suits and were stationed in a godforsaken place for training
  3. women from all walks of life
  4. the men had to train hitting targets and the women flew the planes with the targets
  5. repetitive jobs – “I would have gone into combat at any minute”
  6. lack of respect for women – “it was so easy to fly that women could do it”
  7. “we had it made” – but then their services were ended (20th of December 1944)
  8. sad to not get to continue flying – most couldn’t get jobs as pilots after that
  9. all the women lost their jobs at the end of the war
  10. “we weren’t supposed to” – “we were before our time”
  11. “don’t be ridiculous, they didn’t have women in the air force – current sexism and disbelief”
  12. these women were impressive and before their time – should have gotten more respect – possibly have gotten to keep their jobs as pilots – not fair overall – feminism overtone – historical gender progress birth and then shut down and then grew up again (2 steps forward, 1 step back)
  13. doesn’t hammer you with feminism and bitterness, but wants you to take a position and try to guide you toward something in particular

public story – from men – voices of authority – the spin/PR

behind the scenes story – from the women – voices of personal experience

majority of audio essays anchor you in time and space

this essay could have been prompted by study of women or of WWII