THE WOMEN AIRFORCE Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II have been the focus of study for Texas Woman’s Professor of History Katherine Landdeck. The WASPs were the topic of her dissertation when she earned her PhD from the University of Tennessee.

Landdeck turned decades of research and personal relations with these groundbreaking aviators into The Women With Silver Wings, her book about the women who flew airplanes for the United States during World War II.

In 2023, the book earned Landdeck recognition from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which invited her to be the speaker at the premier lecture in aviation history, the Amelia Earhart Lecture.

“It’s very humbling,” Landdeck says. “To have people you respect say it’s good is very meaningful.” 


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