In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots willing to serve their country. Tens of thousands of them responded. After a rigorous selection process, just over 1,100 women made it through training to earn their silver wings. For these remarkable aviators, flying offered freedom, a community of likeminded peers, and a chance to contribute to the war effort–as well as an opportunity to show the world that women pilots were just as skilled and able as men.

In The Women With Silver Wings, historian Katherine Sharp Landdeck takes us into the lives of the WASP, allowing us to witness their triumphs as they ferried pursuits and bombers across the country and trained male pilots for service in Europe. The work was exhilarating but dangerous: Thirty-eight WASP would not survive the war. But even taking into account these tragic losses, the program seemed to be a resounding success–until, with the tides of war turning and fewer male pilots needed in Europe, Congress clipped the women’s wings. The program was disbanded, the women sent home. But the bonds they’d forged never failed, and over the next few decades, they came together to fight for recognition as the military veterans they were–and for their place in history.