Air Force·Integration / civil rights·In Memoriam
Women in the Air Force
WAF
Served: 1948–1976
Separate women's branch with capped strength (initially 4,000 enlisted, 300 officers) and barred from combat roles and most cockpits.
The Story
When the WAF was abolished, women were folded into the regular Air Force — but the cap on women's strength had been so tight for so long that for years afterwards there was a separate "women's promotion list" being quietly maintained inside the personnel system.
Epitaph
“Capped at 4,000. Folded into the rest. Quietly tracked for a decade.”
Sources
- Wikipedia — Women in the Air Forceen.wikipedia.org