Black Girls (Can) Fly!

From the Director...

A little something special this afternoon from FlyGirls in celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all who have worked so hard in the fight for racial equality!

The Tofu Chitlin' Circuit, a theater conservatory on the South side of Chicago serves to "strengthen the connection between the artist and audience through monthly dialogues, actor training, interviews with theater practitioners and innovative performances."

On November 14, 2015, the Tofu Chitlin' Circuit presented a play titled "Black Girls (Can) Fly!" about a "ten-year old girl from Chicago named Bessie Mae. Her fear of staying alive, has forced her to stay in doors. She does not understand why anyone would want to leave their neighborhood. When an opportunity to take a trip with her parents presents itself, Bessie Mae has to decide if she is going to allow her fear to enable or empower to fly!"

Click here to check out the AWESOME "Black Girls (Can) Fly!" promo vid!

"Black Girls (Can) Fly!" is written and directed by Sydney Chatman, founder of the Tofu Chitlin' Circuit and Performing Arts Teacher at UChicago Charter School. Ms. Chatman inspires young people not just to dream, but to do. Her videos about young people and violence in Chicago can be found online.

"As an artist and activist, my mission is to uplift and encourage our black youth and young people. I do this through my theater conservatory, the Tofu Chitlin' Circuit."

Thank you to Sydney Chatman and everyone at Tofu Chitlin' Circuit for being an inspiration and role model to young people and encouraging them to pursue their dreams!

Tofu Chitlin' Circuit on FB: https://www.facebook.com/THE.TCC.CIRCUITEERS

Tofu Chitlin' Circuit Website: http://www.thetofuchitlincircuit.wordpress.com/

The Greatest Generation Meets The Next Generation: Women in Flight. A Huge Success!

From the Director...

"Yesterday our event, The Greatest Generation Meets The Next Generation: Women In Flight - Presented by The Red Door Films and Fund Dreamer brought together two WASP and 4 USAF service women for a special conversation about the history of women in the military, the present, and the future. Attendees heard personal stories from women across several generations about flying when women weren't supposed to fly, dealing with supply lines in Berlin before the wall came down, and combat in Iraq. By all accounts our event was a great success.

Says one attendee, Sope Ogunyemi: "It was inspirational to meet the women who had the gumption to break barriers and the women who continue to do so. Look forward to learning more about the contributions these great ladies have made."

We look forward to bringing you more unique events like this one, and we would like to thank Pamela Monroe, Liz Duca, Teresa Lowe, Edna Davis, Alyce Rohrer, and Sarah Ellis for sharing their stories. FlyGirls thanks Fund Dreamer for hosting, and our sincere gratitude to our audience and donors for your support. All campaign donors will receive a link to the recording, which we will edit and post online.

As we round the corner for our final leg of our crowd funding campaign, we hope all of our fans who read our posts, like our photos, stories, and believe in what we are doing, join our grassroots campaign to get our miniseries off the ground. With over 6 thousand fans, we can do it, but we need each and everyone of you. Many people do not know about the WASP, and we hope to change that, one person at a time. Please check out our campaign, share it with friends and contribute what you can. We have almost 300 contributors. We would love to see that become 600. It is a few minutes of your time that will ensure these women are remembered, and a future generation is inspired."

The Promise a Young Girl Holds

From the Director...

The Promise a Young Girl Holds. Where Even the Sky Has No Limits.

This photo encapsulates FlyGirls: to give young girls today a new set of role models. To show them the rich history of women in aviation and women in the military. To show them anything is possible.

On Sunday, January 10th in Los Angeles, FlyGirls is proud to present a unique and special event:

The Greatest Generation Meets the Next Generation - Women In Flight

The event will feature a panel discussion with two WASP - Edna Davis & Alyce Rohrer. These pioneering women will be joined by recent USAF veterans Liz Duca, Pamela Monroe, Maggie Dewan-Smith, and Teresa Lowe. Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Rohrer will share their experience flying for the Army Air Corps, and the discussion will cover topics like the ground-breaking ruling allowing women in combat to denying the WASP the right to be buried in Arlington Cemetery.

This event will be live-streamed and available for all donors to the FlyGirls crowdfunding campaign. Donate by Jan 9th at https://www.funddreamer.com/campaigns/flygirls

To participate, simply email us your questions to info@flygirlstheseries.com<mailto:info@flygirlstheseries.com> Or you can ask questions live via our Live Stream link which we will email all contributors. We will also make a video of the event available online for contributors if you cannot participate live.

Our Los Angeles event will be the first of a series of events we plan to hold around the country, bringing WASP and recent/current USAF service women together to raise awareness about our rich history of women in the military, and for FlyGirls.

Thank you, and see you soon!

A Glance Back into Time

From the Director...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Flora Belle Reece holds a photo of herself serving during WW2. [/caption]

Flora Belle Reece, 90, smiles at a photo of herself in a flight suit with wide legs and a cinched waist hitched as high as it could go. "The ladies wore men's gear", she said, "and it dwarfed them." A colonel at their base made them wear turbans - which she hated - because he worried their long hair would get in their eyes. But in those eyes, we see a story just waiting to be told. 

FlyGirls will exemplify the lives, loves, and experiences of the women who served during World War II.

Shining Moment

by Director Matia Karrell

We all strive for that one moment that defines the rest of our lives. That moment we will always be remembered for when we fulfilled a dream, went beyond expectations of others and most importantly ourselves.

For a group of women pilots, the WASP was their all too brief shining moment. Ann Wood Kelly ( one of the first 25 American women pilots to fly for the ATA) once wrote, "They have forgotten us."

No Ann we have not forgotten you. You will have your shining moment again. - FlyGirls Team

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="960.0"] WASP Lorraine Z. Rodgers (left) and Elaine D. Harmon salute during the playing of Taps at an Arlington National Cemetery ceremony honoring women service members. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kathleen T. Rhem, USA [/caption]




[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="718.0"] "She taught others to see what she could: the beauty of flying, of service, of the idealism of a young woman seeking to serve her nation as a pilot." --Albert Lewis Jr. of Arlington, Va., on his mother, Dorothy Lewis [/caption]

FlyGirls begins its tribute to unsung heroes through crowdfunding

From the Director:

We Begin our Tribute to the UNSUNG HEROES.

Our crowd funding campaign officially begins today. It is a grassroots effort where our fan’s support of even $1 will make a difference and create a groundswell so we cannot be ignored. The time is now, for the first time, to see this important chapter of our nation’s history through the eyes of women who served our country.

https://www.funddreamer.com/campaigns/flygirls

We are going for 100 backers today, Monday, as we are going to the press today, and your donation proves we have an audience.

This is a story about this country and what it was trying to become. A country of nation-states was finding its place in the world. The war broke down barriers for some of its men and its women, lifting the veil to see a promise of the possibilities. When their country no longer needed these women, their dreams and hopes were crushed. They were the future and it could not be denied forever. It is up to us! Thank you.

https://www.funddreamer.com/campaigns/flygirls

Why Crowdfunding for FlyGirls

From Director Matia Karrell: Why Crowd Funding for FlyGirls; Why Your Participation Matters.

Over 20 years ago, I began my research for FlyGirls. It's gone through many forms, first a film script - people told me no one would ever watch a film with only women - to a play performed in Provincetown, Cape Cod, which featured Bee Haydu, 44-7, making a grand entrance in her original uniform at the end - to what is now an epic Mini Series.

We begin our story with the first 25 American women that Jackie Cochran recruited to go to England, to serve in the British Auxiliary Transport Authority. Having secured the rights to Pauline Gower's memoir, the woman who was in charge of the woman's division of the ATA, we have her first-hand accounts of what it was like. I am also obtaining the rights to Anne Wood Kelly's diaries: an account of her day to day life flying in the ATA. She was an American pilot that was Jackie Cochran's second in command in the UK.

Additionally we have the rights to Byrd Granger's On Final Approach, which we credit in our trailer. Granger was a WASP, and later a college professor, who collected many of the documents that helped the WASP prove their military status in Congressional hearings during the 70's. On Final Approach recounts the events of 1942-45 on a daily basis.

Over the years of getting to know these women, attending reunions, memorials, the Gold Medal Ceremony, and truly getting to know them as friends, the sense of injustice I feel that the world doesn't know about them has carried me through all of the "No's" all these years. The sense of duty I feel to get their story told - in a way that is true to them.

There are various stages that developing a television mini-series demands: the monies we raise will allow us to start the pre-production process: hiring a writing team, and other pre-production costs. We've come this far with people volunteering their time, and with this much needed start up money, we can continue.

Our primary goal is to remain independent so we can maintain the integrity of this project, by keeping the creative control with us, thus ensuring that we will fulfill the promise I made to Violet Cowden with some of the best TV we have ever seen.

We are ten days away from launching our crowdfunding campaign, on Thursday, October 22nd. Your participation, no matter the amount, shows that we have an audience behind us. It shows there is a demand for this kind of programming. With your help, we can make this project a reality, and bring the story of the first women pilots to fly in the military to the world.

FlyGirls Director Matia Karrell on FlyGirls

"Going through my mother's things one day I found these two photographs. I had no idea what group or organization these women belonged to, or what the uniform meant. My mother was no longer around to ask, so I began researching. I scanned the pictures and sent them back to Boston but no one could tell me anything. I did find out that the MWDC stood for Massachusetts Women's Defense Core. It was a volunteer group during WWII. Boston, because it was a harbor city, needed these women as plane spotters.

How was it that I had never heard about these women? It turns out that there was a lot of women's military history that I knew nothing about.

The power of storytelling can be seen in some of the most memorable mini-series and films. Band of Brothers (2001), Island at War (2004), Flags of our Fathers (2006), Days of Glory (2006), Red Tails (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), American Sniper (2014). Narrative storytelling can humanize a time in history that makes that era come alive. It is by experiencing the characters’ lives through their eyes that makes us cry, laugh, or even scream back at the screen. This is palpable storytelling. This is what we want for FlyGirls."

Brigadier Gen Wilma L. Vaught, USAF (Ret.)

From the Director:  Brigadier General Wilma Vaught was the driving force that built the $22.5 million Women’s Memorial at the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery. The nation’s only major memorial to pay tribute to America’s 2.5 million women who have served. The Memorial stands as a place where America’s service women can take their rightful place in history and where their stories will be told for future generations.

Because of Vaught's tireless efforts, the American people and visitors from around the world can learn of the courage and bravery of tens of thousands of American women who, like her, have pioneered the future. She is now the President of the Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation.

Celebrating Labor Day & those who delivered planes to the battlefields

From the Director:

On today, Labor Day, we pay tribute to the hard-working men and women of the USA. We also remember the hardworking men and women of WWII whose job it was to deliver planes to the battle field.

This map shows the hundreds of training bases where women pilots delivered planes that were used to train male pilots. Once delivered to Newark, NJ, or Alameda, CA, the aircraft was transported overseas to a battle zone by ship, or was flown by a male pilot. Planes delivered to Great Falls, Montana, were transferred to Soviet pilots, some of whom were women. There were also approximately 120 home bases for WASP who flew other kinds of missions.

Mildred and Herbert Carter, a love story in the air...

From the Director: Mildred and Herbert Carter, a love story in the air...

It takes pioneers to force change. Herbert and Mildred would play their part in the years ahead. But in those early days, they didn't see themselves as trailblazers. They were young and in love.

Their rendezvous point: 3,000 feet above a bridge at Lake Martin, 25 miles away from base. He'd be flying a repaired AT6 trainer. She'd be in a much slower Piper J-3 Cub.

The two would become known as the first couple of the Tuskegee Airmen. Herbert earned his wings as a second lieutenant. Mildred Hemmons Carter earned her pilot’s license, becoming the first black woman in Alabama to do so.

Mildred is counted among the history-making Tuskegee Airmen. She learned that the military had created a new initiative to recruit female pilots with a program called the Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASP). As the WASP were restricted due to the military's segregation policy, Mildred was denied admission because she was African American.

Seventy years after she’d earned her license, Mildred was recognized as a member of the WASP. She even received a medal with an inscription reading: “The First Women in History to Fly America.”

Hazel Ying Lee - WASP

From the Director: Meet Hazel Ying Lee, first Chinese-American woman to fly for the U.S. military. Known for her skill and courage, her peers considered her to be an excellent pilot.

Born in Portland, Oregon on August 24, 1912, Lee was drawn to flying when she was a teenager. She took a job as an elevator operator in downtown Portland, saved money for private flying lessons and was flying by the time she was nineteen.

In 1944, Lee attended Pursuit School in Brownsville, Texas, becoming one of a select group of women qualified to fly high-powered, single-engine, fighter aircraft, including the P-51 Mustang.

Hazel Ying Lee died on November 25, 1944, as a result of injuries sustained in a collision on a runway with a malfunctioning plane whose radio had failed. Both planes had accidentally been directed to land on the same runway at the same time. Hazel Lee was one of the last of the 38 WASP’s killed during the war.

1977: The Year of the WASP

From the Director:

August 9, 1977: For the first time the Air Force is allowing women to fly its aircraft. The reaction of women pilots who flew for the Army Air Forces in WW II was immediate and indignant. They united and sought formal recognition from Congress that their flights were official military missions that ought to give them war veteran status. Their campaign for recognition proved successful, and 1977 was declared The Year of the WASP. 

On November 23, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill that recognized that WASP had flown on active duty for the U.S. armed forces during the war. All WASP would receive honorable discharges and veterans' benefits. 

In 2009, over 3 decades later, the WASP received the Congressional Gold Medal. And now in 2015, for the first time, an unprecedented dramatic mini-series in development that will let the world know what these women accomplished in World War II.

Message from the Director: Meet Pauline Gower

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="474.0"] Pauline Gower [/caption]

From the Director: Before they were the WASP our ‪FlyGirls flew for Great Britain. These women would go wherever there was a need and England had a desperate need for pilots. Across two continents friendships will be forged. Battles fought. Lives lost. In 1939, British Aviatrix Pauline Gower, at the age of 29, was given the job of forming a women’s section of the British Air Transport Authority, a group of civilian pilots. One of the pilots under her command was Jacqueline Cochran, who later founded the WASP. Cochran brought 25 American women pilots to fly for Gower's ATA.