WASP in Formation: What We Can Learn from Bernice “Bee” Falk Haydu’s WASP Uniform

In 1968, Bernice “Bee” Falk Haydu visited the Aircraft Building of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (a precursor to the Museum's Mall building). In the words of her letter to the Museum afterwards, she was “chagrined” that she did not see the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) mentioned in the Women in Aviation exhibition. Haydu, a graduate of WASP Class 44-W-7, wrote to offer her uniforms and photographs to ensure that the WASP’s stories were better represented.

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The Conservation team at the Museum recently had the opportunity to examine Haydu’s dress uniform to prepare it for display in the upcoming reimagined Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air gallery. This examination illuminated connections between women’s changing roles in American society during WWII and the material and technological impacts of worldwide conflict. Haydu’s uniform also helps tell the story of a WASP determined to have her critical service to the United States Army Air Forces officially recognized.

“They should be BLUE.”

The Women Airforce Service Pilots was formed in 1943 by combining the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squad (WAFS) and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) to support the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). As part of the WASP, civilian women pilots were trained to ferry aircraft, flight-test aircraft, transport personnel, and perform other non-combat duties. Their mission was threefold: to relieve demands on the USAAF, to release male USAAF pilots for combat, and to prove that women could serve as military pilots.

Early on, the WASP adapted men’s aviation garments to suit their new positions in support of the USAAF since they lacked an official uniform. With the support of USAAF Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold, WASP director Jackie Cochran insisted that the WASP should have their own uniform and silver pilot wings. She worked with Bergdorf Goodman in New York to design the ensembles and then with Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, for custom tailoring. The WASP dress uniform was made of Santiago blue wool gabardine, setting the uniforms apart from the standard olive-drab wool used by the rest of the USAAF. This color is now recognizable as “Air Force blue,” as it was later adopted by the US Air Force.

Haydu served 10 months as an engineering test and utility pilot before WASP was disbanded in December 1944. The dress uniform she donated to the Museum consists of a blue tunic (jacket) with belt, blue knee-length skirt, white shirt, black tie, and black shoes. The uniform is in excellent condition, in part because of the quality of the materials and the care with which it was maintained during its use.

Analysis

All of the Museum’s artifacts are documented before they receive conservation treatment, and this includes analysis to identify an artifact’s material composition. Some materials, like wool, can be identified visually and by their feel (referred to as their “hand”), as with the high-quality wool gabardine used to make the outside shell of the tunic. However, the tunic’s lining fabric was not easily identifiable by its hand. Coat lining fabrics are often smooth, lightweight, and, ideally, breathable—a perfect job for silk fabrics. But with trade routes disrupted by WWII, the United States was experiencing supply shortages across many sectors, including silk fabrics. Man-made fabrics replaced natural ones where possible. Some synthetic and semi-synthetic fabrics are such good mimics of natural materials and of each other that they can only be confidently identified by scientific analysis.

Tunic Lining

The tunic’s crisp, luxurious lining fabric was a good mimic for silk but did not feel or look as expected. Luckily, the Conservation lab has many specialized tools to augment close observation: The lining fabric was analyzed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy with an attenuated total reflectance accessory (FTIR-ATR) to non-destructively classify the fabric used on this coat. FTIR spectroscopy helps determine the molecular structure of compounds or mixtures in a sample using their characteristic absorption of infrared light. A spectral “fingerprint” is produced when a sample is analyzed, and this fingerprint can then be read and compared to known reference samples to identify the unknown material. In our application, this technique helped to distinguish between textile materials with similar appearance, properties, and uses.

The lining of the tunic was found to be rayon, a semi-synthetic material made from regenerated cellulose and commonly known as ‘artificial silk.’ Rayon fabric is era-appropriate and would have been in good supply during the war. An important data point in the history of the garment, this information was also critical to treatment design: Unlike silk, rayon fabric becomes weaker when it is wet, so identification helped tailor the treatment to safely reduce creases on the tunic.

Belt Buckle

The tunic’s belt buckle is made from black plastic. Small circular marks and a visible seam along the edge indicate that the buckle was injection-molded, a technique that allows for detailed surface texture. Here, the texture mimics leather grain and stitched thread, possibly mimicking fashionable leather wrapped metal buckles of the 1940s. Though plastic buckles were produced before WWII, this plastic buckle shows an imitation of two materials in short supply during wartime.

Knowing the composition of this belt buckle is important to our understanding of the object’s history and its treatment and display needs. Due to the geometry, dark color, and textured surface of the buckle, non-destructive analysis using FTIR-ATR spectroscopy was difficult, but enough data was collected to confidently identify the plastic as cellulose acetate. Like rayon, this is another semi-synthetic material that uses cellulose as a precursor. Cellulose acetate can be more susceptible to damage from environmental changes and requires stable temperature and relative humidity. Without a stable environment, cellulose acetate releases acetic acid as it degrades which can interact with adjacent materials.

These man-made materials were in use prior to WWII but gained more widespread prevalence as manufacturers pivoted to using available manufactured materials to overcome natural material shortages. With appropriate environmental conditions, this uniform component can be safely displayed and appreciated as a complete outfit.

WASP Militarization

Haydu’s donation—of her uniforms, photographs, and later pilot pins of fellow WASP graduates—served as the foundation of WASP artifacts in the Museum’s collection and foreshadowed her lifelong WASP activism. Despite the WASP being in direct support of the USAAF and being treated as a military unit with similar pay and conduct expectations, the WASP were initially denied militarization in July 1944. Militarization would confer formal recognition of WASP service and grant them veteran benefits by the US military. The push for WASP militarization began again almost 30 years later when US Air Force Col. Bruce Arnold, son of USAAF Gen. Hap Arnold, announced his intent to pick up his father’s fight for WASP militarization at the 1972 WASP reunion.

While Haydu’s uniform was on display at NASM to raise awareness about the WASP role in World War II, Haydu herself was organizing WASP graduates to write their congressmen, campaign on Capitol Hill, and appear on news programs to support Arnold’s campaign for WASP militarization. Haydu became president oof the Order of Fifinella, the WASP alumnae organization, in 1975. She was in uniform again, this time wearing a dress uniform given to her by Gretchen Graba, WASP class 43-W-3. The battle for WASP militarization took until 1977, but with the support of Senator Barry Goldwater, every female member of Congress, and a nationwide awareness campaign championed by Haydu, the Women Airforce Service Pilots were finally militarized and granted veteran benefits.

Fly On

The examination and analysis of Bee Haydu's WASP uniform not only sheds light on the materials used in its construction but also on the broader historical context of wartime shortages and the innovative solutions they necessitated. Using techniques like Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, conservators have uncovered the use of materials like rayon, and cellulose acetate, highlighting the ingenuity of wartime manufacturing processes and the fashion consciousness of the WASP uniform design. Haydu made public appearances in uniform for the rest of her life, sharing the pioneering story of the WASP. She passed away in 2021, but through her advocacy for the recognition of WASP service, her donation, and the Museum’s stewardship and display of her uniform, we can ensure that the story of the WASP continues to remain a vital part of our collective memory.