Cover Image: Wings of Gold

Wings of Gold

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Member Reviews

Lovely to see some underrepresented history come to light. If you are interested in women's military history 'Wings of Gold ' is not to be missed.

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Wings of Gold: The Story of the First Women Naval Aviators was an interesting and thought provoking look back at what a handful of women had to endure to break through the glass ceiling for women like myself to serve in the Navy today. These women didn’t set out to be trailblazers, they just wanted to serve their country and fly like men could. To do so, they not only had to challenge deep-rooted prejudices and gender biases, but they had to challenge federal law as well. And this was only a generation ago.

For some, parts of this book may seem a bit dull, reading through the naval messages and instructions, but these messages and instructions give details into the way the DoD and the Navy was run and the minefield these women had to maneuver through just to do their job.

I personally want to thank the author for this book, and the reminder of what my generation owes to these women.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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This is an excellent book on the recent history of women aviators in the the military. Seen in recent history, but not exactly a full picture drawn, this book tells us about the strong, wonderful women that broke boundaries and made history on their wake. These are the women who flew for the Navy in modern fighter jets that quietly broke barriers in the military. If you are interested in women in the military, then you should definitely read this book!

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Beverly Weintraub tells the tale of the integration of Women into military squadrons during the 1980s and 1990s. Like all pioneers, they faced seemingly unfair obstacles and entrenched opposition. to the new paradigm. The women in this book all were willing to sacrifice equally with their male counterparts up to and including their very lives all while navigating different social and cultural minefields present. In many cases, the most difficult situations were not within the world of the military but outside. No greater example of this is the double standard created externally by social and political pressure and accepted by the United States Navy Training Command was of Lt. Kara Hultgren who due to rushed training and political pressure was killed in 1994 due to pilot error caused by outside influences.

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One of the only, if not the only, history of women in U.S. naval aviation. Focuses on the very first class of females permitted to enter flight training. The book follows their careers with the backdrop of how policies changed that ultimately resulted in unrestricted access of women in U.S. naval aviation. The only drawback is extensive excerpts of Navy messages, which while pertinent, could have been edited down to their core points.

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