Flight Patterns, the new novel by Jana Williams, is a story of women pilots training in Texas to join the WASPs.  The young women come from all over, some with hundreds of hours flying experience and some just learning. There are a lot of tense moments Flight Patterns, some from training, worrying that our girls will wash out of the intense, difficult training program or take their dorm pranks too far and ruin their friendships. There are also tense moments from physical danger — when there’s a massive storm or a need for a wingwalker, for example.

Jackie Cochran is the creator of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, who saw a need for additional pilots, and the abilities in many young women pilots.  Cochran is a historical figure, a top flier herself, who knew Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. The WASPs and their training camp in Texas are real, too, although the main characters in Flight Patterns are fictional.

I loved the way the women’s different backgrounds came out in the story.  Jinx, a vaudeville performer, learned to fly to get herself and all her puppets for her ventriloquist act to the next show. She loves flying, but also loves a good prank and can’t leave all her beloved puppets at home. There’s a lot of dorm silliness with her puppet “brother” Bernie, that is, Bernice (obviously, the problem is with a man in the women’s barracks, not with a big puppet for pranks). Patty Yin Lee, another very experienced pilot, arrives and immediately has to announce she’s not Japanese, in a way that makes it clear she’s been saying that a lot.  There’s also pretty, popular Lauren, a general’s daughter with all the privileges (and extra scrutiny) that implies. And Coralee Abrahms, a Black civilian pilot, cannot get into the WASP training camp as a pilot trainee, so she accepts an admin job to get closer to flight training.

Between the women, some friendships are immediate and some are a bit slower to bloom, in realistic ways. There’s also a subtle sapphic romance among the young women. Flight Patterns was a great historical story of female friendship and bravery. 

Flight Patterns is a good next read for fans of The Bletchley Circle or Wartime Farm TV shows, or The Ship of Brides novel.

I received an advance copy of this book to review. All opinions on my book blog are my own, as always.