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.
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