The current of discrimination against women in the first half of the 1900s was reinforced and justified by the idea that women were physically and mentally inferior to men; unsuited for many of the tasks that men performed. That myth was largely shattered when the men went off to war and women took their place on the factory lines. Amelia Earhart further undercut stereotypes when she mirrored Lindbergh’s famous first flights, and made a notable few aviation firsts of her own. Faced with this evidence, the Air Force decided to experiment with opening up its ranks to women.

On this day, on July 8, in 1948, after President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve directly in the military, the USAF accepted the first female candidates, under the Women in the Air Force Program.

At its inception the WAF limited the women to only support roles; most ended up in clerical in medical positions, and even the group’s director could not be a pilot. None were allowed to fly. The program ended in 1976 when the Air Force began to accept female recruits with equal status and no restrictions compared to the men.