Angels on Board

Between 1942 and the end of 1944, 1514 flight nurses were trained at Bowman Field, Louisville, KY. 18 Medical Air Evacuation Squadrons were formed that transported 1,176,048 sick and wounded soldiers, sailors and Marines. These flight nurses were pioneers in the intensive care of patients in flight in Europe, the Pacific, China and Burma using the C-47, C-46 and C-54s as flying hospitals from battle aid station to inter-theatre and inter-continental flights back to the U.S. In spite of the hardships, only 46 of the 1,176,048 patients who were evacuated by air during World War II died en route. Here are the stories of nineteen of these women who represent more than 1500 flight nurses who made this amazing statistic possible.