WASP Television Show ("Avenger Field") in Development

[Russ Matthews]

A new drama series centered on Jackie Cochrane and the creation of the WWII-era Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program has been announced by MGM Television and NBCUniversal for the Peacock streaming platform. It is named for the main WASP training base, Avenger Field, located near Sweetwater, Texas.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/renee-zellweger-wasp-series-peacock-1235198871/

[Stephan Wilkinson]

I wonder what they thought was "clandestine" about the WASPs.

[JohnB]

I hope they can capture the glittering nightlife of Sweetwater!

I used to live nearby and spent a fair bit of time there doing my TV news job, and have fond memories of the place.

What's the worse NBC can do, a female version of Baa Baa Blacksheep?
(BT-13 flying the "slot" between El Paso and Dallas?)

Or perhaps that late '70s TV movie/pilot film about female spys in WWII flying lightly disguised Bell 47s? (Charlie's Angels with helicopters).

Two predictions...
-There will be a Camila (correction Cornelia) Fort character, a wealthy southern women who went against her family wishes to fly. She was killed in a mid-air SW of Abilene flying a BT-13 when a male pilot hit her while "stunting".
-There will be a female "Tuskegee" pilot.
I don't believe there were any Tuskegee women pilots, but Hollywood has never let history get in the way of a story.

As always, purists and historians will groan, but anything that might draw the attention of young people to what happened in the past can't be all bad.
Yes, that means even the Pearl Harbor film.

Last edited by JohnB on Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[p51]

I wonder what they thought was "clandestine" about the WASPs.

I would bet good money that they'll try to place WASPs into combat situations, much like the amazingly-drawn French comic book series, "Angel Wings" which has a WASP on OSS duty and in combat...

[K5DH]

Interesting. I'll have to set my DVR when the show comes out.

This topic is of particular interest to me since VFM owns and our crew is restoring Ms. Cochran's Beech Super 18. The Beech will be a "flying museum exhibit" tribute to Ms. Cochran's personal aviation achievements, the WASP program, and Women in Aviation.