Time Travel: You want me to wear what?

So, you step onto the flight line, ready to take the helm of a peppy, nimble war machine. Piloting it requires precision and skill. You’ll need full range of motion starting now, through pre-flight checks and hopping into the plane, during your flight, and back again.

But, wait. Before you charge ahead someone hands you a getup like this:

WASP zoot suits

What do you do? If you hope to graduate and serve as a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), you climb into the tent of a uniform. And there’s more. You must hobble around in this not only today but throughout the entire training process.

But like every other hoop you jump through to graduate, you make the most of it. Someone has nicknamed them “zoot suits,” though they’re really Army surplus mechanics’ suits. The Army didn’t make suits to fit the likes of dames.

So you roll up your sleeves, literally. You cinch your belt as tight as it will go.

And you get on with it. After all, there’s a war to win.

What about you?  Think about what you do during a normal week. How difficult would it be to go through you day wearing a zoot suit or something else ridiculously ill-fitting? If you could make someone else wear a uniform that’s totally wrong for what they do, what would it be?

Want to know more?

Article on WASP uniform changes from Avenger newspaper

Photo and WASP quote