Aviation History News

Funding Needed to Share Untold Stories of WASPs

New documentary aims to shed light on the sometimes overlooked Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII.

Tuesday, November 04, 2025 at 09:27 AM ET

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Producers are scrambling to generate $30,000 to finish a documentary film about the Women Airforce Service Pilots. [Courtesy: The Red Door Films]

Key Takeaways:

The article highlights the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of WWII, a group often overlooked despite their service flying military aircraft, training, and 38 casualties, noting they were not recognized as veterans until 1977.
Oscar-nominated director Matia Karrell and producer Hilary Prentice are creating the documentary "Coming Home: Fight for a Legacy" to bring the WASPs' story out of the shadows, having spent years interviewing surviving pilots.
The documentary project faced a setback in 2024 when a significant $480,000 grant was rescinded, leading the filmmakers to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise $30,000 to complete post-production.

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Next Tuesday Veterans Day will be here, and there is one group of World War II participants who may quite possibly go unremembered—the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

Oscar-nominated director Matia Karrell and producer Hilary Prentice are trying to bring the WASPs’ story out of the shadows with The Red Door Films’ Coming Home: Fight for a Legacy, a documentary that was set for completion this year. The movie tells the story of the WASPs, who are often not mentioned when WWII is taught in schools.

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.