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WASHINGTON, March 11, 2010 – The first female military pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal yesterday at a ceremony in the Capitol. Betty Wall Strohfus, a Women Airforce Service Pilot from Minnesota, sings the national anthem during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, March 10, 2010. More than 200 WASPs attended the event, many of them wearing their World War II-era uniforms. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Almost 70 years ago, the Women Airforce Service Pilots were disbanded with little fanfare. This ceremony was a way to...

At 90, Anna Monkiewicz has a lifetime of stories and memories. The ones about flying start here. "My father had driven us over to see the planes take off and land" in Framingham, which, by the mid-1930s had two airfields: one at the Musterfield, used primarily for military planes, one for charter planes and flying lessons on Western Avenue near the Sherborn line. When she was a girl, there was also a small airfield in Natick, off Rte. 9, near the Wellesley line, the former Anna Flynn recalled.

SEATTLE — They were mavericks of their day, taking to the skies when the nation was at war and most women were at home caring for families. At a ceremony this spring, 11 Washington state women will join the 200-some surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) in receiving Congressional Gold Medals for service during World War II. Sixteen more medals will be given to local WASPs posthumously. Congressional Gold Medals have been awarded nearly 150 times since the nation was born in 1776. The women join polio-vaccine inventor Dr. Jonas Salk and poet Robert Frost, as well as two other...

We have had wasps in our basement. How can I find the nest so I can get rid of it? They are dead or dormant now because of the cold weather, I can't see a nest in the open joists. Any help welcome!

Maj. Gina "Torch" Sabric, an F-16 fighter pilot and 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing flight-safety officer, sits on her aircraft after a flight. Sabric proudly attributes the progression of women in aviation to the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). President Barack Obama presented the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest and most distinguished award Congress can award a civilian, July 1. Courtesy photo, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. BALAD — It's been more than 60 years since the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) took the skies by storm as the first women in U.S. history trained to fly American...

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 – President Barack Obama yesterday signed a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Air Force Service Pilots of World War II, the first women in American history to fly military aircraft. President Barack Obama signs a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Air Force Service Pilots, established during World War II, in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., July 1, 2009. From left, the pilots are: Bernice Falk Haydu, Elaine Danforth Harmon and Lorraine H. Rodgers. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is at far right. Behind the...

Enlarge ImageParent trap. Parasitic wasps inject caterpillars with a virus to disable their natural defenses and allow wasp larvae to grow within caterpillars' bodies. Credit: : Image courtesy of Alex Wild/myrmecos.net Ancient Virus Gave Wasps Their Sting By Rachel ZelkowitzScienceNOW Daily News12 February 2009There's no consent for these surrogate parents. Tens of thousands of wasp species lay their eggs inside caterpillars, injecting toxins that paralyze the hosts and allow their young to feast on the innards with impunity. Researchers have long wondered what exactly these toxins are and where they came from. The answers, a new genetic analysis reveals,...

An airplane doesn't respond to gender. It only responds to skill." - BETTY JANE WILLIAMS Betty Jane sat in the den of her Woodland Hills home praying for another couple of years, the last time I saw her. "Dear Lord, please don't take me until I clean up that back room," the 86-year-old retired Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel was saying. The Lord listened. He gave Betty Jane almost three more years to clean up that back room filled with her flying service medals and commendations, thousands of black and white photographs and dozens of yellowed newspaper stories of heroism,...

Check out how this nest of angry wasps were discovered.

I can't cut my grass because there's about a million wasps (or something like wasps) flying around at ground level. What are they looking for and how can I get rid of them?

MOBILE -- To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama. A yellow jacket nest engulfs the inside of a 1955 Chevrolet on Harry Coker's Tallassee property on Thursday. Gigantic yellow jacket nests have been found in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama. -- Rob Carr Specialists say it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, or multiple queens forcing worker yellow jackets to enlarge their quarters so...

Trained wasps could someday replace dogs for sniffing out drugs, bombs and bodies. No kidding. Scientists say a species of non-stinging wasps can be trained in only five minutes and are just as sensitive to odors as man's best friend, which can require up to six months of training at a cost of about $15,000 per dog. With the use of a handheld device that contains the wasps but allows them to do their work, researchers have been able to use the insects to detect target odors such as a toxin that grows on corn and peanuts, and a chemical...

TIFTON, Ga. (AP) -- Trained wasps could someday replace dogs for sniffing out drugs, bombs and bodies. No kidding. Scientists say a species of non-stinging wasps can be trained in only five minutes and are just as sensitive to odors as man's best friend, which can require up to six months of training at a cost of about $15,000 per dog.

An unusual device that uses trained wasps, rather than trained dogs, to detect specific chemical odors could one day be used to find hidden explosives, plant diseases, illegal drugs, cancer and even buried bodies, according to a joint study by researchers at the University of Georgia and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The trained wasps are contained in a cup-sized device, called a "Wasp Hound," that is capable of sounding an alarm or triggering a visual signal, such as a flashing light, when the insects encounter a target odor. The sensor is cheaper to use than trained dogs and more sensitive...

A sixteenth-century altar in one of Germany's most historically important cathedrals has been saved from woodworm not by the application of chemicals, but by a swarm of wasps. The Cranach altar in the Erfurt Cathedral was being destroyed by the wood-eating insects, but officials delayed taking action because they feared that chemical treatments might damage its 11 painted panels. Instead they adopted a pioneering technique which may now be emulated in historic buildings across Europe: releasing 3,000 parasitic wasps, which feed on woodworm larvae. The towering wooden altar, riddled with holes, and the large painting above it which also showed...

Of all the inventions bequeathed to the world by Sir George Sitwell, the eccentric father of the poet Edith, perhaps the greatest was a tiny revolver for shooting wasps. Seated in the grounds of Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire, the amateur landscape gardener would be found taking pot shots at passing wasps with limited success but enormous satisfaction. More than 60 years after his death, the spirit of Sir George lives on. According to a flurry of correspondence from readers of The Telegraph, the fine art of wasp shooting is alive and well. Which is more than can be said for...

How fast can they back out of a room full of wasps… in the dark? The Left is in full panic after a two days of cramming through a door labeled “Feed your Frenzy!” CBS, the Boston Globe, the Kerry Campaign, many Leftwing Bloggers, and a few individuals I know (…ahem!) all rushed into the dark venue, sponsored by none other than Dan Rather and pals over at 60 Minutes-Lite. It should have been a great show by historic standards of Democrat ‘dirty’ tricks. The sultans of slime – Carville and MacCauliffe – were on the case, doctors bags open,...

Despite the lovely summer we've experienced in Norfolk, wasps are generally rather scarce this year, much to the relief of the many among us who fear their painful stings. It is now – in mid-to-late September – when we are most likely to experience their unwelcome attentions. But are wasps really as bad-tempered as they appear? Need we be quite so paranoid about their stings? And what about bees – are they always the good guys? Three years of research on the alarm behaviour of wasps gave me some of the answers and a fascinating insight into the lives of...

The State Department threatened by the rats The diplomats of the American State Department have to prepare to drive back an invasion of rats and mouse which, according to an internal memo, could break in a building of the seat in work. "Unfortunately, of work (in a wing of the building) temporary openings in the external walls caused which are easy access roads for small rodents", it is underlined in this note which was distributed to the diplomats in Washington. "Even if it (State Department) has an internal service of fight against the noxious animals using the least possible...

War forces change Dori Otterson Friday, 2/21/03   Contributed photoTrena "HAK" Savageau is an Air Force Captain and pilot of F-16s. She is soon to be stationed in Turkey. Douglas County Historical Society War not only breaks down boundaries of countries, it breaks down boundaries in society.President Harry Truman integrated the armed forces during World War II and it was also during that era that women began to take on more and more nontraditional jobs — factory jobs, construction jobs — all because of a manpower shortage.On December 18, 2002, a National Public Radio documentary highlighted the role of Women’s Airforce...