Maggie Gee (August 5, 1923[1] – February 1, 2013[2]) was an American aviator who served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in World War II.
Additionally, the era that Gee grew up in was marked by racial segregation and discrimination against Chinese Americans, especially on the topic of housing.
[11] Gee and two co-workers bought a car for US$25 (using the money they had earned working in the shipyard[11]) and drove to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where she trained for six months to become a WASP.
[6] Some of her jobs while working as a WASP included preparing planes for war, training male pilots for use of their instruments, and copiloting B-17 aircraft during gunnery practice.
[12] She and her co-WASPs could use their experiences to expand on a women's capabilities in the military, she also details that she experienced sexism and discrimination while serving; these remarks were challenges that WASPs accepted in continuing to fly.
[6] An experience of note that Gee has recalled involves racial discrimination; she was mistaken as being of Japanese descent, a nation that the US was against during WWII.
[8] After World War II and her WASP service, Gee returned to Berkeley to complete her degree in physics.
[12] Later, for the next thirty years (starting in 1958[13]), she worked at the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the fields of weapons systems and nuclear and magnetic fusion.
[6] Gee also served for many decades as an elected member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, supporting voter registration and fundraising.
[15] In 2014, she was inducted into the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame in recognition towards being one of the first women in history to American military aircraft in defense of America's freedom.