About 1,100 women served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots program in World War II . `` These women are being saluted , and I just think it 's a great tribute , '' said Tim Estes , president of Fiesta Parade Floats , the award-winning company that built the float . Female pilots ferried military planes around the world to allow men to fight overseas . A bill that would have made the program part of the military failed in Congress in 1944 . Members of the program were awarded Congressional Gold Medal in 2010 .
About 1,100 women served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots program in World War II . Female pilots ferried military planes around the world to allow men to fight overseas . A bill that would have made the program part of the military failed in Congress in 1944 . Members of the program were awarded Congressional Gold Medal in 2010 .