NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There's a lot of news coming out of Nashville International Airport these days, and you can add some great artwork to that.
A new gallery pays tribute to some forgotten female flyers.
Nashville artist Alison Fullerton is behind the portraits of Women Airforce Service Pilots better known as WASPs.
"They flew domestically, but they were flying very dangerous missions," Alison Fullerton said.
During World War II, the women who volunteered to ferry planes from factories to military bases while most male pilots were busy overseas fighting in the war, became known as WASPs. There were approximately 1,050 doing the work.
WASP and Nashville-native Cornelia Fort might be who the artist is most excited for people to check out in her exhibit at the airport.
"She saw the Japanese — from the air, from her plane with her student sitting behind her. She saw the bomb being dropped into Pearl Harbor. I just have shivers telling that story," said Fullerton.
The exhibit is called FLY GIRLS. The portraits, made using a form of beeswax, are displayed next to other collections in the airport's new rotating art exhibit called Flying Solo. You can check out the works on the first level of the airport by international arrivals until February 2024.
They travel to Palm Springs Air Museum, the Army Aviation Museum, and then return to Nashville for a solo exhibition at the Customs House Museum in October 2024.
