WWII pilots often attributed unexplained equipment trouble to rascally critters called gremlins. Roald Dahl, a former RAF pilot, wrote The Gremlins, a fairy tale about the hazards of combat flying, in 1942. The book was published by Walt Disney and serialized in Cosmopolitan. A cartoon of one such gremlin – Fifinella – became the insignia of the Women Air Service Pilots (WASPs) who were recently honored in a presidential ceremony.