Then, in 1993, the Air Force fighter pilot training program officially removed its gender barrier, allowing women pilots to enter the fighter world for the first time.Ĭurran said she pursued a flying career because she was drawn by the thrill and excitement of piloting fighter aircraft. In spite of the heights the WASPs reached, women didn’t fly as pilots in the modern Air Force until 1976. However, they ferried military aircraft an estimated 60 million miles across the U.S. Only 1,074 women graduated from the WASP training program before it disbanded in Dec. A year later, the two organizations merged and became the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs. “Hap” Arnold, retired General of the Air Force, recognized the potential for talent among women and initiated the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment. They have broken barriers and done great things.” “From the WASPs in WWII, to the first female fighter pilot in the Air Force, Jeannie Leavitt. “There are so many strong women who have paved the way for me to be able to do what I do today,” Curran said. Michelle “Mace” Curran, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, became the first woman assigned to fly in the 355th Fighter Squadron at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, an active associate unit of the 301st Fighter Wing. Women who pilot fighter jets are so rare, it wasn’t until 2015 that Capt. Standing on the shoulders of these aviators are 699 women in the Air Force who currently pilot aircraft, with less than 100 operating fighter jets. women to pilot military aircraft in support of war. They were soon followed by other giants, including the first U.S. In aviation, there were the Wright Brothers, who pioneered modern flight. Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”Įvery generation has heroes who have changed the course of history by somehow laying a foundation people could build upon. NAVAL AIR STATION FORT WORTH JOINT RESERVE BASE, Texas –
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