She was the first woman ever in US history to fly a combat aircraft into enemy territory | DOPE Quick Reads
, 2022-12-17 15:14:42,
Retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally became the first United States female fighter pilot in US history who flew combat missions. She also was the very first woman in history to command an American fighter squadron. [i]
McSally, a Distinguished Graduate of the US Air Force Academy, is also well-known and recognized for her efforts from 2001 to 2002 in which she filed a lawsuit to overturn “a military policy requiring all US servicewomen to wear a Muslim abaya and headscarf when off base in Saudi Arabia.” [i]
On Aug. 1, 1991, the Senate “voted overwhelmingly” to overturn a four-decades-old law that barred women from flying warplanes in combat. During WWII, the United States Army Air Forces (the Air Force’s predecessor) started training females to fly military aircraft so that male pilots would be free for combat duty. [ii] [iii]
Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Walner, and Blanche Osborn – Four Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS)Photo byUS Air Force/Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
Women became a part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program, in which they flew B-26 and B-29 bombers along with other heavy planes. The female pilots flew between military bases and factories across the United States. The women also tested new and repaired planes and even towed targets for gunners practicing in the air and on the ground shooting with live ammunition. [iv]
The WASP program was closed by Congress in Dec. 1944, and 1,100 women had served. It was not until…
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