Page 14 - Women's History Month 2022 - Combined Special Edition of Aerotech News and Review Nellis AFB Creech AFB Desert Lightning News

TIMELINE, from 12
1986 female commander of the Space
• Beverley Bass becomes the first Shuttle.
female captain of a commercial plane
at American Airlines. 2000
• Dec. 30: Beverley Bass captains
the first all-female crew in the • Betty Mullis becomes the first
history of commercial jet aviation, woman and pilot in the United States
on an American Airlines flight from Air Force to become a brigadier
Washington, D.C., to Dallas, Texas. general.

1987 2003
• British Airways hires its first • Vernice Armour becomes the first
woman pilot, Lynne Barton. African American combat pilot to fly
• Continental Airlines – “The first
all-women crew to command a wide- during the Iraq War.
bodied commercial aircraft touched
down in Sydney yesterday – and 2009
they were on time. Captain Lennie • Virginie Guyot of France is the
Borenson, 39, first officer Dorothy first woman to lead a national aerobatic
Clegg, 26, and second officer Karlene team — Patrouille de France,.
Ciprtano, 25, taxied their Continental
DC-10 to the terminal at 6am after 2010
leaving Hawaii about 8pm on Thursday
(Sydney Time). The high flying trio • The women who worked
were backed by 12 female cabin crew as WASP pilots are given the
for the trip across the Pacific into Congressional Gold Medal by the
aviation history.” United States Congress. More than 250
women attended the ceremony.
1988 • Col. Dawn M. Dunlop assumed
• The Women’s Military Pilots
Association changes its name to command of the 412th Test Wing at
the Women Military Aviators (WMA). Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the
first woman to command the wing. She
Courtesy photograph
1990 Members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), who were trained to ferry the B-17 Flying Fortresses, are was also the first woman to fly the F-22
• Women in Aviation pictured leaving their ship at the four engine school at Lockbourne Army Air Field during the World War II. From left to Raptor when she flew Raptor Number
International (WAI) is first organized right are Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn. The WASP were civilian women 4006 at Edwards.
to help women advance their careers pilots who flew in non-combat situations for the U.S. Army Air Forces during the war.
in aviation.
fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. She first female Shuttle Pilot, she received • Jennifer Murray is the first woman 2013
1991 later went on to command the 57th the Harmon Trophy. She was also the to go around the world in a helicopter. • The largest head-down freefly
• Patty Wagstaff is the first woman Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. pilot for STS-84 in 1997. formation with only women is
to earn the title of U.S. National • Matice Wright becomes the first • Sarah Deal becomes the United 1998 accomplished in Arizona with 63
States Marine Corps’ first female • Women fighter pilots in the United women from the United States, Canada,
aviator. States military fly the first combat Mexico, England, France and Russia.
missions off aircraft carriers.
1997 • Dec. 17: Kendra Williams is 2020
• Karen Brannen becomes the first credited as the first woman pilot
female U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot to launch missiles in combat • Col. Sabrina Pabon assumes
to earn her “wings of gold” as a strike during Operation Desert Fox. command of the U.S. Air Force
fighter pilot. Test Pilot School at Edwards Air
• March: The Association for Women 1999 Force Base, Calif., the first woman
in Aviation Maintenance is formed. • Eileen Collins became the first commandant in the school’s history.

NASA photograph
Astronaut Eileen M. Collins, mission commander, looks over a procedures
checklist at the commander’s station on the forward flight deck of the Space
Shuttle Columbia on Flight Day 1. The most important event of this day was
the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the world’s most powerful
X-Ray telescope. Collins became the first female pilot of the Space Shuttle in
1995 aboard STS-63, which involved a rendezvous between Discovery and
the Russian space station Mir.

Aerobatic Champion. African American female flight officer
• July 31: The United States in the United States Navy.
Senate votes “overwhelmingly” to • Lt. Col. Susan J. Helms became
allow American military women to fly the first military astronaut to enter
aircraft in combat situations. space when Space Shuttle Endeavour
launched on a five-day mission.
1992
• Barbara Harmer completes her 1995
training and joins the Concorde fleet as • Eileen Collins became the first
the first woman to fly the supersonic female pilot of the Space Shuttle in
airliner as a line pilot. 1995 aboard STS-63, which involved
a rendezvous between Discovery Air Force photograph
1993 and the Russian space station Mir. In In 1993, Jeannie Leavitt became the first female fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. She later went on to command the
• Jeannie Leavitt becomes the first recognition of her achievement as the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

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