in front of a Breguet 19, circa 1937.|350x350px Ajeng Tresna Dwi Wijayanti,
Indonesia's first female fighter pilot – 2020 Until the early 1990s, women were disqualified from becoming fighter pilots in most of the air forces throughout the world. The exceptions being Turkey, where
Sabiha Gökçen became the first female fighter pilot in history in 1936 and went on to fly fast jets well into the 1950s, During the 1990s, a number of air forces removed the bar on women becoming fighter pilots: • – On 30 October 1912
Rayna Kasabova became the world's first woman in the world who participated in a military flight on a
Voisin aircraft above
Edirne during the
First Balkan War. • –
Marie Marvingt was a record-breaking
balloonist, an aviator, and during World War I she became the first female combat
pilot. Marie Marvingt received a pilot's license from the
Aéro-Club de France (
Aero Club of France) on 8 November 1910. Licensed No. 281, she was the third Frenchwoman to be registered after
Raymonde de Laroche (No. 36) and
Marthe Niel (No. 226). In her first 900 flights she never "broke wood" in a crash, a record unequaled at that time. Marie flew in a number of air meets, bombed a German airbase twice as an unofficial pilot in World War I, flew on reconnaissance missions in the "pacification" of North Africa, and was the only woman to hold four pilot's licenses simultaneously: balloon, airplane, hydroplane and helicopter. In 1915 Marvingt became the first woman in the world to fly combat missions when she became a volunteer pilot flying
bombing missions over German-held territory and she received the
Croix de guerre (Military Cross) for her aerial bombing of a German military base in
Metz. • – In 1936
Sabiha Gökçen became world's first female combat pilot while in 1958
Leman Altınçekiç was first female accredited jet pilot in NATO. • -
Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak was a fighter pilot in the
Soviet Air Force during
World War II. She was the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first of two female fighter pilots who have earned the title of
fighter ace and the holder of the record for the greatest number of kills by a female fighter pilot. She was shot down near
Orel during the
Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German aircraft. She was nicknamed the "White Lily of Stalingrad". • -
Yekaterina "Katya" Budanova was another fighter pilot in the
Soviet Air Force during
World War II and along with
Lydia Litvyak, she is often considered one of the world's two female
fighter aces credited with five or more aerial victories, She was shot down by either Luftwaffe ace
Georg Schwientek of
JG 52 or ace
Emil Bitsch, of
JG 3. • -
Mariya Kuznetsova was a Soviet fighter pilot who originally flew with the women's
586th Fighter Aviation Regiment but was later transferred to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment with
Yekaterina Budanova,
Lydia Litvyak, and several other members of the unit in September 1942. She flew over 100 sorties. • -
Raisa Belyaeva was one of the first Russian female fighter pilots. She fought alongside
Lydia Litvyak and was credited with up to three aerial victories. She died in combat in a crash on 19 July 1943. • -
Mariya Tolstova a Soviet flight commander in the 175th Guards Attack Aviation Regiment, and one of the few women to fly the Il-2. • -
Tamara Kazarinova was a Soviet pilot and the commander of the
586th Fighter Aviation Regiment during the Second World War. • -
Olga Yamshchikova was Soviet fighter pilot squadron commander, credited with three shootdowns during
World War II who became a test pilot after the war. During her postwar aviation career she became the first woman to fly the
MiG-19. • -
Tamara Konstantinova was
Ilyushin Il-2 pilot and deputy squadron commander in the
Soviet Air Force during the
Second World War. • -
Lidiya Shulaykina was one of the few women Ilyushin Il-2 pilots and the only female ground-attack pilot in naval aviation during the Second World War. • -
Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran was a pioneer in women's aviation, one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation. She set numerous records and was the first woman to break the
sound barrier on 18 May 1953 in an
F-86 Sabrejet. She was the wartime head of the
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (1943–1944), which employed about 1000 civilian American women in a non-combat role to ferry planes from factories to port cities. On September 9, 1948, Cochran joined the
U.S. Air Force Reserve as a
lieutenant colonel. She was promoted to
colonel in 1969 and retired in 1970. Postwar, Cochran began flying new
jet aircraft, setting numerous records. She became the first woman pilot to "go
supersonic". Among her many record accomplishments, from August to October 1961, as a consultant to Northrop Corporation, Cochran set a series of speed, distance and altitude records while flying a
Northrop T-38A-30-NO Talon supersonic trainer. On the final day of the record series, she set two
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world records, taking the T-38 to altitudes of 55,252.625 feet (16,841 m) in horizontal flight and reaching a peak altitude of 56,072.835 feet (17,091 m). Cochran was also the first woman to land and take off from an
aircraft carrier, the first woman to pilot a bomber across the North Atlantic (in 1941) and later to fly a jet aircraft on a transatlantic flight, the first woman to make a
blind (instrument) landing, the only woman ever to be president of the
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (1958–1961), the first woman to fly a
fixed-wing, jet aircraft across the Atlantic, the first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet (6,096 m) with an oxygen mask, and the first woman to enter the Bendix Transcontinental Race. She still holds more distance and speed records than any pilot living or dead, male or female. • -
Jacqueline Auriol was a French
aviator who set several world speed records. She earned a military
pilot license in 1950 then qualified as one of the first female
test pilots. She was among the first women to break the
sound barrier and set five world speed records in the 1950s and 1960s in French fighter jets like the
Mystère and
Dassault Mirages. • - In late 1952, with the
Korean War in full swing, the North Korean Air Force was the only one in the world with female jet fighter pilots. One of them,
Tha Sen Hi, flew
MiG-15s in combat and eventually rose to squadron leader. She was honoured with the title of Hero of the Korean People's Democratic Republic. • – Asli Hassan
Asli Hassan Abade – on 9 September 1976, is the first African female pilot in the (Somali Air Force – SAF). She soloed her first flight –
MiG-21. • –
Captain Rosemary "Sabre" Bryant Mariner was an American jet pilot and one of the first six women to earn their wings as a
United States Naval Aviator in 1974. She was the first female military pilot to fly a tactical jet and the first to achieve command of an operational aviation squadron. She was designated a Naval Aviator in June 1974 and became one of the first six women to earn their wings as a
United States Naval Aviator, alongside
Barbara Allen Rainey,
Jane Skiles O'Dea,
Judith Ann Neuffer,
Ana Marie Fuqua, and
Joellen Drag. In 1975, Mariner was one of the first female military aviators to fly a tactical strike aircraft, a single seat
A-4L Skyhawk. In 1976, she transitioned to the
A-7E Corsair II, making her the first woman to fly a front-line tactical strike aircraft. During
Operation Desert Storm in 1990, she commanded US Navy Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron Thirty Four (
VAQ-34). • - Until the 1970s, aviation had been a traditionally male occupation in the United States. Commerce Department regulations virtually required pilots to have flown in the military to acquire sufficient flight hours, and until the 1970s, the U.S. Air Force and Navy barred women from flying and they were routinely denied work in commercial piloting. The US military did not open fighter jet flights to women until 1993. In the 1970s, women were again, for the first time since WWII, permitted to fly in the United States Armed Forces, beginning with the Navy and the Army in 1974, and then the Air Force in 1976. The first graduating class of ten female Air Force officers earned their Silver Wings on September 2, 1977. These ten women were part of Class
77-08 and graduated at
Williams Air Force Base. These female aviators were Captains
Connie Engel,
Kathy La Sauce,
Mary Donahue,
Susan Rogers and
Christine Schott; First Lieutenants
Sandra Scott and
Victoria Crawford; Second Lieutenants
Mary Livingston,
Carol Scherer and
Kathleen Rambo. • - On 2 May 1977 First Lieutenant
Christine E. Schott, USAF, was the first woman in the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training Program to solo in the
Northrop T-38A Talon supersonic flight trainer at
Williams AFB, Arizona. She was a member of Class 77–08, which entered on 19 September 1976. • -
Svetlana Savitskaya is a Russian former jet aviator and Soviet
cosmonaut who flew aboard
Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space. On her 1984
Soyuz T-12 mission she became the first woman to fly to space twice, and the first woman to perform a
spacewalk. After graduating from the
Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) in 1972, she trained as a test pilot at the
Fedotov Test Pilot School, graduating in 1976. In May 1978 she start working for aircraft manufacturer
Yakovlev, as a test pilot. Between 1969 and 1977 she was a member of the Soviet national aerobatics team. Savitskaya retired in 1993 from the
Russian Air Force in the rank of Major. She set several
FAI world records as a
MiG-21 &
MiG-25 pilot. • – In 1982
Hakima Abdessamad became the first Algerian female fighter pilot in the
Algerian Air Force after qualifying to fly the
MiG-15, the
MiG-17 and the
MiG-21. • – In 1989
Dee Brasseur and Jane Foster became the first female fighter pilots in the
Royal Canadian Air Force after qualifying to fly the
CF-18 Hornet. • – In 1991
Anna Dellham became Sweden's first female fighter pilot serving with a
Viggen squadron, before in 2011 qualifying to fly the
Gripen. • – In 1992
Mette "Jet-Mette" Grøtteland became the first female fighter pilot in the
Royal Norwegian Air Force after qualifying to fly the
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. • – Between 1993 and 1997
Manja Blok the first female fighter pilot in the
Royal Netherlands Air Force was active flying a
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon over Bosnia enforcing the no fly zone. She had qualified on the F-16 in 1991. • – In 1993
Jeannie "Tally" Leavitt became the first female
USAF fighter pilot, initially being assigned to a
McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, and subsequently flying 300 combat hours, mostly over
Afghanistan and
Iraq. She was the first woman to command a USAF combat fighter wing, the
4th Fighter Wing on June 14, 2012 . She became commander of a second fighter wing on April 16, 2016, taking command of the
57th Wing at the
Nellis Air Force Base. She is the first woman fighter pilot in the USAF who got promoted to the high rank of
major general on September 2, 2019. She logged more than 3,000 fight hours as pilot in command, including over 300 combat hours. • – In 1994
Jo Salter was declared combat ready by the
Royal Air Force flying a
Panavia Tornado in
617 Squadron becoming Britain's first female fighter pilot. • – In 1994
Anne-Marie "Mie" Jansen becomes the first Belgian female fighter pilot, flying the
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. She also survived a F-16 mishap, ejecting safely, after running of the runway and collapsing inverted on May 12, 1995. • – Then
Lieutenant Bobbi J. Doorenbos became the first female USAF
Air National Guard F-16 fighter pilot with the
185th Fighter Wing in June 1997. In 2015, by then promoted to
colonel, she became the first female commander of the
188th Fighter Wing of the
Arkansas Air National Guard. Doorenbos a senior fighter pilot with more than 1,200 hours in the F-16C got promoted to the first female
brigadier general of the USAF
Air National Guard on September 28, 2017. • – In August 1999
Lieutenant Colonel Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell became the first female
African-American fighter pilot in the history of the
US Air Force. She flew the
F-16 Fighting Falcon during combat missions in
Operation Northern Watch and is stationed at
Nellis Air Force Base. • – In 1999
Caroline Aigle became the first woman to receive the French Air Force's coveted fighter pilot wings. She was assigned to fly the
Mirage 2000-5. • – In November 2000,
Maryse Carmichael was selected to fly with the
Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic team, becoming the first woman on the team. In May 2010 she was named the commander of the Snowbirds, becoming the first female pilot to lead the squad. • –
Catherine "Siren" Labuschagne got her wings in 2000 and flew the Impala and Hawk before in 2010 completing her maiden solo flight in the South African Air Force's
Gripen Jas 39C, becoming the first woman fighter pilot ever to fly the Gripen. • – In 2000, fighter pilot
Berna Şen Şenol paved the way for other Turkish women by becoming the first female F-16 pilot to fly for the
Turkish Air Force. • – In 2001
Roni Zuckerman became the first Israeli woman to qualify as a fighter pilot. She was assigned to an F-16 squadron as a fighter pilot and also later became a commander at the IAF flight academy. She was released from active service in 2007, although continued to do reserve duty. • – In 2002
Inka Niskanen became Finland's first female fighter pilot, flying
BAE Hawks and
F/A-18 Hornets. In January 2019, Niskanen took command of the
Karelia Air Command 31 Squadron, as the first woman to hold such a post in Finland. • – In 2002
María Eugenia Etcheverry,
A-37B Dragonfly pilot and
Carolina Arévalo,
IA 58 Pucará pilot became first female fighter pilots in both
Uruguayan Air Force and Latin America. • – In 2003
Khoo Teh Lynn became Singapore's first female fighter pilot, flying
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons. • – In 2005
Line Bonde graduated from the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, US, as Denmark's first female fighter pilot flying the
F-16 Fighting Falcon. • -
Samantha Cristoforetti is an Italian
European Space Agency astronaut, and former
Italian Air Force fighter pilot and engineer. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours), She graduated in Aeronautics Sciences (
University 'Federico II',
Naples) at the
Accademia Aeronautica in
Pozzuoli, becoming one of the first women to be a lieutenant and fighter pilot in the
Italian Air Force. In 2005/2006 as part of her training in the US, she completed the
Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program. She has logged over 500 hours and has flown six types of military aircraft:
SF-260,
T-37,
T-38,
MB-339A, MB-339CD and
AM-X. She was assigned to 51° Stormo, 132° Gruppo. • From November 2005 till November 2007 (now retired) Colonel
Nicole "Fifi" Malachowski was the first female pilot selected to fly as part of the
USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds in their
F-16 Fighting Falcons. Prior to that she was an F-15E Pilot, Instructor Pilot, Chief of Life Support, Assistant Chief of Scheduling, Weapons Flight Electronic Combat Pilot, Functional Check Flight Pilot, Supervisor of Flying at the
336th Fighter Squadron. On 18 November 2011, she took command of the
333d Fighter Squadron at
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base,
North Carolina. After successfully completing her tour with the USAF Thunderbirds in November 2007, including approximately 140 performances, Malachowski served on staff of the Commander,
United States Air Force Warfare Center, at
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to June 2008. • - In January 2006, then ensign
Émilie "Eva" Denis, became the first woman fighter pilot of the
French Navy flying the
Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard aboard the French
aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. • - In March 2006, the
Pakistan Air Force officially inducted a batch of 34 fighter pilots which included the organization's first four female fighter pilots. Three years of fighter pilot training had been completed by the pilots at PAF Academy - Risalpur flying amongst other the
Cessna T-37 Tweet basic jet trainer and
K-8 intermediate jet trainer, before they graduated and were awarded their
Flying Badges during the ceremony. Certificates of honour were handed to the successful cadets by
General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, then the vice-chief of the
Pakistan Army, who acknowledged that the PAF was the first branch of the Pakistani military to introduce women to its combat units. One of the women,
Flying Officer Nadia Gul, was awarded a trophy for best academic achievement. The other female graduates were
Mariam Khalil,
Saira Batool and Cadet
Saba Khan. A second batch of pilots, including three female pilots, graduated from the 117th Pilot course at PAF Academy - Risalpur in September 2006. The
Sword of Honour for best all-round performance was awarded to
Aviation Cadet Saira Amin, the first female pilot to win the award. Aviation Cadet Saira Amin also had won the Asghar Hussain Trophy for best performance in academics. • -
Rosa García-Malea López became the first female fighter pilot in the
Spanish Air Force after qualifying to fly
F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter aircraft in 2006. With more than 1,250 flight hours and after participating in the
Libyan war in 2011, after 15 years service in Spanish air force, she joined
Patrulla Águila the aerobatic demonstration team as a
Casa C-101 pilot. • – In 2006
Karina Miranda started her flight training on Northrop F-5 and made her solo flight with F-5 Tiger III on April 29, 2010, became first female fighter pilot in Chilean Air Force. • – In 2007
Patricia Yapp Syau Yin from
Royal Malaysian Air Force became the first Asian female fighter Pilot for
Mikoyan MiG-29 after four years for flying an Aermacchi MB-339CM. She also performed inside RMAF aerobatics team, Smokey Bandits inside the squadrons. • – In 2007
Ulrike Flender graduated from Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program to become Germany's first female fighter pilot and the first German woman to pilot the
Tornado and later from 2013 the
Eurofighter Typhoon . • - In 2007 then Oberleutnant
Nicola "Niki Bam Bam" Winter – Baumann became the second female fighter pilot in the history of the
German Air Force flying both
Tornado and
Eurofighter Typhoon in the
German Air Force. As a fighter pilot, now Major, Nicola Baumann applied to be Germany's first female astronaut among 86 candidates on the list as of September 2016 and was one of 30 women taking part in the final selection process as of December 2016. She was selected as one of two winners, but later withdrew from the programme. • - In 2007 Sub-Lieutenant
Hanae Zarouali became the first Moroccan female jet pilot in service of the
Royal Moroccan Air Force. • – In 2008 Ha Jeong-mi became the first South Korean female fighter pilot, flying the KF-16 fighter. • - On 13 May 2009, the
Red Arrows announced including their first female display pilot. Flt. Lt.
Kirsty Moore (née Stewart) joined for the 2010 season. She joined the
Royal Air Force in 1998 and was a qualified flying instructor on the
Hawk aircraft at RAF Valley. Prior to joining the team, she flew the
Tornado GR4 at
RAF Marham. • –
Nadiya Savchenko is a former
Army aviation pilot in the
Ukrainian Ground Forces, one of Ukraine's first women to train as a military aeroplane pilot in 2009, and is the only female aviator to pilot the
Sukhoi Su-24 bomber and the
Mil Mi-24 helicopter. • –
Commandant Virginie Guyot a
Mirage F1-CR fighter pilot of the
Armée de l'Air who achieved an historical first when she was appointed leader of the
Patrouille de France, becoming the first woman in the world to command a precision
aerobatic demonstration team on 25 November 2009. At the same time, she was the first woman to join the
Patrouille de France, one of the world's oldest and most skilled demonstration teams. • – In 2011 the first all-female U.S. Air Force combat mission was flown by Maj.
Christine Mau, Maj.
Tracy Schmidt, Capt.
Leigh Larkin, and Capt.
Jennifer Morton, called the "Strike Eagles of 'Dudette 07'". They flew two F-15E jets in a sortie over Afghanistan. • – On May 3, 2011,
Carla Alexandre Borges became the first woman to fly an
FAB AMX A-1 fighter aircraft. • – In 2011 Lt. Col. (then Major)
Caroline "Blaze" Jensen was the third woman and the first mother to fly in the
USAF Air Demonstration Squadron Thunderbirds team. As the daughter of a Marine helicopter pilot in Vietnam, she graduated from the Air Force Academy with a bachelor's degree in English and spent more than 10 years on active duty as a reservist with more than 3500 flying hours. She's the first female reserve officer to fly with the Thunderbirds. She also flew over 200 combat hours in the
F-16 Fighting Falcon over
Iraq. Jensen also became the first qualified female pilot in the
T-7A Red Hawk. • – In 2012 it was reported that
Katarzyna Tomiak had become a Mig-29 fighter pilot in the Polish Air Force. • – In 2013 China publicised the graduation of six of the PLAAF's first-batch of female fighter pilots. • – In 2013
Ayesha Farooq became Pakistan's first female fighter pilot flying the Chinese-made F-7PG fighter jet. Out of six female fighter pilots in the PAF,
Flight Lieutenant Farooq is the first qualified for combat and to fly sorties along the border. Farooq is one of 19 women to have become pilots in the PAF since the 2000s. • – On 22 December 2013 Cmdr.
Sara Annette "Clutch" Joyner became the first female
strike fighter pilot to command a Navy carrier air wing after earlier commanded a US Navy fighter squadron. She became a fighter pilot in 1996, flying an
F/A-18 Hornet with
VFA-147. She assumed command of
Strike Fighter Squadron 105 from Cmdr. Douglas C. Verissimo on 2 March 2007 as the first female to do so. She turned over command to Cmdr. Thomas R. Tennant on 9 June 2008. She later became deputy commander of
Carrier Air Wing Three, assuming full command from Capt. Michael S. Wallace on 4 January 2013. She commanded the air wing until relieved by Capt.
George M. Wikoff. She is an experienced
F-16C/D Fighter Pilot and Instructor Pilot and has commanded units at the squadron levels. She is the Commanding General, District of Columbia National Guard. • – In 2014 Lt.
Katerina Hlavsova became the first female
Czech Air Force Aero L-39 Albatros and
L-159 Fighter Pilot. • – In 2014
Mariam al-Mansuri was UAEs first female fighter pilot, flying
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons in
combat missions against ISIS in Syria. • – In 2014 three female aviators graduated from the Taiwanese Air Force Academy's class, becoming the nation's first female fighter pilots Cpt.
Chiang Ching-hua pilots the
Mirage 2000, Cpt.
Chiang Hui-yu pilots the
F-16 Fighting Falcon, and Cpt.
Fan Yi-lin who pilots the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) the
AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo. • - Lt. Col.
Christine "Grinder" Mau of the U.S. Air Force became the first U.S. female pilot to fly the
F-35 Lightning II jet in 2015. • – In June 2016 Flight cadets
Avani Chaturvedi of Madhya Pradesh,
Mohana Singh of Rajasthan and
Bhawana Kanth of Bihar, all in their early-20s, bring in a new era for the Indian defense forces. Mohana Singh Jitarwal became the first Indian women fighter pilot fully operational on the
Hawk Mk.132 advance jet trainer. Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman pilot to take a solo flight in a
MIG-21 Bison and was promoted to the rank of
Flight Lieutenant in 2018. Chaturvedi is now part of
Indian Air Force No. 23 Squadron Panthers. Kanth, who like the two others first trained on
BAE Hawk Mk.132 advance jet trainers, is now flying the
MIG-21 Bison with the
Indian Air Force's
No. 3 Squadron Cobras. • - In 2016
Ioanna Chrysaugi became the first Greek female fighter pilot flying the
RF-4E Phantom II in the
Hellenic Air Force. Squadron Leader Chrysaugi now is a pilot trainer. • – In 2016
Thokozile Muwamba became the first female fighter pilot in Zambia, flying the
K-8 and the
L-15Z in the
Zambian Air Force. • – In 2016 Capt.
Sarah Dallaire, made history as the first husband-and-wife team to fly with the same Canadian
Snowbirds 431 Air Demonstration Squadron. Dallaire, only the 2nd Snowbird female pilot ever, flew in the
Canadair CT-114 Tutor as Snowbird 2 on the inner right wing, while her husband Capt. Kevin Domon-Grenier, flew as Snowbird 5 in the second line astern position. • – In 2017 Capt.
Kelsey "Pug" Casey became the
United States Marine Corps' only female
AV-8B Harrier "jump jet" pilot. She also made another unique move. She was selected to enter training to join the Joint Strike Fighter F35B Lightning II program as the first female Harrier pilot in 2019. • – In December 2017 Australia graduated its first female jet fighter pilots. • – Squadron Leader
Angeline Bosha qualified as a fighter jet pilot after she completed a year-long training course in China in the year 2018 flying the
K-8 Karakorum as Zimbabwe's first female fighter jet pilot. • – In August 2018 First lieutenant
Misa Matsushima became the first Japanese female fighter pilot, flying the
F-15J Eagle with the
305th Tactical Fighter Squadron. • –
Major Michelle "Mace" Curran was the first woman to fly as part of the
335th Fighter Squadron of the
USAF. She was an F-16 instructor before joining the
USAF Air Demonstration Squadron Thunderbirds in 2019 as the Lead Solo Pilot for the Squadron. Curran was the fifth woman to fly with the Thunderbirds for three years till October 2021. • – In February 2019
Fanny Chollet became the first Swiss female fighter pilot, flying the
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet in the
Swiss Air Force. • – Lieutenant
Karen Vanessa Velázquez Ruiz, the first Mexican female pilot to fly the
Northrop F-5 fighter plane at the Mexican Military Parade Day on 16 September 2019. • –
United States Air Force fighter pilot
Captain Melanie Ziebart became the first female exchange pilot flying with the
31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Marine Fighter Attack Squadron
(VMFA) 121 Green Knights, reinforcing Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265, aboard the amphibious assault ship
USS America (LHA 6). Operating the
US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft aboard the ship. Ziebart was chosen for the Euro-NATO Joint Jet pilot training program at
Sheppard Air Force Base where she was officially selected as a fighter pilot and chosen to fly the
F-16C Viper at the
80th Fighter Squadron at
Kunsan Air Base, Korea. Accidentally the same aircraft her father, a retired USAF fighter pilot with the
35th Fighter Squadron also at
Kunsan Air Base, flew. Ziebart's inter-service experience has been eye-opening. After her exchange with the Marines, she returns to an Air Force squadron and her goal is to teach and mentor young fighter pilots as an instructor. • – In May 2020 Second lieutenant became the first Indonesian female fighter pilot, flying the
KAI T-50 Golden Eagle. • – In February 2020 then
Captain Kristin "Beo" Wolfe was announced as the new Commander and Demo Pilot of the
F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team and became the first female
USAF F-35A Demo Team Pilot. Her father was an
F-4 Phantom WSO and later became an
F-15 pilot. After graduating pilot training she started her career flying the
F-22A Raptor at the
94th Fighter Squadron "Hat in the Ring" at
Langley Air Force Base (VA) for three years before eventually transitioning to the F-35A. When she is not busy with F-35A Demo tasks, she integrates back in to the
421st Fighter Squadron "Black Widows" and acts as an instructor and flies regular combat training missions in the rank of Major. • – Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh became the first and only Indian female fighter pilot flying the
Dassault Rafale fighter jet, part of the
No.17 Indian Golden Arrows Squadron after a stringent selection process in 2020. Prior to flying the Rafale, Shivangi had flown the
MIG-21 Bisonsupersonic jet fighter. She had joined the
Indian Air Force in 2017 and was commissioned into the IAF's second batch of women fighter pilots. She is not related to Indian Navy Lt. Pilot
Shivangi Singh who flies the
Dornier 228 in the
Indian Naval Air Squadron 550. • - In September 2021, Major
Ilaria Ragona became commander of the 18º Gruppo caccia (18th Fighter Group), first woman in command of a hunting group that is part of the 37th Stormo of the
Italian Air Force flying the Eurofighter Typhoon. • - 1st Lt.
Jul Laiza Mae Camposano-Beran was introduced by the
Philippine Air Force as its first ever female jet fighter pilot on March 30, 2022. She is regarded as an
SIAI-Marchetti A-211 jet combat mission ready pilot and wingman as of April 2022. She is a member of PAF's 5th Fighter Wing stationed at the
Cesar Basa Air Base in
Floridablanca, Pampanga. Camposano-Beran graduated from the Philippine Air Force Flying School in 2017 after completing her military pilot training. She was the first combat ready out of three female pilots undergoing training on flying and handling the AS-211 fighter jet. • – On May 25, 2022, Lt.
Amanda "Stalin" Lee was named as the first ever woman selected for the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron
Blue Angels as a demo F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter pilot. • - Colonel
Anne-Laure Michel a former
Dassault Mirage F1 fighter-pilot became the first woman commander of strategic nuclear airbase BA125
Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in
Bouches-du-Rhône,
France. She was commander of a Mirage squadron with 150 war missions in
Afghanistan,
Chad,
Côte d'Ivoire,
Cameroon,
Togo, the
Central African Republic and she has over 2500 hours of flight time. == See also ==