These Groundbreaking Pilots Made History 30 Years Ago as the First American Women to Fly Combat...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-american-womens-history-museum/2024/11/08/these-groundbreaking-pilots-made-history-30-years-ago-as-the-first-american-women-to-fly-combat-missions/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&spMailingID=50403461&spUserID=NzU3Njg4NDk0NTQS1&spJobID= [login to see] &spReportId=MjgyMDk1NDM1MgS2
In two seconds, the massive F/A-18C Hornet went from sitting still to roaring past 160 miles per hour as it launched off the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). It was two years into Operation Southern Watch—the U.S.-led effort to enforce no-fly and no-drive zones in Iraq during the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. During that time, hundreds of American aircraft had been regularly flying in that dangerous environment, but one of the Hornets that launched on November 15, 1994, was different: a woman was at the controls.