In 1977, they received retroactive veteran status, and in 2010, Congress awarded them the Congressional Gold Medal. Through her research, Mau was inspired by the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a group of civilian pilots who flew 60 million miles on an assortment of non-combat missions during World War II. “Mau didn’t see her ambitions crystallize until around fourth grade, when she watched Maverick and Goose fly an F-14 Tomcat in the 1986 film ‘Top Gun.’ ” She researched how to boost her odds of getting to pilot training, and focused her college efforts on gaining entry to the United States Air Force Academy. Air Force lieutenant colonel.īy her junior year of high school, she had grown serious about attending a military academy. In 2015, she became the first woman to pilot an F-35 fighter jet. “I kind of felt like the WASPs may have felt during World War II.” “It was the coolest, most surreal experience,” she said. In March 2011, she made history leading the first-ever all-female F-15E combat mission - planned, briefed, launched and flown by women, and dubbed “Dudette 07” - to support coalition and Afghan ground forces. “It’s also a total badass fighter that drops every bomb in our inventory.” “I loved that you had a crew working together,” she said, referring to the pilot and weapon systems officer involved. Mau nabbed her top choice of airplane after pilot training: the two-seat F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, which she considered “the most impressive airplane at that time.” She flew the F-15E for most of her career, clocking more than 500 combat hours in Operations Iraqi Freedom, Southern Watch, Northern Watch and Enduring Freedom. I told my mom, ‘I want to do that someday.’ ” -Christine Mau, the first female F-35 fighter pilot “‘There I was as a five-year-old, looking up at these big, bad F-4s just making noise and just looking awesome.
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