On the 30th anniversary of American women in combat, a retired Air Force colonel shares the untold story of women’s fight to fly in a new book, “The Fly Girls Revolt: The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat,” which will be released May 23, 2023, by Knox Press.
Thirty years ago in April 1993, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin ordered the military to train women for combat aircraft. The same month, General Merrill McPeak, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), introduced the first three women fighter pilots to the public: Lt. Jeannie Flynn, Lt. Martha Mc Sally, and Capt. Sharon Preszler.
Retired Colonel Eileen A. Bjorkman’s new book celebrates these historic moments and many more by telling the stories of the trailblazing women who fought for the right to fly — including the author, a civilian pilot with a long military career herself.
As a flight test engineer who was one of a handful of women who flew in fighter airplanes in the 1980s, Bjorkman had a front-row seat to the history in the book.
Although the U.S. repealed the law preventing women in combat in 1991, it took two more years for the military to catch up.
“The march to equality was not steady,” writes Bjorkman. “It was more like a game where the women started 10 points behind, and every time they clawed their way forward, the opposing team ran back over them.”
The Fly Girls Revolt takes readers back to the roots of the movement, starting with the women who laid the groundwork in the 1940s for inclusion in 1993.
“My book is about women pilots but also gives credit to all women who served in the military from World War II on,” Bjorkman said.
Bjorkman notes that currently only 6% of U.S. pilots are women, but that the military is gradually becoming more diverse thanks to strategies like youth programs, targeted recruiting, and mentoring.
“Women and people of color are still underrepresented in the ranks of military aviation,” writes Bjorkman in the book’s epilogue. “Fixing this problem isn’t just about equality. It’s about ensuring that the military has the best people available to recruit and retain.”
She closes the book on an optimistic note: “Just as my generation stood on the shoulders of the fly girls from a century ago, I hope this book will inspire younger women to consider careers in aviation and the military,” Bjorkman writes. “I also hope it will inspire women of my generation to write their own stories. There are thousands of stories waiting to be told. And millions of young girls waiting to be inspired.”
Bjorkman, the sixth woman to graduate from the USAF Test Pilot School, was a flight test engineer during her Air Force career, flying more than 700 hours in 25 different types of military aircraft, including fighters such as the F-4 and F-16. She retired from the Air Force in 2010 as a colonel after 30 years of active-duty service. She is also a civilian pilot with more than 2,000 hours of pilot time. She is the executive director at the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California and the first woman to hold that position.
The book is available for pre-sale now for $30 for the hardcover edition and $14.99 for the ebook.
For more information: PermutedPress.com.
“Women and people of color are still underrepresented in the ranks of military aviation,” So what? Women have been piloting about as long as airplanes have existed. Men are underrepresented in many careers such as nursing, teaching, government, journalism, and the most important one of all – motherhood. But no one demands that men be given special treatment, scholarships, and all kinds of free perks so they follow a career normally dominated by women. When I started my engineering studies way back in 1975, my college (NCSU) established a Women’s Engineering Society. Guess what – nearly a half century later, after billions have been spent to encourage young ladies to study engineering, provide scholarships that exclude men, and shower young ladies with all kinds of special perks, women still make up a small minority of engineering students and professionals. Why? Not because men try to keep them out, but simply because men and women are wired differently. That also applies to aviation. Get over it. As far as combat is concerned, I am totally against women doing this. Men used to protect women from the dangers they faced. Women held an exalted role in society. So-called “emancipation” has only pulled women down to men’s level, and society is not better as a result. Read anything from Phyllis Shlafly on this topic, one very courageous woman.
You’re only right in one thing of all of that You’ve written above:
– it’s when You’ve said that “So-called “emancipation” has only pulled women down to men’s level, and society is not better as a result”. You’re right because to put women down to men’s level means to degrade the better part of women: beeing better than men.