Shawna R. Kimbrell, also known as Maj. Kimbrell, was recently named a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, making her the first African American woman to hold that distinction.
The mother of an 8-month-old son and a native of Parker, Colo., Kimbrell first wanted to be an astronaut, but later turned her heart towards flying $60 million F-16s.
“I fell in love with the idea of the freedom of flying and after my first flight lesson at age 14, I never looked back,” Kimbrell said in a release from the Air Force.
Before 1993, women weren’t considered combat worthy or ready. But women then were allowed to enter the Then the secretary of defense opened the door for women to become fighter pilots. Of more than 14,000 pilots in the U.S. Air Force, only bout 3,700 are fighter pilots. And of that small group, only 70 are women.
Kimbrell graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1998 and received her pilot wings in 1999. She flew her first combat sortie in 2001, during Operation Northern Watch in Misawa Air Base in Japan.
The path was anything but straight or easy. She said she fought both racial and sexual biases.
“There are still a lot of unresolved racial issues in the U.S. and they spill over into every walk of life and every workspace,” said Kimbrell, the only female pilot stationed at Aviano Air Base. “When I go somewhere new, people tend to look at me differently, mostly because of who I am and it is the subtle ways that people treat me differently that make it challenging. The unfortunate fact is that being a black woman is a constant struggle.”
She gave birth to a son in August, which meant she had to be out of the cockpit prior to giving birth and for a time afterward. “When a pilot is out of the jet for that amount of time a significant amount of retraining is required and it normally takes place outside of the squadron, back at the school house,” said Kimbrell. “This has the potential to be detrimental to a woman’s progression and continues to be a challenge for myself and other women fighter pilots.”
Still, though,“while being a fighter pilot is exhilarating, I would not say that it defines me,” she said. “I would say that is has refined me. I continue to learn and improve and it has really taught me to strive for perfection in everything that I do. It has taught me that sometimes you fall short of your goals but there is never a time to give up.”
Kimbrell now is a member of the “Chick Fighter Pilot Association,”http://www.fighterchicks.com, a group of women fighter pilots who help and support one another.
Just knowing there is a group of men and women out there who can dissect targeted areas as skillfully as a chef or surgeon should make all of us feel more secure.
Shawna R. Kimbrell, also known as Maj. Kimbrell, was recently named a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, making her the first African American woman to hold that distinction.
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