Student Naval Aviator Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle, assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, stands by a T-45C Goshawk training aircraft following her final flight to complete the undergraduate Tactical Air (Strike) pilot training syllabus July 7. Swegle is the Navy’s first known Black female strike aviator and will receive her gold wings during a ceremony July 31. (Lt. j.g. Luke Redito/Navy)
The Navy Times has provided a press release regarding the Navy’s first black woman fighter jet pilot, Madeleine Swegle.
The Navy said Swegle completed the undergraduate Tactical Air (Strike) pilot training syllabus Tuesday, paving the way for her to fly aircraft like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter or the EA-18G Growler.
“BZ to Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle on completing the Tactical Air (Strike) aviator syllabus,” Naval Air Training tweeted Thursday. “Swegle is the @USNavy’s first known Black female TACAIR pilot and will receive her Wings of Gold later this month. HOOYAH!”
Lt. Cmdr. Brenda Robinson, whose call sign was “Raven,” made history in 1980 as the first Black female graduate from Aviation Officer Candidate School and a year later became the first Black woman certified for C-1A carrier onboard delivery carrier landings.
Robinson continued to be a trailblazer during her Navy career when she also became the first Black female flight instructor, evaluator, and VIP transport pilot in the Navy, according to Women in Aviation International.
Additionally, Capt. Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour became the first Black female pilot in the Marine Corps and the first Black female combat pilot in the entire U.S. military. She earned her wings in 2001 and was subsequently stationed at Camp Pendleton in California with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, according to a Marine Corps news release. – article
There is a discussion in the article about the dirth of Black pilots of either sex in the Navy. However, it seems a bit lame to emphasize that instead of acknowledging the difficulty of learning to fly an aviation vehicle that is touchier than a rabid skunk and twice as likely to kill you as not. You can either handle the job, or you can’t.
Flying a glider is a hoot, because you can tell how much it loves the air, as some planes do, but it is nothing remotely close to flying a touchy, bad-tempered, stubby-winged fighter jet. Calling attention to the pilot’s physical characteristics instead of emphasizing the accomplishment of becoming someone who can handle that kind of machine as if it were a pit bull with obedience training is ridiculous. I do not envy the men or women who fly those snarling, howling machines, because they are targets from the first moment they take off. But I will always willingly recognize the necessity of their accomplishments, because without them in the cockpits, we are almost easy prey.
So “booyah!” to LTJG Swegle, and may she live long and prosper as a Navy pilot.
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2banana
3 years ago
The photographer should be smoked for 15 minutes for framing her head around the red paint of the jet inlet.
It makes her look she is wearing a red wool ski hat or something.
MI Ranger
3 years ago
Congrats to the Lt jg Swegle. Amazing that it took this long for a Black Female to want to qualify and pass. I did not see if call sign “Raven” attempted or not.
When do they usually get their call sign, first unit? I was always told they are more derogatory than “cool”, or has the Navy become PC with call signs?
Skippy
3 years ago
I live at a elevation of 8850 feet above sea level
And this is going down as one of the driest years
On record all be it recorded weather here only goes back to 1910 or so
Slow Joe
3 years ago
Aren’t we color blind?
We do we keep marking these “firsts”?
Naw, it is just the exception to the rule of omnipresent “systemic racism.” Can anyone one tell us what “system” of government or society has this “systemic racism,” cuz I have yet to hear anyone name one.
Sapper3307
3 years ago
FIRST!!!
Yawn.
5th/77th FA
3 years ago
BZ LT (jg) Madeline Swegle. Fly high and prosper.
Saw this on an inherwebz feed the other day. Figured we’d have a posting on LT Swegles’ accomplishment.
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The photographer should be smoked for 15 minutes for framing her head around the red paint of the jet inlet.
It makes her look she is wearing a red wool ski hat or something.
Congrats to the Lt jg Swegle. Amazing that it took this long for a Black Female to want to qualify and pass. I did not see if call sign “Raven” attempted or not.
When do they usually get their call sign, first unit? I was always told they are more derogatory than “cool”, or has the Navy become PC with call signs?
I live at a elevation of 8850 feet above sea level
And this is going down as one of the driest years
On record all be it recorded weather here only goes back to 1910 or so
Aren’t we color blind?
We do we keep marking these “firsts”?
*Why
Naw, it is just the exception to the rule of omnipresent “systemic racism.” Can anyone one tell us what “system” of government or society has this “systemic racism,” cuz I have yet to hear anyone name one.
FIRST!!!
Yawn.
BZ LT (jg) Madeline Swegle. Fly high and prosper.
Saw this on an inherwebz feed the other day. Figured we’d have a posting on LT Swegles’ accomplishment.
Cute girl and brains too.