25 Female United States Naval Aviators

Vernice Armour is a former United States Marine Corps officer who was the first African-American female naval aviator in the Marine Corps and the first African American female combat pilot in the U.S. Armed Forces. She flew the AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and eventually served two tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Rear Admiral Wendi Bryan Carpenter is a retired United States Navy flag officer and naval aviator. She is also a past president of the State University of New York Maritime College.

Vivien S. Crea was the 25th Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard under Admiral Thad W. Allen. Crea held the second highest position in the Coast Guard, and she is the first woman to do so. She is the former Commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, and was confirmed by the Senate to her historic post in June 2006. Crea retired on August 7, 2009, and was replaced by VADM David Pekoske.

Susan Ahn Cuddy was the first female gunnery officer in the United States Navy. She was the eldest daughter of Korean independence activist Ahn Chang-ho and Helen Ahn, the first married Korean couple to emigrate to the United States in 1902. She joined the Navy in 1942 and served until 1946, reaching the rank of lieutenant. She was the first Asian-American woman to join the U.S. Navy.

Sandy Lee Daniels is a retired Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Deal Burrow, United States Marine Corps, is the first female Marine who selected for Naval aviation training in 1993, and subsequently became the Marine Corps' first female aviator in 1995.

Jennifer Marie "Jenna" Dolan is a colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and former fighter pilot. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, she became the first woman to fly the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II aircraft in combat. The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, recognized Dolan's transition from the military to civilian workforce as an example for others to follow. Dolan plans to join a small group of civilian pilots that fly the Harrier at air shows.

Lea Gabrielle is an American journalist, who served in the United States Navy for twelve years as a combat naval aviator and intelligence officer. As a civilian, she worked as a journalist and correspondent for the Fox News Channel and as a general-assignment reporter for Shepard Smith Reporting. On February 7, 2019 it was announced she would head up the U.S. Department of State's Global Engagement Center (GEC), tasked with countering propaganda from foreign actors such as Russia, China, North Korea, and ISIS. She has served in the position of Special Envoy and Coordinator of the GEC since February 11, 2019.

La'Shanda R. Holmes is a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard and the first African-American female helicopter pilot for the Coast Guard. She grew up in the foster care system and put herself through Spelman College. She was an Aircraft Commander at Air Station Los Angeles, Air Station Atlantic City, and Air Station Miami. She has amassed over 2,000 flight hours conducting search and rescue, counter drug, law enforcement, and Presidential air-intercept missions. She was appointed as a White House Fellow in 2015 by President Barack Obama. In 2015–2016 she was the Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator General Charles F. Bolden.

Kara Spears Hultgreen was a lieutenant and naval aviator in the United States Navy and the first female carrier-based fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. She died just months after she was certified for combat, when her F-14 Tomcat crashed into the sea on final approach to USS Abraham Lincoln.

Sara Annette Joyner is a United States Navy officer. She is notable for being the first female strike fighter pilot to command a Navy fighter squadron and a carrier air wing. Her promotion to rear admiral was authorized by the U.S. Senate on 25 May 2017.

Susan Kilrain is an engineer, a former United States Navy officer, and a former NASA astronaut.

Nancy S. Lacore is a rear admiral and the director of the Maritime Partnership Program, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet. She has additional duties as vice commander of U.S. 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy.

Wendy Barrien Lawrence is a retired United States Navy Captain, former helicopter pilot, an engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. She was the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to fly into space and she has also visited the Russian Space Station Mir. She was a mission specialist on STS-114, the first Space Shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Nicole Victoria Aunapu Mann is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. She is an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, and a graduate of the US Naval Academy, Stanford University and the US Naval Test Pilot School. She has over 2,500 flight hours in 25 types of aircraft, 200 carrier landings, and has flown 47 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mann completed astronaut training in 2015 and was assigned in August 2018 to Boe-CFT, the first crewed test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner.

Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner was an American pilot and one of the first six women to earn their wings as a United States Naval Aviator in 1974. She was the first female military pilot to fly a tactical jet and the first to achieve command of an operational aviation squadron.

Amy Melinda McGrath is an American politician, former Marine fighter pilot, and candidate for the United States Senate from Kentucky. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps, as well as the first to pilot the F/A-18 on a combat mission. During her 20 years of service in the Marine Corps, McGrath flew 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Toward the end of her service, McGrath worked domestically as a political adviser, a liaison officer, and an instructor at the United States Naval Academy.

Jeanine McIntosh Menze is a United States Coast Guard officer. She holds the distinction of becoming the first African-American female in the U.S. Coast Guard to earn the Coast Guard Aviation designation.

Judith Neuffer "Judy" Bruner is an American naval aviator and NASA manager, the first woman to serve as a P-3 pilot in the United States Navy. Part of the first group of eight women receiving orders for Navy Flight Training in 1973, she was the first of the six who went on to earn their pilot's wings. She was the first female Navy pilot to fly through a hurricane, and ultimately attained the rank of Navy Captain. She currently serves as a senior manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where she has led numerous large programs.

Captain Jane Skiles O'Dea was one of the first six women to earn their wings as U.S. Navy pilots in 1974, and was the first woman qualified in the C-130 Hercules. She was also the first woman in the U.S. Navy qualified as a flight instructor. She was the first female Navy aviator to achieve command and to be selected for the rank of captain.

Barbara Ann Allen Rainey was one of the first six female pilots in the U.S. armed forces. Rainey received her wings of gold as the first female to be designated a naval aviator in February 1974 and became the first Navy woman to qualify as a jet pilot. She attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. She was killed in an aircraft crash in 1982 while performing her duties as a flight instructor.

Tammie Jo Shults is a retired American commercial airline captain, author, and retired naval aviator. Known for being one of the first female fighter pilots to serve in the United States Navy, following active duty she became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. She retired from Southwest Airlines in 2020.

Madeline Swegle is a United States Naval Aviator. She is the U.S. Navy's first black female tactical jet pilot.

Sunita Lyn Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer who formerly held the records for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman. Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33.

Matice Wright was the first African-American female naval flight officer.