59 Women in the United States Air Force

There have been women in the United States Air Force since 1948, and women continue to serve in it today.

Women in the Air Force (WAF) was a program which served to bring women into limited roles in the United States Air Force. WAF was formed in 1948 when President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve directly in the military. The WAF program ended in 1976 when women were accepted into the USAF on an equal basis with men.

Rosanne "Ro" Bailey was an American military officer and academic administrator. A retired United States Air Force brigadier general, she was named vice chancellor for administrative services at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in August 2006 following retirement from her military career. She oversaw administrative offices such as budget, business operations, purchasing, personnel, risk management, environmental health and safety, the fire and police departments, and facilities services.

Kristin L Bass served as a United States Air Force officer. She made history by becoming the first and only female fighter pilot assigned at the 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Esther McGowin Blake (1897–1979) was the first woman in the United States Air Force. She enlisted on the first minute of the first hour of the first day regular U.S. Air Force duty was authorized for women on 8 July 1948.

Dana H. Born is a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and was the Dean of the Faculty at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is the first woman to hold that position.

C. Kim Bracey is an American politician. She served as the 24th Mayor of York, Pennsylvania, from January 4, 2010 to January 2, 2018. She was the first African American mayor of the city and the second woman to hold the office. Betty Marshall, who was elected in 1977, served as the first female mayor of York from 1978 to 1982.

Betty Lou Bredemus was an American actress and acting coach. The matriarch of the Roberts family, which includes Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts, Academy Award-nominated actor Eric Roberts, and granddaughter Emma Roberts, she also served in the United States Air Force and received a National Defense Service Medal for her service, which was spent entertaining the troops in Air Force base theatrical productions.

Norma Elaine Brown was an American U.S. Air Force Major General. Her last post in the Air Force was as the Commander of the Chanute Technical Training Center in Rantoul, Illinois. After her retirement from the military she served on the Board of Directors of GEICO until 1994.

Colonel Kim Nichole Reed-Campbell is a United States Air Force officer and Senior Pilot in the U.S. Air Force. She was decorated for piloting her A-10 Thunderbolt II back to base in southern Iraq after taking heavy anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) damage in aerial combat over Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. After her tour of duty in Iraq ended, Campbell gave lectures throughout the United States about her experience, including one at the National Air and Space Museum. Kim Campbell was promoted to the rank of Major in the autumn of 2006.

Antonia "Toni" Handler Chayes is a United States lawyer and educator who served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force from 1977 to 1979 and as United States Under Secretary of the Air Force from 1979 to 1981.

Eileen Marie Collins is a retired NASA astronaut and United States Air Force colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Colonel Collins has logged 38 days 8 hours and 20 minutes in outer space. Collins retired on May 1, 2006, to pursue private interests, including service as a board member of USAA.

Erin Cathleen Conaton is a former United States Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. She previously served as Under Secretary of the Air Force.

Darva Conger is a former emergency department nurse who in 2000 was selected as the winner of the reality television show Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?

Lieutenant Colonel Olga E. Custodio is a former United States Air Force officer who became the first female Hispanic U.S. military pilot. She was the first Hispanic woman to complete U.S. Air Force military pilot training. Upon retiring from the military, she became one of the first female Hispanic commercial airline captains.

Janine Anne Davidson became president of Metropolitan State University of Denver on July 24, 2017. She served in the United States Air Force and was Under Secretary of the United States Navy from 2016 to 2017. She is the author of Lifting the Fog of Peace: How Americans Learned to Fight Modern War, a study of organizational learning and institutional change within the U.S. military. She is a national thought-leader on topics such as public service, military operations and national security policy, as well as higher education leadership.

Ruby Butler DeMesme was United States Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Environment from 1998 to 2001.

Carol Ann DiBattiste is a United States lawyer who served as United States Under Secretary of the Air Force from 1999 to 2001.

Lisa Stephens Disbrow is the former United States Under Secretary of the Air Force. From January 20 to May 16, 2017, she served as the Acting United States Secretary of the Air Force until Heather Wilson assumed the office. Previously, Disbrow served as Acting Under Secretary of the Air Force from January 2015 until she was confirmed by the Senate as the Under Secretary in January 2016. She was also confirmed by the Senate and served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller from 2014 to 2016.

Teresa A.H. Djuric is a retired United States Air Force brigadier general. Her last assignment was Deputy Director, Space and Intelligence Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

In 2003, Airman 1st Class Vanessa Dobos became the first female aerial gunner in the U.S. Air Force. This position was previously closed to women. She trained with the 58th Training Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. Her first duty station was at Nellis AFB in Nevada, and she served with distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Elonka Dunin is an American video game developer and cryptologist. Dunin worked at Simutronics Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri from 1990–2014, and in 2015 was Senior Producer at Black Gate Games in Nashville, Tennessee. She is Chairperson Emerita and one of the founders of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games group, has contributed or been editor in chief on multiple IGDA State of the Industry white papers, and was one of the Directors of the Global Game Jam from 2011–2014. As of 2020 she works as a management consultant at Accenture.

Sandra E. Finan was the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4) and Information Infrastructure Capabilities, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Pentagon, Washington D.C.

Captain Linda Garcia Cubero is a former United States Air Force officer, of Mexican-American-Puerto Rican descent who in 1980 was a member of the first class of women to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy. She is the first Hispanic woman to graduate from any service academy.

Kelly Kaplan is a social media, public relations and communication professional, and former officer in the United States Air Force, and a beauty queen from Mission Viejo, California, who competed for the Miss USA title in 2007.

Sandra A. Gregory was a Brigadier General in the United States Air Force. During her career, Gregory served in a variety of comptroller and administrative staff positions throughout the United States Department of Defense including wing and major command level assignments as well as several Pentagon tours.

Elizabeth Nicole "Liz" Jacobson was a United States Air Force airman who was killed in action in the Iraq War in 2005. A member of the U.S. Air Force Security Forces, she was the first female U.S. airman killed in the line of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the first Air Force Security Forces member killed in conflict since the Vietnam War.

Deborah Roche Lee James served as the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force. She is the second woman, after Sheila Widnall (1993–1997), to ever hold this position.

Jammie Jamieson is a United States Air Force officer and the first operational female fighter pilot selected to fly the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Her call sign is "Trix".

Captain Lillian Kinkella Keil was a highly decorated American World War II and Korean War flight nurse. Keil made 250 evacuation flights during World War II and 175 evacuation flights during the Korean War, becoming one of the most decorated women in American military history.

Marion Keisker MacInnes, born in Memphis, Tennessee, graduated from Southwestern College with a degree in English and Medieval French. She was married to Angus Randall MacInnes and had a son, Angus David MacInnes, before divorcing. She was a radio show host for WREC, where Sam Phillips worked as an announcer. She became a station manager and later Phillips's assistant at the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records. She was later a U.S. Air Force officer.

Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, and the first female African-American fighter pilot in the history of that service. She flew the F-16 Fighting Falcon during combat missions in Operation Northern Watch. She is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base where she is a member of the 78th Attack Squadron and serves as an MQ-9 Pilot and Mission Commander.

Maxine Joyce "Micki" King is an American former competitive diver and diving coach. She was a gold medal winner at the 1972 Summer Olympics in the three meter springboard event.

Amy T. Koch is an American politician and a former majority leader of the Minnesota Senate, where she represented portions of Hennepin and Wright counties. Koch, the first female Senate majority leader in state history, is also a regular commentator for Minnesota local media.

Karen U. Kwiatkowski, née Unger, is an American activist and commentator. She is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel whose assignments included duties as a Pentagon desk officer and a variety of roles for the National Security Agency. Since retiring, she has become a noted critic of the U.S. government's involvement in Iraq. Kwiatkowski is primarily known for her insider essays which denounce a corrupting political influence on the course of military intelligence leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2012, she challenged incumbent Bob Goodlatte, in the Republican primary for Virginia's 6th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives and garnered 34% of the Republican vote on a constitutional and limited government platform.

Captain Hila Levy-Williams is an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force who was the first Puerto Rican to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.

Nancy Harkness Love, born Hannah Lincoln Harkness, was an American pilot and commander during World War II. She earned her pilot's license at age 16. She worked as a test pilot and air racer in the 1930s. During World War II she convinced William H. Tunner to look to set up a group of female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to air bases. This proposal was eventually approved as the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Love commanded this unit and later all ferrying operations in the newly formed Women Airforce Service Pilots. She was awarded the Air Medal for her work during the war and was appointed lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force Reserve in 1948.

Colonel Ruth Alice Lucas, the first African American woman in the Air Force to be promoted to the rank of colonel and who at the time of her retirement was the highest-ranking African American woman in the Air Force.

Nicole Margaret Ellingwood Malachowski is a retired United States Air Force officer and the first female pilot selected to fly as part of the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds. She later became a speaker and advocate on behalf of patients suffering from tick borne illnesses.

Mary Sally Matiella is an American government official and political candidate who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Army during the Obama Administration. After several decades of federal civil service, Matiella served as the Assistant Secretary of the Army, holding office from February 16, 2010 until February 27, 2014, when she resigned and was succeeded by Robert M. Speer.

Martha Elizabeth McSally is an American politician and former military pilot appointed as the junior United States Senator for Arizona since 2019. A Republican, she served as the U.S. Representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district from 2015 to 2019. McSally served in the United States Air Force from 1988 to 2010, achieving the rank of Colonel. McSally was the first U.S. woman to fly in combat and the first woman to command a squadron.

Pamela Anne Melroy is a retired United States Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mission STS-120 before leaving the agency in August 2009. After serving as Deputy Program Manager, Space Exploration Initiatives with Lockheed Martin, Melroy joined the Federal Aviation Administration in 2011, where she was a senior technical advisor and director of field operations for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

Major Jill Metzger is a United States Air Force personnel officer who gained worldwide attention as the result of a three-day disappearance in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Captain Katrina Mumaw, is a United States Air Force Academy graduate and accomplished pilot who holds several records in aviation. On July 12, 1994, at the age of eleven, Mumaw became the youngest person to pilot a Russian MIG-29 fighter jet and also the youngest to break the sound barrier. Because of this media dubbed her "the world's fastest kid" during her youth.

Susan Lewellyn Pamerleau is a retired United States Air Force major general who served from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2016, as the Republican sheriff of Bexar County, Texas. She is the United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas.

Susan Pangelinan is a Chamorro-American member of the United States Air Force who oversaw California's response to the 2008 wildfires. She was awarded the STEM Role Model Award by the Department of Defense in 2009, and Business Insider called her one of the Most Impressive Women in the U.S. Military in 2013.

Sue Carol Payton was United States Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) from 2006 to 2010. She was born in Champaign, Illinois.

Stacy L. Pearsall is an American photographer. Pearsall served as a military photographer in the United States Air Force until her wounds lead to her medical discharge. Since her retirement from the Air Force Pearsall has worked as a professional photographer.

Heather Renee Penney is the director of United States Air Force Air Superiority at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. She is best known for her role as a USAF lieutenant who was one of two F-16 pilots who flew their unarmed planes in an atempt to ram and down United Airlines Flight 93 before it reached Washington, DC, during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Randi Joyce Robertson, better known by her air name Randi Rhodes, is an American progressive political commentator, activist and talk radio host. The Randi Rhodes Show is live streamed having been previously broadcast nationally on Air America Radio, Nova M Radio, and Premiere Radio Networks.

Patricia Rose is a retired United States Air Force Major General.

Betty Jean Sapp is the former Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (DNRO). She served as a United States Air Force Officer and employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. She was the first female Director of the NRO.

Sarah Schechter is the first female rabbi in the U.S. Air Force. She joined the Air Force as a chaplain candidate, and became a chaplain when she was ordained as a Reform rabbi in 2003. Her father was an Air Force chaplain in 1960.

Lauren Alex Scott is an American politician, civil rights activist and entrepreneur. In the June 2014 primary election, she won the Republican nomination for the Nevada Assembly's 30th District, earning 58% of the vote. Scott received 46% of the vote in the November 2014 general election and lost the election to incumbent Democrat Michael Sprinkle.

Margaret Madeline Chase Smith was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S Representative (1940–49) and a U.S. Senator (1949–73) from Maine. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either. A moderate Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of McCarthyism in her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience".

Abbie Sweetwine was an African-American nurse who was called "The Angel of Platform 6" for her work during the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash.

Mary Walker is an American lawyer who served as a high-ranking appointee under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Sheila Marie Evans Widnall is an American aerospace researcher and Institute Professor Emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as United States Secretary of the Air Force between 1993 and 1997, making her the first female Secretary of the Air Force and the first woman to lead an entire branch of the US military in the Department of Defense. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2003.

Heather Ann Wilson is the President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019. Wilson was the president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City from 2013 to 2017, and she was the first female military veteran elected to a full term in Congress. She was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 1998 to 2009.