United States — A female fighter pilot belonging to Strike Fighter Squadron 32, nicknamed the "Flying Swordsmen" was the first American woman in history to secure a victory in air-to-air combat, according to the United States Navy.
"During one mission, VFA-32 became home to the first American female pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact," the Navy said, adding that she was flying an F/A-18 Super Hornet.
It happened during a nine-month combat deployment on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The Navy hasn’t identified the fighter pilot, but confirmed she engaged and destroyed a Houthi drone, one of dozens of attack drones launched by the Yemen-based rebel group that have targeted civilian merchant ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters, according to the Navy.
The Houthis are an Iran-backed Shia rebel group with a strangle hold on swathes of Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East and a nation ravaged by years of civil war. Since Hamas’ attacks on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent ground and air offenses in Gaza, the Houthis claim they are seeking revenge against Israel for its military campaign by targeting Red Sea shipping as well as Israel itself.
Strike Fighter Squadron 32 finished deployment in July and returned to the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach on July 14, the Navy said, calling their service "historic." They have amassed more than 3,000 combat hours in flying almost 1,500 combat missions as part of operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity Guardian.
“The success of the entire squadron over the past nine months is a testament to all the members of the command and their friends and family at home that support them,” said Cmdr. Jason Hoch, commanding officer of VFA-32. “I couldn’t be prouder of the Swordsmen’s performance day-in and day-out in incredibly demanding conditions. We proved over and over again that the flexibility a carrier strike group brings to the fight is unmatched, and that is solely due to the highly trained and motivated Sailors who go above and beyond the call of duty each and every day.”
The first air-to-air victory by a female pilot comes 30 years after Lt. Kara Hultgreen jumped into history as the first carrier-based female fighter pilot in the Navy, flying the F-14 Tomcat off the USS Abraham Lincoln that year. Female aviators also joined the Eisenhower in 1994.
Annie Gimbel
