NATIONAL AVIATION DAY BY NIKKI HOFFMAN
Captain Annalisa Sanfilippo
NATIONAL AVIATION DAY
Monday, August 19, is National Aviation Day. Since its inception in 1946, the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, also known as the Blue Angels, has been a symbol of excellence in aviation. They made history by selecting their first woman demonstration pilot. Lt. Amanda Lee, at the age of 38, debuted as the Left-Wing demo pilot on March 11, 2023, in El Centro, California, flying Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft.
Breaking more barriers in aviation, Captain Annalisa Sanfilippo has become the first female fighter pilot of the 144th Fighter Wing, its 194 Fighter Squadron, and the California Air National Guard. She was commissioned out of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University of Oklahoma in 2022. Capt. Sanfilippo graduated from F-15C fighter pilot training at Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base, Oregon, on June 14. She had planned to become a weather officer. But once she shadowed a fighter pilot, Sanfilippo knew this was what she wanted to do.
As one woman’s flying career begins, another ends. Captain Theresa Claiborne was the first black woman to fly in the US Air Force. She attended the University of California for Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC). She was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force in 1981. She graduated from Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB in 1982 as the first African American female pilot in the U.S. Air Force. A “pioneer in the sky,” Claiborne joined United Airlines as a pilot on a Boeing 727 in 1990. She flew as a Captain on the 757/767. On May 23, Captain Claiborne landed her final flight at Newark Liberty International Airport. Now retired, she remains more active than ever in the non-profit she founded, Sisters of the Skies. The mission is to develop ways to increase the number of black women in the professional pilot career field.
On Super Bowl Sunday, February 12, 2023, four female Navy pilots also made history. Their pre-game flyover in the traditional diamond formation was the first to be flown by an all-female team. Every brave aviator in our nation and in our community is honored on National Aviation Day.