#Air Force captain becomes first woman to fly stealth bomber in combat

Air Force Capt. Emily Thompson
U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kat Justen

Thompson, a US Air Force F-35A pilot, recently became the first woman to fly the stealth bomber in combat, the US Air Force said.

“Of course being the first female, it’s a pretty big honor,” said Thompson, an Air Force captain, speaking from the Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates where she is currently deployed. “There’s a lot of females who have come before me and there’s a lot of females already flying combat sorties in other platforms. So just to be the person who gets that honor, that first, it just meant a lot.

Thompson, who studied to be an aerospace engineer, was attended by an all-woman maintenance crew to launch her historic flight, according to an Air Force press release.

“It was very empowering, it was awesome!” said Ashlin Randolph, a weapons load crew member who was a part of the four woman crew at the recent launch. The Air Force did not specify the launch date.

Thompson said she became interested in flying planes while in college.

“I sort of found out about the whole pilot thing,” she said. “I could fly instead of build the airplanes and it just kind of took off from there.”