All-female crew conducts 'unmanned' refueling flight for Women's Equality Day

Aug. 24 (UPI) -- In honor of Women's Equality Day, an all-female crew supported an "unmanned" KC-10 aerial refueling mission, the 380th Expeditionary Wing announced Tuesday.

The "unmanned" KC-10 Extender aircraft took off on Aug. 1 from Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, the 380th Expeditionary Wing said in a press release.

Aerial refueling missions to extend airborne time in support of regional missions regularly come in and out of the base, but the the Aug. 1 take off was rare because an all-female crew supported it, the Air Force said.

Capt. Carly Jones, a KC-10 pilot and boom operator in the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, served as the all-female flight's commander and conducted pre-flight checks. Just 6% of pilots in the U.S. Air Force are women.

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jesca Taylor, electrical and environmental systems specialist, and Airman 1st Class Marilyn Sossa, crew chief, both of the 380th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, were on the ground pre-flight to ensure aircraft safety for the mission, according to the statement.

"At times it can be challenging to prove yourself to the men," Taylor said in the statement. "Oftentimes I have to work twice as hard to prove that I am capable of doing the same job, and I am part of the team that supports the same mission."

U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. Brianna Wilson, 908 EARS, like Jones, is one of only a few female boom operators on the base.

"I could talk for days about reasons I love my job," Wilson said in the statement, "but I was sold on the refueling itself, flying overall and the travel that comes with it."

Female flight engineers are even more rare than female boom operators with Tech. Sgt. Jordana Gordon being the only female flight engineer in 908 EARS.

"My training was done by all men, my instructors are all men," Gordon said in the statement. "This was the first time I've flown a mission with all women, and the entire flight, there was an awareness that this flight was different -- this is rare and we were all accomplishing something special together in that moment."

The 908th EARS commander, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Lindsey Bauer, came up with the plan to execute the all-female mission in recognition of Women's Equality Day, which will be officially observed later this week on Aug. 26.

"The last time I was deployed to Al Dhafra in August 2011, we flew an all-female flight," Bauer said in the statement. "I was the aircraft commander of that mission, and we saw morale instantly increase when getting four women together ... There's just an honor and a huge appreciation for being able to form an all-female crew, especially in a combat environment."

Back in 1983, seven Air Force women marked the first trans-Atlantic flight by an all-female crew in a roundtrip from McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. to West Germany, an Air Force spokesman said at the time.