Theresa M. Claiborne is the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

female pilot in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

(USAF).Townsel, Emily Jones. “Faces of Today's Black Women - Theresa M. Claiborne.” ''Ebony'', Mar. 1997, pp. 96–142.https://books.google.com/books?id=PK-mg0OdzuQC&q=theresa+claiborne#v=snippet&q=theresa%20claiborne&f=false

Education

Claiborne came from a military family and she went to

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

where she joined the Air Force

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in a ...

(ROTC). She realized she wanted to be a pilot while in the ROTC program. She completed her

Undergraduate Pilot Training Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is one of the nine Major Commands (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of Air Training ...

at Laughlin Air Force Base,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in 1982.

Career

On June 20, 1981, Claiborne was commissioned as

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

in the USAF. She became the first African-American female pilot in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Laughlin Air Force Base on September 16, 1982 with the class 82-08. Claiborne flew KC–135 Stratotankers for

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

for seven years. She left

active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent term is active service. India The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be o ...

in 1988. She served as an instructor pilot on the KC-135E and a flight commander for the

USAF Reserves The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commi ...

where she rose to the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

. Claiborne also began working for

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

as a first officer in 1990. She would later be promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. She retired from the military on January 6, 2003 with over 3000 military flight hours. In 2016, Claiborne co-founded the organization Sister of the Skies with pilots Christine Angel Hughes and Nia Wordlaw. Sisters of the Skies' mission is to support and build a more diverse next generation of aviation professionals by offering workshops, mentorships, and scholarships.

Awards

Claiborne was inducted into the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals Hall of Fame in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claiborne, Theresa Women aviators Women in the United States Air Force African-American women aviators 1959 births Living people