The Fly Girls Revolt: The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat

Written by Eileen A. Bjorkman

Narrated by Lisa S. Ware

In 1993, U.S. women earned the right to fly in combat, but the full story of how it happened is largely unknown. The Fly Girls Revolt chronicles the actions of a band of women who overcame decades of discrimination and prevailed against bureaucrats, chauvinists, anti-feminists, and even other military women.

Drawing on extensive research, interviews with women who served in the 1970s and 1980s, and her personal experiences in the Air Force, Eileen Bjorkman weaves together a riveting tale of the women who fought for the right to enter combat and be treated as equal partners in the U.S. military.

Although the military had begun training women as aviators in 1973, by a law of Congress they could not fly in harm's way. Time and again when a woman graduated at the top of her pilot training class, a less-qualified male pilot was sent to fly a combat aircraft in her place.

Most of the women who fought for change between World War II and today would never fly in combat themselves, but they earned their places in history by strengthening the U.S. military and ensuring future women would not be denied opportunities solely because of their sex. The Fly Girls Revolt is their story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Aug 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350846843

Eileen A. Bjorkman

Eileen Bjorkman is a retired Air Force colonel. She was a flight test engineer during her Air Force career, flying more than 700 hours in twenty-five different types of military aircraft, including fighters such as the F-4 and F-16. She is also a civilian pilot and is the author of The Propeller Under the Bed and Unforgotten in the Gulf of Tonkin.