The Fly Girls Revolt, Eileen A. Bjorkman
The Fly Girls Revolt, Eileen A. Bjorkman
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The Fly Girls Revolt
The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat

Author: Eileen A. Bjorkman

Narrator: Lisa S. Ware

Unabridged: 9 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/29/2023


Synopsis

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.

About 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.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chad on July 10, 2023

In her captivating and inspiring book, "Fly Girls Revolt: The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat," Eileen Bjorkman takes readers on a thrilling journey through the untold history of women pilots in combat. With meticulous research and a talent for storytelling, Bjorkman she......more

Goodreads review by Tyson on June 10, 2023

Really enjoyed Col(ret.) Eileen Bjorkman’s superb account of the long struggle for women to fly combat fighters. The author weaves her history as a flight test engineer into the larger struggle, and she identified those critical women and advocates who fought to get women into combat cockpits. I hig......more

Goodreads review by Neil on January 20, 2025

I really enjoyed this book by Eileen Bjorkman, it is a quick easy read and you do not need to be an expert on aviation or the military to appreciate the material. The book focuses on women in military aviation but gives a good historical overview of women’s contributions to the US military as this mu......more