Women in Combat - UK

.Women's Roles In UK Military - Forces > .

Flight Lieutenant Julie Ann Gibson was the first full-time female pilot for the Royal Air Force when she graduated in 1991. Previously a ground-based officer, she learnt to fly while attending City, University of London. She was subsequently assigned to No. 32 Squadron RAF flying Hawker Siddeley Andovers, and following her promotion to Captain, Lockheed C-130 Hercules at RAF Lyneham.

She attended the City, University of London, where she graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. While at University, she had learnt to fly and had joined the associated University Air Squadron.

Gibson joined the Royal Air Force College in 1984, and following her officer training, she was posted to RAF Honington in Suffolk. She was initially in charge of 75 engineers. In the following assignment, she commanded 160 men in the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II tactical weapons unit. Alongside fellow female pilot Sally Cox, Gibson took her first solo flights in 1990 at RAF Linton-on-Ouse. She successfully applied for pilot training, going on to train in the Advanced Flying Training Wing. She graduated as the first female pilot in the RAF on 14 June 1991 at No. 6 Flying Training School RAF, within RAF Finningley. She was assigned to No. 32 Squadron RAF, where she flew Hawker Siddeley Andovers out of RAF Northolt. She was subsequently promoted to Flight Lieutenant, and assigned to fly Lockheed C-130 Hercules at RAF Lyneham.

Joanna Mary Salter (born 27 August 1968, in Bournemouth) was Britain's first female fast jet pilot flying the Panavia Tornado ground attack aircraft with 617 Squadron, she later became an inspirational speaker.

Salter joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18 with the intention of becoming an engineering officer but she went on to train as a pilot after the British government announced that women would be allowed to fly jet aircraft in 1992. As part of her engineering training she had studied at the Royal Military College of Science. Salter was awarded her wings on 3 April 1992 and at the end of 1992 she finished her fast jet training at RAF Brawdy with Dawn Hadlow (nee Bradley), who became Britain's first RAF female flight instructor.

In August 1994 Salter joined 617 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth in August 1994 as a flight lieutenant, and was declared "combat ready" by the RAF on 21 February 1995. Salter was the first woman to be an operational Tornado pilot and she later flew from both Turkey and Saudi Arabia in protection of the no-fly zone over Iraq. Whilst flying ground attack Tornados, Salter started an MBA course with the Open University in 1996, being sponsored by the MoD, she completed the course in 1999.