{"id":28903017,"date":"2026-10-20T16:51:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=28903017"},"modified":"2026-10-20T16:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:51:55","slug":"jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeannie Leavitt: How the US Air Force Got Its First Woman Fighter Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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She asked for the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-15e-strike-eagle\/\">F-15E Strike Eagle<\/a>. The answer was no: women were not allowed to fly combat aircraft. Within weeks the policy changed, and Leavitt became the Air Force&rsquo;s first woman fighter pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Full name:<\/strong> Jeannie M. Leavitt, call sign &ldquo;Tally&rdquo;<\/li><li><strong>Education:<\/strong> Aerospace engineering, University of Texas at Austin; aeronautics and astronautics, Stanford<\/li><li><strong>Commissioned:<\/strong> 1992, as a distinguished graduate of Air Force ROTC<\/li><li><strong>Fighter:<\/strong> F-15E Strike Eagle, from 1993<\/li><li><strong>Firsts:<\/strong> First female USAF fighter pilot; first woman to graduate from the Weapons School&rsquo;s fighter track; first woman to command a USAF combat fighter wing<\/li><li><strong>Flying:<\/strong> More than 3,000 hours, including more than 300 in combat<\/li><li><strong>Retired:<\/strong> 2023, as a major general<\/li><li><strong>Today:<\/strong> Dean of the College of Aviation, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">&ldquo;Instead, Tankers&rdquo;<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leavitt had already earned an aerospace engineering degree in Texas and a master&rsquo;s at Stanford when she entered the Air Force in 1992. Women had been flying military jets as instructors and in non-combat roles for years, but combat aircraft were closed to them. According to Air &amp; Space magazine, all but a few of her instructors warned her that asking for a fighter would mark her as a troublemaker and could damage her career. She asked anyway, and was assigned to fly tankers. Her official record shows that she went first to Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, to train as a T-38 instructor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 28 April 1993, Defense Secretary Les Aspin opened combat aircraft to women. At the Pentagon the same day, the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Merrill McPeak, named the first women who would train on fighters, with Leavitt heading for the F-15E. Asked whether she was jumping the queue ahead of male pilots, McPeak replied that she was not leapfrogging anyone, she had been delayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/maj-gen-jeannie-leavitt-official-portrait-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Official portrait of US Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeannie M. Leavitt\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt. Photo: US Air Force, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Luke, Seymour Johnson and &ldquo;Tally&rdquo;<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leavitt began F-15E training with the 555th Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, in July 1993. Not everyone welcomed her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Some men were subtle with their lack of support, while a couple were outwardly hostile toward me.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Jeannie Leavitt<\/strong> &mdash; to Air &amp; Space magazine, 2020<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April 1994 she joined the 336th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Her call sign, &ldquo;Tally&rdquo;, comes from &ldquo;tally ho&rdquo;, the call for visually spotting an enemy aircraft. She has never told the whole story, saying only that call signs are usually earned for doing something silly.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Weapons School and Combat<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1998 Leavitt became the first woman to graduate from the fighter track of the US Air Force Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, the service&rsquo;s graduate school for tactics instructors, and later returned there to teach. She flew combat missions over Iraq in Operations Southern Watch and Northern Watch, and later in Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, logging more than 300 combat hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/jeannie-leavitt-steps-to-f-15e-razor-talon-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"Col. Jeannie Leavitt and Capt. William Roedl walk to their F-15E during exercise Razor Talon\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Col. Leavitt and her weapon systems officer walk to their F-15E during exercise Razor Talon in 2013, while she commanded the 4th Fighter Wing. Photo: A1C Brittain Crolley, US Air Force, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Back to North Carolina, in Command<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She went on to command the 333rd Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson, and in June 2012, eighteen years after first arriving there as a lieutenant, she took command of the whole 4th Fighter Wing, the first woman to command a US Air Force combat fighter wing. Later commands included the 57th Wing at Nellis, home of the Weapons School and the Thunderbirds, and the Air Force Recruiting Service. Her final post was as the Department of the Air Force&rsquo;s Chief of Safety and commander of the Air Force Safety Center. While at Nellis, she advised the makers of the film Captain Marvel and shared her experiences with its star, Brie Larson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leavitt flew her last Air Force flight in 2023 and retired at the end of September that year as a major general, after more than three decades of service. She is now Dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University&rsquo;s Prescott campus in Arizona. Another F-15E pioneer, Nicole Malachowski, became the first woman to fly with the Thunderbirds; we tell her story in <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/nicole-malachowski-first-woman-thunderbirds-pilot-f-15e\/\">Nicole Malachowski<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I was not interested in being the first; I just wanted to be the best fighter pilot I could be.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Jeannie Leavitt<\/strong> &mdash; on her final Air Force flight, 2023<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Popular Version Gets Right<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story as it is usually told is accurate in its essentials: first in her class, refused a fighter, the 1993 policy change, McPeak&rsquo;s defence of her, the hostility in training, the call sign Tally, the Weapons School, the wing command eighteen years after she first arrived at Seymour Johnson, Captain Marvel, and her retirement as a two-star general now teaching at Embry-Riddle. Some details need care. The ban was lifted weeks rather than months after her pilot training ended. Some lines often attributed to her, including the dialogue from her assignment call, do not appear in published interviews we could find. Popular claims that the film copied her car and leather jacket are not confirmed by any official source. And her best-known quote is usually paraphrased; her own words are above. Accounts differ on whether her service ran to 31 or 32 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: US Air Force official biography, Maj. Gen. Jeannie M. Leavitt; Morgan Smith, &ldquo;A Woman&rsquo;s Right to Fly and Fight&rdquo;, Air &amp; Space\/Smithsonian (August 2020); Air Education and Training Command, &ldquo;First female fighter pilot takes last Air Force flight&rdquo; (2023); Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University faculty profile; California Aeronautical University (2019); The Daily Courier, Prescott.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who was the first female fighter pilot in the US Air Force?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Jeannie Leavitt became the US Air Force&rsquo;s first female fighter pilot in 1993. After the Pentagon opened combat aircraft to women on 28 April 1993, she trained on the F-15E Strike Eagle at Luke Air Force Base and joined the 336th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in 1994.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What aircraft did Jeannie Leavitt fly?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Jeannie Leavitt flew the F-15E Strike Eagle as a fighter pilot, instructor and commander. She also flew the T-37, T-38A and AT-38B trainers, and logged more than 3,000 flying hours, including more than 300 in combat.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is Jeannie Leavitt&rsquo;s call sign?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Jeannie Leavitt&rsquo;s call sign is &ldquo;Tally&rdquo;, from &ldquo;tally ho&rdquo;, the call for visually spotting an enemy aircraft. She has said call signs are usually earned for doing something silly, but has not told the full story.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why wasn&rsquo;t Jeannie Leavitt first assigned to a fighter?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">When Jeannie Leavitt finished pilot training in early 1993, US policy barred women from flying combat aircraft, so her request for the F-15E was refused and she was assigned to tankers. The ban was lifted on 28 April 1993, and she was then selected for F-15E training.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did Jeannie Leavitt command a fighter wing?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. In June 2012 Jeannie Leavitt took command of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, becoming the first woman to command a US Air Force combat fighter wing. She later commanded the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base and the Air Force Recruiting Service.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was Jeannie Leavitt involved in Captain Marvel?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. As commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Jeannie Leavitt advised the makers of Captain Marvel on how to portray female Air Force pilots and shared her experiences with the star, Brie Larson.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is Jeannie Leavitt doing now?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Jeannie Leavitt retired from the US Air Force as a major general in 2023 and is now Dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University&rsquo;s Prescott campus in Arizona.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was the first female fighter pilot in the US Air Force?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Jeannie Leavitt became the US Air Force\u2019s first female fighter pilot in 1993. 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As commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Jeannie Leavitt advised the makers of Captain Marvel on how to portray female Air Force pilots and shared her experiences with the star, Brie Larson.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is Jeannie Leavitt doing now?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Jeannie Leavitt retired from the US Air Force as a major general in 2023 and is now Dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University\u2019s Prescott campus in Arizona.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/nicole-malachowski-first-woman-thunderbirds-pilot-f-15e\/\">Nicole Malachowski: The First Woman to Fly With the Thunderbirds<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/mary-ellis-ata-pilot-400-spitfires-without-radio\/\">Mary Ellis: The ATA Pilot Who Flew 400 Spitfires Without a Radio<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/queen-suthida-gripen-solo-flight-thailand-2026\/\">Queen Suthida Flies the Gripen Solo: Thailand\u2019s First Female Gripen Pilot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1993 Jeannie Leavitt finished first in her pilot training class, asked for the F-15E and was told women could not fly combat aircraft. Weeks later the ban was lifted. She went on to fly more than 300 combat hours, command a fighter wing and retire as a two-star general.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":28902844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28903017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jeannie Leavitt: The USAF\u2019s First Female Fighter Pilot | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jeannie Leavitt topped her pilot training class in 1993, was refused a fighter, then became the US Air Force\u2019s first female fighter pilot and its first woman to lead a fighter wing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jeannie Leavitt: The USAF\u2019s First Female Fighter Pilot | MiGFlug\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jeannie Leavitt topped her pilot training class in 1993, was refused a fighter, then became the US Air Force\u2019s first female fighter pilot and its first woman to lead a fighter wing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - MiGFlug&#039;s Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T14:51:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T14:51:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/jeannie-leavitt-f-15e-strike-eagle-4th-fighter-wing.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tamika Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tamika Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tamika Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/88afb39d0a02d6de10537662492fb68d\"},\"headline\":\"Jeannie Leavitt: How the US Air Force Got Its First Woman Fighter Pilot\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-20T14:51:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-20T14:51:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1384,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/jeannie-leavitt-first-female-fighter-pilot-usaf-f-15e-tally\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/jeannie-leavitt-f-15e-strike-eagle-4th-fighter-wing.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"History &amp; 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