There have been two violations of the United States’ airspace recently and the Navy has its priorities where you might expect them to be after the incidents. On making certain the Super Bowl is woke.
Quietly the Navy got rid of a group of aviators who was set to do a flyover of Super Bowl LVII and replaced them with an all female group of aviators, Military.com reported.
When the Navy first said that it would be performing the Super Bowl flyover, it was in a far more humble press release put out Jan. 27, 2023. It featured a lineup of 15 aviators — only three of whom were women and who are all flight officers, not pilots.
Although that plan didn’t come with top TV spots, the service did release the names of the pilots and a set of “trading cards” with their photos on its image database. Navy-focused outlets like USNI News reported on the lineup at the time.
There were also posts on many of the Navy’s social media pages, too.
While most of these posts are now gone, a handful, complete with comments pointing out the lack of women in an event aimed at commemorating them, remain.
But on “Good Morning America” on Thursday the Navy announced it would honor five decades of women flying by have an all female crew.
“It was surreal,” Navy Lt. Catie Perkowski said on the show.
“I didn’t believe it,” Navy Lt. Suzelle Thomas said about when she learned she would be on of the pilots.
“My dad did ask me to call him from the sideline on the Super Bowl,” Perkowski said. “But for me, as a football fan, when I got the call to do the Super Bowl flyover, it’s almost like a dream initially for someone who loves the NFL.”
She said that the Navy, nor her fellow pilots, make a distinction about her gender.
“What it boils down to is that we trained to do this job together,” the pilot said. “I didn’t join the Navy to be female fighter pilot. I joined the Navy fighter pilot, so to me it makes no difference.”
Perkowski said that she will also be honoring the men that serve with her.
“There’s also men and women that we serve with every day. They work on my jet. They’re the ones that make sure that I am able to fly,” she said. “So to be able to carry them with us, it’s really exciting.”
“To commemorate 50 years of women flying in the U.S. Navy, the service will conduct a flyover of State Farm Stadium during the national anthem with female aviators as part of the formation. The formation will be composed of an F-35C Lightning II from the ‘Warhawks’ of Strike Fighter Squadron VFA- 97, two F/A-18F Super Hornets from the ‘Flying Eagles’ of VFA-122, and an EA18G Growler from the “Vikings” of Electronic Attack Squadron,” the Navy said in a press release.
And as the Navy focuses on celebrating women at the Super Bowl on Friday it shot an unidentified flying object from the sky in Alaska.
“On February 9, North American Aerospace Defense Command detected an object on ground radar and further investigated and identified the object using fighter aircraft. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. pat Ryder said.
“U.S. Northern Command is beginning recovery operations now. U.S. Northern Command’s Alaska Command coordinated the operation, with assistance from the Alaska Air National Guard, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” he said.
“We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose, or origin. The object was about the size of a small car, so not similar in size or shape to the high altitude surveillance balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4,” he said.
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