Kelly Flinn

Kelly Flinn, born in 1970 in St. Louis, Missouri, is a former United States Air Force pilot who was the first woman to fly the B-52 bomber. She decided to become a pilot after attending Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, then went through the U.S. Air Force Academy, undergraduate pilot training and B-52 training. In 1997 she was charged with conduct unbecoming an officer, disobeying a lawful order, lying to investigators and fraternization, and the case became a national media story and the subject of a Senate hearing in May 1997. The Air Force chief of staff said the central issue was an officer entrusted with nuclear weapons who lied. Flinn was allowed to resign with a general discharge rather than face court-martial. She later flew as a commercial pilot for Trans World Airlines and wrote a memoir, Proud to Be.