[Poohbah]

Lt. Hultgren was not qualified to wash a Tomcat, let alone fly one. That is a fact. She committed safety errors that would have gotten better men sent packing. She had multiple downs in the training command. Many NFO's refused to fly with her. Her death was tragic because she had no business in that airplane. The Tomcat is a difficult airplane under the best conditions. The Navy killed that girl, because they were under orders.

What's interesting is that the Air Farce, for all its warts and flaws, handled bringing women onto combat aircrew duties much more professionally.

Remember Lieutenant Kelly Flynn? How many Navy Captains or flag officers would have sent her up for a court-martial like the Air Force did?

[Pukin Dog]

Poohbah, the truth is that the AF had more problems than we did. They were only better at PR, and keeping leaks under control. They had fewer women make it as a percentage through their pipeline even though they had easier aircraft and conditions to deal with.(not to mention long runways) AF standards were always lower than the Navy's because they place more emphasis on procedures and regimentation. In the Navy, flying (and CARQUALS in particular) comes first.