Frontiers of Flight Museum, Texas’ premier air and space museum, is celebrating the impact of women in aerospace in a powerful luncheon event at the museum at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16.
Titled “First in Flight,” the luncheon, presented by JSX, will feature keynote speaker Theresa Claiborne, the first Black woman pilot in the United States Air Force. Claiborne went on to become the first Black woman to serve as an aircraft commander and instructor for the KC-135, an aerial refueling tanker aircraft, during her seven years on active duty and 13 years in the Air Force Reserves.
In 1990, Theresa joined United Airlines as a flight officer, starting as a flight engineer on the Boeing 727. She later flew several Boeing models, upgrading to captain on the Boeing 757/767 in 2018 and transitioning to the Boeing 787 in 2021. Over her career, she logged more than 23,000 flight hours.