Reds pipped for female display pilot

[sitigeltfel]

There was talk last month of the Red Arrows getting a female member at some time in the future, but they have been beaten to the post by Patrouille de France.

13103 : Elle est la 1ère femme pilote de la Patrouille de France (http://www.laprovence.com/articles/2009/05/12/813475-Region-Une-femme-fiere-dans-sa-combi.php)

[foldingwings]

She looks like an absolute barrel of laughs and the harrassed mother of twins!

Surely the Reds can do better than that on the 'looks' front!

Nevertheless, she is the first but probably not the last! Good luck to her.

[oldbeefer]

I've seen worse! She's a sqn ldr (equiv), so must have been around a while, I suppose.

[airborne_artist]

I suspect the poor love was having a bad hair day, not helped by a very unsympathetic photographer.

[Top Bunk Tester]

The Reds and PDF are well behind the curve, The Thunderbirds have already had two female display pilots, Maj Nicole Malachowski and Maj Samantha Weeks, both look quite delightful.

[sitigeltfel]

She looks like an absolute barrel of laughs and the harrassed mother of twins!

Surely the Reds can do better than that on the 'looks' front!

I always thought it was a display of flying skill, not a beauty contest....silly me :ugh:

Anyway, here is an interview with the young lady, somewhat hogged by the interviewer Jean-Claude Narcy.

video Jean-Claude Narcy et le capitaine Virginie Guyot face à la caméra de TVMag.com - tf1, 14 juillet, jean claude narcy - videos Tom's Guide (http://videos.tomsguide.com/video/iLyROoafYjmJ.html)

[lightningmate]

Totally agree sitigeltfel; moreover, your video link presents a charming young lady.

This forum should not be used for sexist, verging on the insulting, comments - even if written in a light-hearted manner.

lm

[maxred]

:rolleyes:Agree totally re the comments, however, the video is classic. That clown with the blue neckerchief, you can almost see her thinking 'dick'. At one point she looks as though she may wander off and do an ironing.

[Tankertrashnav]

and the harrassed mother of twins!

actually if you had read the article FW you would have seen that she is in fact the mother of a little boy. Oh sorry, isn't your French up to that?

[BEagle]

With you, lightningmate and sitigeltfel....:ok:!!

She does look (quite rightly) pretty bored during that interview though!

[PPRuNeUser0139]

And she will be taking over as Leader this year..

[Lightning Mate]

Oh, hello lightningmate.

Who are you then? Perhaps a PM is in order.

LM

[beerdrinker]

I believe the group of Red wannabes currently in Akrotiri for selection include one lady pilot.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Oh please... All of you, don't trip on your over-sized indignation... You'll break a nail... or worse...:=

How many of you that just leapt to this lady's defense have ever complained about political correctness?

The word hypocrites comes to mind. But that's ok... You all look good and just so 21st century... I bet you all thought that it's possible she lurks here too... :rolleyes:

[30mRad]

And I believe said Lady wannabee was selected.....anyone else heard the rumour?

[Brian Abraham]

The first gal to fly in an aerobatic team was Flt. Lt. Joanne 'Jo' Mein, RAAF who made her public debut on the 6th August, 1999 with the "Roulettes". Her Mum, a quite famous artist, lives 100 yards down the street.

[airborne_artist]

Her Mum, a quite famous artist, lives 100 yards down the street.

Her dad was a famous Chinese chef who invented a dish or two :E

[flash8]

Really one despairs of the sexist attitudes present on this forum....

Saying that... however she's pretty hot actually.. and French... perfick!

[Background Noise]

RAF News Page (http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive.cfm?storyid=3503BD2F-1143-EC82-2E1BB573F1C8F84A)

Well done to both.

[The Heff]

This forum should not be used for sexist, verging on the insulting, comments - even if written in a light-hearted manner.

I always thought a bit of banter was a part of the job, or is that just me?:confused:

She looks a lot better in the video, I think. Couldn't understand a word of what she was saying but then again, do you really need to? :ouch:

[GPMG]

Standby hair colour jokes.......hair colour jokes, GO!

I bet her job is going to be seriously hectic, not only will she be part of the usual PR band wagon, but also thrust in front of the camera's at every opportunity and going on visit to girls schools etc to promote equality, and encourage lasses to join.

Hat's off to her though and the chap that has been chosen, a good effort.




I wonder how long it will be before the first 'waste of money / not real RAF / arrows should be binned ' post turns up, I reckon within 6 posts. :bored:

[Brain Potter]

Red Arrows,

They are a waste of money, have no operational relevance and are a waste of money....

Do I win £5?

[OKOC]

waste of money / not real RAF / arrows should be binned. Drat too slow!

[green granite]

GPMG you should have known better. :rolleyes::):)

[Tankertrashnav]

How many of you that just leapt to this lady's defense have ever complained about political correctness?




Sorry AA, but long before the term political correctness was invented we knew instinctively that making derogatory comments in public about a lady's appearance was just boorish behaviour - I make no apology for coming to this lady's defence. And actually I think she's very pretty, though in many female circles I guess THAT remark would be considered non-PC (but not in France, I'd guess).

[Airborne Aircrew]

Tanks:

They're equal now... Remember? :}

[Duncan D'Sorderlee]

Ah, the plan for 'gingerness' to rule the world is beginning to come to fruition...

Duncs:ok:

[PPRuNeUser0139]

They're equal now... Remember?

Indeed they are - but that fact shouldn't absolve you from acting like a gentleman.

[PAPI-74]

Ginger and Red....hmm:uhoh:

[Background Noise]

Been done before - see new Red 2! (http://www.deltaweb.co.uk/reds/archive00sep.html)

[Airborne Aircrew]

Indeed they are - but that fact shouldn't absolve you from acting like a gentleman.

Where the comments being made to her face I would agree. As it was, the "boys" are having some fun... It's ok... The comments were not particularly nasty... It's the internet, if she doesn't like it she doesn't have to read it... Which applies to everyone... ;)

[PAPI-74]

Yes but he hasn't got the Red growbag on for max gingerness.
Good photographer or some PR bod has seen the proofs and ordered a second shoot.

[barnstormer1968]

I note that you did not give the father's first name, what's the matter, are you chicken. I have heard he is quite special, or is it you don't actually know him and were telling porkies.:}

[FlapJackMuncher]

Red growbags not worn til 18/5/09.
If they get their public display licence that is.

[foldingwings]

Hey, get over yourselves! It was just a bit of banter to see who would rise to the bait (and you did)! Christ Almighty (sorry all you christians out there), the military sense of humour bypass has truly taken effect since I left 2 years ago!

Now turning to that rather cute lass who has made it onto the Reds, she really has got a famous father (ex-Bucc & GW1 GR1 nav). She was a star pupil at IOT in the late 90s too and was head girl at my daughter's school in Lincolnshire. Well done Kirsty, I always knew you would be successful (to all those trying to work out who her father is, she's married now).

A tout a l'heure (just for you Tankertrashnav):ok:

Foldie

[Tankertrashnav]

A bientot FW :)

[bowly]

I see neither of them have met the selection criteria as neither have completed a front-line operational tour. Times really have changed........

[ShyTorque]

Surely, it's just as amusing that the other pilot is a Plank.

[Airborne Aircrew]

the other pilot is a Plank

Statistically, that's a dead cert... :}

[Time Flies]

I see neither of them have met the selection criteria as neither have completed a front-line operational tour. Times really have changed........

A hint of jealousy there Bowly? I wish I'd been around before times changed...it sounds great. :hmm:

[parabellum]

As the delightful Lady leader of the RAF Free Fall Parachute team said to me in the bath this morning, "Boys will be boys, let them banter on, now, come here!"

[Lightning Mate]

parabellum,

You lucky sod!

[bowly]

A hint of jealousy there Bowly? I wish I'd been around before times changed...it sounds great.

Jealous? If I'm honest, maybe, but who wouldn't be? But merely quoting the selection criteria....i.e. 'completed one operational tour'.

[brit bus driver]

I think the first female jet display team member was this lady in the Canadian Snowbirds:

heroines.ca, Women in Canadian History (http://www.heroines.ca/people/carmichael.html)

[saudipc-9]

Well jet yes but in the Oz Roulettes had the first female display pilot


Joanne 'Jo' Mein (1971-) : Pioneer Australian Aviatrix (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/mein.html)

[Right here right now]

Bowly, not sure where you've got your info from but Flt Lt Plank has done his fair share of operational tours in Afghanistan and Flt Lt Moore is reported to have been informed of her successful application on landing at Al Udeid having just flown an operational sortie over Iraq (and I guess has also done her fair share of operational tours).

[GPMG]

Hmmmm, wasn't the original female display pilot a certain Miss Hanna Reitsch?

[tezzer]

Militant feminists, or rather in this case Military feminist, I take my hat off to them, they don't like that !

Hat, coat, door.

[Mr C Hinecap]

bowly - I can second that Planky has spend quite some time providing kinetic support to the ditch-dwellers in hot hilly places. He has the t-shirt for he has been there. Stop bumping your internet gums - it makes you look daft.

[JessTheDog]

I saw an article today relating to this story and I'm impressed by the way that the Royal Air Force has embraced the equal opportunities agenda.

They're letting gingers fly with the Red Arrows! ;)

(good luck Flt Lt Kirsty Moore...sure you haven't heard that un before!)

[londonmet]

Bowly = bitter.

L met

[JAR FCL]

Oh please, you could have put money on a girl getting in the Reds. Welcome to the world of the politically correct. £10 says next year the Reds get their first gay, single parent Asian recruit. Yawn. . . . :rolleyes:

[parabellum]

Been here before but still worth the occasional repeat:


Specifically, there is an annual contest at Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
This year's term was:
"Political Correctness."


The winner wrote:


"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end"


R. J. Wiedemann LtCol. USMC Ret

[Craven Moorhed]

"£10 says next year the Reds get their first gay,,,,"

Rumour has it he was one of the three who joined last year.....:)

[Bob Viking]

Nice attempt at sh1t stirring but, knowing them, you couldn't be further from the truth!!
BV:rolleyes:

[Pure Pursuit]

Have to agree with BV on that one!

That said, they all look very camp in those red/pink grow bags...

[Craven Moorhed]

Bob V.

Just bantering chap, just banter.
All 3 from last year are mates of mine. Relax........

[Pontius]

Never mind all this stuff about chicks, ginger etc. What I want to know is why bloody 2-seaters are allowed to join the Reds nowadays. Whatever happened to the Harrier and Jag Mafia running the joint? Surely there are still enough Harrier guys around to keep the team going.

What you really need is the Senior Service Harrier mates to show you how it's done (shame they're too busy) :}

[mr brown]

Pontius,

Check your facts, think you'll find Ben Plank is a Harrier mate! :ugh:

Mr B

[Wrathmonk]

Not fishing here, or stirring, but are the RN pilots on JFH (or one of their FW QFIs) able to apply to join the Reds or does it say specifically must be RAF on the application form? I know they are the RAFAT but I'm sure there must be precedence somewhere - have there been any 'exchange' pilots on another (UK) Service display team (IIRC the RAF QFI on exchange in Australis used to be part of their display team (Roulettes) but I notice the only 'Brit' born in their team at the moment is a member of the RAAF). And aren't the Reds not only about the RAF but also UK plc?

[Pontius]

Yes, Mr Brown, we know Ben is a Harrier mate but Kirsty isn't and, I have it on good authority, that other 2-seater drivers have manged to infiltrate the team.

Wrathmonk,

It USED to be that a signal came out each year inviting applications and there was never a specific mention of one's Service on it. One particular year I was displaying, hence in the 'Inner Circle' :) and, knowing the Red's Manager very well (Bona Mates of both services stick together :}) we got to discussing this very point and looked into it a bit deeper. We discovered that it was quite possible for the Senior Service to apply for the 'job'. Of course, the selection procedure would probably ensure no Dark Blue were found sitting in a red Hawk but, at the time, I would have said the boys in the team were mates, so you never know. I have no idea, however, what their Admiralships and Airships would have thought of such a preposterous idea.

In the end a better posting offer came up but it would have been fun to have seen how far an application would have gone. Even better if I could have got the free Breitling :ok:

[threeputt]

The current Boss is an ex Goldstar (31 Sqn) Tornado stick monkey.

3P:ok:

[bowly]

Bowly, not sure where you've got your info from but Flt Lt Plank has done his fair share of operational tours in Afghanistan and Flt Lt Moore is reported to have been informed of her successful application on landing at Al Udeid having just flown an operational sortie over Iraq (and I guess has also done her fair share of operational tours).
bowly - I can second that Planky has spend quite some time providing kinetic support to the ditch-dwellers in hot hilly places. He has the t-shirt for he has been there. Stop bumping your internet gums - it makes you look daft.

But not half as daft as serving military officers (blunties) not knowing the difference between an operational tour and an operational detachment. Cretins.

[harrogate]

Sex doesn't matter.

After all, none of the spectators on the ground watching the displays will even be able to tell the difference.

But it'll be a different story after the display when they're back on the deck parking...

[mystic_meg]

Nice to see the BBC maintaining its usual standard...
BBC NEWS | UK | Red Arrows present female pilot (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8350286.stm)

Women flew in the Air Transport Auxillery in the Second World War :ugh:

[tradewind]

If you had watched the Calender News link about them on this mornings GMTV, you would have been forgiven for thinking the Reds fly Extras as it showed a link of the Blades!

Even my wife knew they weren't the Reds :ugh:

[rogerk]

In 2001 the AAC "Blue Eagles" team included the very first British female Military display pilot, Sgt Julie Wiles.

I can hear it now "mumble mumble bloody brown jobs and a Sgt to boot!!"

:ok::ok:

[BlackIsle]

Blue eagles - who are they? oh I remember - its the motorbike display team init?

[Tankertrashnav]

The BBC's bad spelling didn't surprise me at all -par for the course these days, but I'd like to know who this lady was/is.

with Jean Bird later being awarded her RAF wings.

Was this some sort of honorary award of RAF wings?

[DeepestSouth]

From the Women in Aviation site:

"It wasn’t until 1952 that the first female RAF pilot, Jean Bird, a reservist, was given her full set of wings. By this time she had been flying for 20 years, had over 300 hours on 90 aircraft types and had a Senior Commercial Pilot’s licence. In fact she had more experience than most of the instructors who trained her for her wings."

She is mentioned in 'Spitfire Women' by Giles Whittell and was an ATA ferry pilot.

[Wander00]

But then the French will steal a march on the Reds by having a female leader next year.

[Jumping_Jack]

Holy Moly, half the front page of the Times devoted to lovely colour photos.....a 'slabbing offence' extraordinaire!!!! :}

[Wensleydale]

Harrogate wrote:


Sex doesn't matter.



Have you been sneaking up past Ripon to see Mrs Wensleydale?


Actually, I remember the photographs of a "Lady" 2nd Lieutenant Adjutant of the White Helmets' Motorcycle Display Team in Mayfair a few years ago. A good use of a number 1 uniform if ever I saw one (as it gradually disappeared).:8

[green granite]

http://www.sutherlandweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/hosted/pinkarrows.jpg :E:E

[tarantonight]

Imagine the scene for the poor civvy out on the beer near Scampton. You see the Redhead in the corner, buy her a drink and try to impress her with stories of derring do.

'And what do you do for a living darlin'..........?'

'I'll get my coat'.....to coin a phrase.

[bolkow]

Saw the clip on the News, the girls inm my house are not talking to myself and my son after he (who has no interest in aircraft) piped up and asked to go to the next show they do so he could witness an aircrash live, I got in trouble for laughing!

[Tankertrashnav]

Well there's banter and there's bloody bad taste bolkow - and I reckon that post comes into the second category. Reckon the girls in your house have got it about right.

Deepest South - thanks for the info on Jean Bird. I reckon the site meant 3,000 hours though, not 300. 90 types, though! As my young nephew would say - respect!

[derbyshire]

Didn't the Soviet Union have an entire squadron of female ground attack pilots in WW2?

[BEagle]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/swp_586th_350.jpg

.

[sled dog]

Eh, girls ?

[vecvechookattack]

Bagsy the one in the middle.

[Tankertrashnav]

There was a programme about these girls on BBC Radio 4 a week or two back, but it's no longer available on "Listen Again" so I cant post a link. They interviewed a survivor and some of the tales she told made a few of our modern "steely eyed aces" look like cissies. They were equipped with open cockpit biplanes (someone no doubt will know the type, it wasnt specified) and were involved in ground attack on the battlefield. They were doing this at night, with minimum instrumentation, and used to throttle back at low level and approach their targets as quietly as possible in an attempt to avoid drawing fire from the ground. Casualties were very high, as may be imagined, and those that did not suffer combat injuries often succumbed to frostbite.

The Soviets were 50 years ahead of the RAF in using female combat pilots, I often wonder why it took us so long to catch up.

Guess I'm not as fussy as Sled Dog - they dont look bad to me ;) Great pic Beagle, where did you dig that up?

[JEM60]

The two on the left for me.

[green granite]

An interesting article about her: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article6915698.ece

[Mr-Burns]

More to the point ......... whose cooking her partners dinner while she's away galavanting around the world? Bit selfish if you ask me.

[artyhug]

You wouldn't be saying that if you'd ever tasted her cooking Mr Burns!

;)

Sorry Kirst, no offence meant, honest...

[Jetlegs]

None of them look like models; none of them need to.

http://www.ambafrance-nl.org/france_paysbas/local/cache-vignettes/L500xH375/paf1-b5fe4.jpg

[Thunderguts]

The Red Pelicans in the seventies were multi service.
Ivor Gibbs RAF
Dick Lord USAF
Bruce Byron RAAF
Marcus Edwards RN

[Capt Pit Bull]

I find this whole thread monumentally condescending.

[david parry]

http://usera.ImageCave.com/scouse/hires_Malachowski(1).jpg :ok:

[Wycombe]

Ah, The Thunderbirds ....yawn, yawn, yawn. Surely with all that noise and power, they could come up with something more exciting to watch.