![]() Japan, however, is only the latest to join an Asia-wide trend to begin training female combat pilots since the turn of the 21st century. She now flies an F-15J, a Japanese-built variant of the powerful twin-engine air-superiority fighter. Misa, who told media she had been fascinated with jet fighters since she saw Top Gun in primary school, jumped on the opportunity to switch from transport to fighter training. Therefore, boosting female participation expands the pool of talented individuals willing to serve in the JSDF. The JSDF is a volunteer force and is suffering severe shortfalls in personnel even as Abe seeks to build it up to counterbalance China. More generally, since 2013 Abe has sought to increase female labor force participation to compensate for Japan’s aging population and low birth rate. For comparison, women make up between nine and 15 percent of most Western militaries. However, in 2015 the government of Shinzo Abe opened fighter pilot training to women as part of a larger initiative to increase the female participation from the current 6.4 percent percent of Japan’s self defense force to nine percent by 2030. The JASDF began training female pilots in 1997, but when Matsushima graduated from the National Defense Academ in 2014 the service still didn’t permit women to fly fighter and reconnaissance aircraft. Three more women soon followed.īefore starting operational service, the 26-year-old Matsushima will practice intercepting intruders with the 305th squadron at Nyutabaru Air Base. Misa Matsushima, pictured at top, became the first woman to qualify to fly a jet fighter for the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. No Black women were chosen as WASPs, despite the many qualified pilots who applied.On Aug. Most went through the CPTP first and then went through another round of specialized training after gaining acceptance as a WASP. ![]() They also freed up male pilots for active combat missions during World War II. These female aviators tested aircraft, transported planes and trained other pilots. The Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, were American civilian pilots. The CPTP trained around 2,000 Black pilots in total. It was in February 1944 that the first Tuskegee-trained pilots saw combat. The first Tuskegee Airmen to deploy headed to North Africa in April 1943 as part of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The Tuskegee program trained around 1,000 pilots and nearly 14,000 other individuals for professions like navigators, mechanics, bombardiers and more. The most famous of the training spots was at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. Government funds were appropriated to several colleges and universities for the program, including historically black colleges. Suddenly, African Americans and women could pilot planes. The program meant individuals previously excluded from pilot training could learn to fly through educational institutions. A great success, the CPTP trained 435,165 pilots from 1939 - 1944. ![]() Preceding the law was the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) which aimed to train 20,000 civilian pilots a year for military service. This law helped get America ready for World War II by training up aviators for future combat. ![]() Roosevelt signed the Civilian Pilot Training Act into law.
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