The U.S. Navy says it has its first Black female fighter pilot.
The Naval Air Training Command tweeted that Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle is the Navy's “first known Black female [tactical aircraft] pilot.”
The 2017 Naval Academy graduate recently completed her Tactical Aircraft training and will receive her “Wings of Gold” insignia later this month.
Military.com says that a 2018 investigation it conducted with Navy-provided data revealed that only 1.9 percent of the service’s pilots assigned to fighter jets were Black.
Swegle is assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 in Kingsville, Texas.