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Greetings from Thunderbird #3

CadetStuff

Captain Nicole Malachowski's name may not be right on your lips from day to day, but she's better known as "Thunderbird #3," the third pilot in the famous "diamond formation" and the first female Thunderbird pilot. (you will note, we left that last part for, well, last. Captain Malachowski's accomplishments stand on their own merit, female or not. Sure, its cool that she's the first female Thunderbird pilot, but I'm sure she was picked for her flying abilities and qualities of a United States Air Force officer, not her chromosome set! No, what's cool about Captain Malachowski is not the fact that she's a woman (not that that's not cool), but the fact that she is a member of a very exclusive club of former CAP cadets to fly the red-white-and-blue jets of the USAF Thunderbirds.)

Capt Malachowski started her uniformed and flying career in CAP's California Wing.

This introductory video comes from the Spaatz Association's Winter Dinner held in Washington DC in March 2006. Capt Malachowski's video served as the introduction to the Spaatz dinner's guest speaker, Captain Kim "Killer Chick" Campbell, A-10 pilot extraordinaire.

240 x 180, 5.5mb "Medium" resolution
Click here for the "High" resolution version (9mb)

Many thanks to the The Spaatz Association and the The United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron Public Affairs for making this video available to CadetStuff.org.

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