Rebecca Ohm is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

officer and the first female fighter pilot at the 180th Fighter Wing and within the state of Ohio selected to fly a

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

. Her aviator call sign is "Buffy". Ohm is Commander of the 180th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 180th Fighter Wing,

Toledo Air National Guard Base Toledo Express Airport, officially Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport , is a civil-military airport in Swanton and Monclova townships west of Toledo in western Lucas County, Ohio, United States. It opened in 1954-55 as a replacement to t ...

Swanton, Ohio Swanton is a village located in Fulton County, Ohio, Fulton and Lucas County, Ohio, Lucas counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 3,897 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Total area is 8.90 km2 (3.44 sq mi). History ...

Career

Ohm began her career at the 180th Fighter Wing in January 1993 where she was assigned to the Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as a flight line crew chief. In 1994, she was selected for a pilot slot at the 180th Fighter Wing, becoming the first female fighter pilot at the 180th Fighter Wing and within the state of Ohio. Ohm has been on several combat deployments and received the

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

in support of

Operation Northern Watch Operation Northern Watch (ONW), the successor to Operation Provide Comfort, was a Combined Task Force (CTF) charged with enforcing its own no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq. Its mission began on 1 January 1997. The coalition partners ...

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

, and

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. Ohm was the first female fighter pilot within the state of Ohio to become an

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

instructor pilot. She was interviewed in ''Air Force TV News'' on 2015 women's history month.

References

Living people Female officers of the United States Air Force Articles containing video clips Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women {{USAF-bio-stub