They were there with everybody else, right in the middle of the fraying.

Some of those women army helicopter pilots actually flew troops forward into a rack.

You had women who were definitely in hostile areas, even though they worked officially in combat.

Hello and welcome to the Fighter pilot podcast, the internet show that explores the fascinating world of air combat.

I'm your host Vincent ILO, and this week we are between featured number of episodes,

so my occasional co-host Ken Katz is here to welcome back a previous guest of his to discuss a new book of hers.

So take it away prime time.

On episode 134, retired Air Force Colonel Eileen Bjorkman joined us to discuss the role of Air Force flight test engineers,

as well as having a distinguished career in the Air Force, both as an officer and more recently as a senior member of the Civil Service.

Colonel Bjorkman is an accomplished author.

Today on the Fighter pilot podcast, Eileen joins us to discuss her latest book, The Fly Girls Revolt.

Welcome Eileen.

Thank you Ken, thanks for having me on again.

It's great. I've read your book, and I really enjoyed it, and I think that the listeners of Fighter pilot podcast would like to hear from you about it.

So let's start off with the obvious first question to any author. What's the Fly Girls Revolt about?

I think the subtitle of the book pretty well sums it up. It's the story of the women who kicked open the door to fly in combat.

That the restriction on them was finally lifted in 1993, and it was about a 50-year battle starting back in World War II to get women into military cockpits and then allow them to fly in combat aircraft as well.

Because initially they weren't allowed to fly in combat aircraft.

And so in the 70s, even when they'd started training women to fly military aircraft again, the restriction was in place.

So it was about another 20 years after they started training women that the restriction finally was lifted.

So why'd you write the book?

So I wrote the book primarily because I feel like there's been a lot written about the Wasp from World War II, and I've seen a lot of recent memoirs and books written about younger women who've flown in combat

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