Kelly Flinn
| 1st Lt Kelly Flinn United States Air Force | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 23, 1970 (age 45) St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America |
| Service/branch |
 United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1993-1997 |
| Rank | First lieutenant |
| Other work | Proud to Be: My Life, The Air Force, The Controversy (book) |
Kelly Flinn (whose surname was sometimes misspelled as Flynn; born December 23, 1970) was the first female B-52 pilot in the United States Air Force (USAF).[1]
She was discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1997 after an adulterous affair with the husband of an enlisted subordinate, for military offenses including disobeying a direct order from her commanding officer to break off the affair, and for lying to him about having done so.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] The scandal received widespread media attention at the time and was discussed in a U.S. Senate hearing on May 22, 1997.[2]
Background
Flinn was born in St. Louis, Missouri,[8] the youngest of five children.[3] She decided to become a pilot after attending Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.[8] She attended the U.S. Air Force Academy and bomber training, becoming the first female B-52 pilot in the USAF.[1]
Charges, media coverage, and disposition
On May 20, 1997, following an adulterous affair with a civilian soccer coach at Minot Air Force Base who was married to a female enlisted subordinate in her chain of command, Flinn was charged by the military with conduct unbecoming an officer, disobeying a lawful order (in writing, to stay away from the married man), and for making a false official statement in which she lied to her superior officer, falsely telling him she had ended the affair.[3][4][5][7][8][9][10]
Flinn's case, due in part to her high visibility in Air Force recruitment advertisements, drew national attention, eventually creating a media circus. Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Ronald Fogleman testified at a congressional hearing that, "In the end, this is not an issue of adultery. This is an issue about an officer, entrusted to fly nuclear weapons, who lied."[10] The media, however, largely treated the case as though Flinn were being tried by the military for the crime of adultery, and castigated the Air Force for allegedly firing her on moral grounds; a New York Times editorial on the case emphasized the adultery, rather than the actual military charges with which she was charged, and blamed the military's "antiquated adultery rules and their consistency in administering them, as well as their management training."[11]
Following the media outcry, Flinn was allowed to resign from the Air Force by Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall with a general discharge instead of facing a court-martial.[2][4][5][6] She later wrote a book recounting her experiences, entitled Proud to Be: My Life, The Air Force, The Controversy (ISBN 0-7567-5753-3; ISBN 0-375-50109-6).
See also
- List of aviators
- List of people from St. Louis
- List of United States Air Force Academy alumni
- Jeannie Flynn
References
- 1 2 Dejevsky, Mary (May 19, 1997). "Female B-52 pilot quits over charges of adultery". The Independent on Sunday (London, UK).
- 1 2 3 , The Baltimore Sun; accessed November 20, 2015.
- 1 2 3 . The New York Times(registration required).
- 1 2 3 "Air Force gives pilot a general discharge". CNN.
- 1 2 3 Mitchell, Brian P. (1998). Women in the military: flirting with disaster. Regnery Publishing. pp. 314–15. ISBN 0-89526-376-9.
- 1 2 Brady, Tim (2000). The American aviation experience: a history. SIU Press. p. 404. ISBN 0-8093-2371-0.
- 1 2 . The New York Times (registration required).
- 1 2 3 4 .
- 1 2 "Travis Pilot a No-Show for Hearing/Captain wants to resign after admitting adultery". San Francisco Chronicle. May 16, 1997.
- 1 2 3 Kempster, Norman (May 22, 1997). "Lying, Not Adultery, Is Female Pilot's Top Crime, AF Says". Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ "The Discharge of Kelly Flinn". The New York Times. May 23, 1997.
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