Meet ‘Mace’

From 2019 to 2021, she flew as the only female pilot for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and performed for millions across the country and internationally. In 2006, Maj. Nicole Malachowski was the first female Thunderbird pilot, followed in 2007 by Maj. Samantha Weeks. Curran was the first female lead solo. Capt. Lauren Schlichting began training in November 2021 as the new Thunderbird 3. She becomes only the sixth female pilot to fly with the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron in its 70-year history.

“I saw the fighter jets taking off. That orange flame from the afterburners at sunset….It was a pivotal moment for me.”Curran did not come to aviation early; she was not from an aviation or military family. She entered U.S. Air Force ROTC as a criminal justice major, hoping to join the FBI. But a dusk flight at Tindell Air Force Base in Florida changed her mind. “I saw the fighter jets taking off. That orange flame from the afterburners at sunset…the vibration that went through my body. It was a pivotal moment for me.” But without any flying experience, the switch to flying jets was “like drinking from a firehose; it was a foreign language in every way to me,” she says, adding that she suffered from “imposter syndrome” for nearly three years while flying combat in Europe and Asia.

It was while in Japan that she was given the call sign “Mace” but says she can only tell why she has the name to someone in person (get your chance to ask at EAA AirVenture). The only thing she’ll reveal is that a call sign is usually based on “something dumb” that a fighter pilot did, usually during training.

Curran says she realized that while flying is cool, the best part of her experience was inspiring others to overcome their fears and pursue their dreams. Since transitioning out of the military, she has founded Upside Down Dreams, and written a children’s book by the same name (see “Bookshelf,” p. 41). —JSW

Michelle Curran will be speaking in the AOPA tent at EAA AirVenture, held July 24 through 30.