Medford native to soar over Milwaukee
Woman is pilot of F-16 in Air & Water Show
After flying in airshows across the country, Thunderbirds pilot and Medford native Michelle Curran is coming home to Wisconsin for the 2019 Milwaukee Air & Water Show.
Since Curran began performing in February as the second female solo pilot in the history of the squadron, the Thunderbirds’ schedule has been packed with 19 events including flyovers for the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and the Captain Marvel premiere. The Milwaukee show, which will take place over Lake Michigan near McKinley Beach on Saturday and Sunday, is the first time Curran will be performing in her home state.
“Everyone who’s previously been there that’s on the team still just raves about how much they liked the Milwaukee show and how awesome the people are and how awesome the cheese curds are,” she said.
Of course, Curran already knows that Wisconsinites and cheese curds are amazing (she’s a hardcore Packers fan who grew up with cheeseheads around the house), but she’s still excited to be coming home.
Although her family lives in northern Wisconsin, Curran expects to have around 20 relatives, some of them driving up to six hours, come see her perform. Just over two months ago, she got married and now has a 6-year-old stepson who loves, along with her new husband and in-laws, to watch her fly.
“It’s cool to really show them what I get to do for a living up close and personal,” she said.
As the squadron’s “opposing solo pilot,” Curran, who goes by call sign “Mace,” must execute maneuvers on her own in addition to flying in formation. Each maneuver has specific parameters, from altitude to airspeed, that must be met. And while keeping
tabs on those metrics she also is listening to the flight leader — the boss, she says — who calls out loops, rolls and repositioning commands.
On a vertical roll, for example, she spirals straight up from 200 feet to 15,000 feet. In formation, her wing tip can be as close as 18 inches to a neighboring plane.
Just to add another layer of complexity, the boss will call out coordinated smoke releases and the lead solo pilot will occasionally break off to perform his own maneuvers.
“It’s a well-orchestrated, almost like a dance, that goes on for those 45 minutes,” Curran said. There are “a lot of moving parts that all rely on one another.”
In this high-pressure environment, pilots cannot let fear or uncertainty creep in. For Curran, it’s concentration and muscle memory that keep her mind locked into the demands of performance flying.
This level of comfort took years to develop. Curran decided to get her pilot’s wings while attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, on an ROTC scholarship. When she graduated in 2009, she was one of just two candidates in her class of 25 selected to fly fighter jets.
Curran was assigned to an F-16 Fighting Falcon squadron and was stationed for three years in Japan, where she flew throughout the Pacific. In 2016, she served a two-month deployment in the skies over Afghanistan.
According to a biography posted on the Thunderbirds website, Curran accumulated more than 1,200 flight hours and more than 160 combat hours. Before being chosen as a Thunderbird, she served as an F-16 instructor pilot in Fort Worth, Texas.
Curran and her fellow pilots joke that while the show schedule is intense, the most stressful work happens during their training season. All recruits selected for the squadron are highly skilled, like Curran, but they still have to adapt to the team’s aerial acrobatics.
Thunderbird assignments are two years long so the squadron spends a lot of time acclimating new recruits. In the beginning, recruits take baby steps, learning to fly in formation with one plane and practicing maneuvers at high altitudes. Slowly, the team works up to all six planes and begins flying closer to the ground. At the peak of training season, the squadron will fly up to 10 times in a week.
Working through this demanding schedule, Curran quickly bonded with the other Thunderbirds members. She now works out and gets meals with them. When they are on the road, traveling from show to show, they explore towns together. Recently, Curran took a two-day break on Mackinac Island with some of the other squadron members. For her, the group feels like family.
The Thunderbirds team is made up of more than just pilots; 130 people representing 30 different career backgrounds work together to make the airshows possible. The assignment is highly competitive so only the best in their field make the cut.
“I’ve had little girls come up to me and be like ‘I saw you and I want to fly jets someday.’ ”
Michelle Curran Thunderbird pilot
“It’s pretty amazing to see everyone come together as a well-oiled machine and put six jets up every single weekend,” Curran said.
As much as she loves flying, Curran’s favorite part of being a Thunderbirds pilot is working with children. Between shows, the team visits schools and hospitals and attends various meet and greets. For her, it does not get better than talking with a kid who is clearly inspired.
“I’ve had little girls come up to me and be like ‘I saw you and I want to fly jets someday,’” she said. “There’s really nothing else like having an opportunity to be put in a position where I can influence someone like that.”
Since this is her first season, Curran has another year of training, airshows and meet and greets to look forward to. After she finishes her assignment and prepares the pilot who will replace her, she is not sure where she will end up. Everyone she talked with has told her to focus on the mission. Opportunities both inside and outside the Air Force will crop up naturally as she travels around the country meeting new people.
“I’m trying to take that advice and go with it,” she said.