Dee Brasseur

Last updated
Dee Brasseur
Personal details
Born
Deanna Marie Brasseur

(1953-09-09) September 9, 1953 (age 70)
Pembroke, Ontario
Known forOne of the first female RCAF Fighter Pilots
Military service
Allegiance Canada
Branch/service Air Command
Years of service1972–1994
Rank Major
Unit 416 Squadron
Commands 417 Squadron - Flight Commander

Deanna Marie "Dee" Brasseur, CM (born September 9, 1953) is a Canadian retired military officer (Major). She is one of the first three women to earn her wings as a Canadian Forces (C.F.) military pilot for active duty [1] and also one of the first of two female CF-18 Hornet fighter pilots in the world.

Born in Pembroke, Ontario, a daughter to Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Lionel C. (Lyn) Brasseur and Marie Olive (Aucoin), she joined the Canadian Forces in 1972 as an administrative clerk at a dental unit detachment in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The following year, she was accepted for commissioning under the Officer Candidate training program. She graduated as an Air Weapons Controller in 1974. In 1979, she was accepted for pilot training. She along with Nora Bottomley and Leah Mosher graduated from Canadian Forces Flight Training School in Portage la Prairie. [1] She received her wings in 1981. In 1988, she took fighter pilot training. In June 1989, following twelve months of training on Canadair CF-5 and McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet jet fighter aircraft, Brasseur and Captain Jane Foster (pilot) became the only two women in the world flying fighters in operational squadrons. Canada was the first country to allow women to fly in a combat role since the Second World War, when the Soviet Union used women pilots. [1] Brasseur was promoted to major in 1989 and posted to National Defence Headquarters (Canada) in Ottawa at the Directorate of Flight Safety, in March 1990. [1] She retired from the military in 1994 with 2,500 hours of jet flying. [2]

In 1998, a Maclean's cover story on sexual abuse in the Canadian Forces prompted Brasseur to go public with her own experiences. In the June 1 edition of the magazine, Brasseur claimed that throughout her 21-year career she faced unwanted sexual advances, was raped by her enlisted boyfriend and was coerced into having sex with her flight teacher. [3]

In 1998, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2007, she was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Cochran</span> American aviator and businesswoman (1906–1980)

Jacqueline Cochran was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation as one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation. She set numerous records and was the first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953. Cochran was the wartime head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (1943–1944), which employed about 1000 civilian American women in a non-combat role to ferry planes from factories to port cities. Cochran was later a sponsor of the Mercury 13 women astronaut program.

The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1914, with the formation of the Canadian Aviation Corps (CAC) that was attached to the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. It consisted of one aircraft that was never called into service. In 1918, a wing of two Canadian squadrons called the Canadian Air Force (CAF) was formed in England and attached to the Royal Air Force, but it also would never see wartime service. Postwar, an air militia also known as the Canadian Air Force was formed in Canada in 1920. In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) when it was granted the royal title by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janusz Żurakowski</span> Russian-Polish-British-Canadian fighter and test pilot

Janusz Żurakowski was a Polish fighter and test pilot. At various times in his life he lived and worked in Poland, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Wagstaff</span> American aviator

Patty Wagstaff is an American aviator and U.S. national aerobatic champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Canadian Air Force</span> Air warfare and space branch of the Canadian Armed Forces

The Royal Canadian Air Force is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2020, the Royal Canadian Air Force consists of 12,074 Regular Force and 1,969 Primary Reserve personnel, supported by 1,518 civilians, and operates 258 manned aircraft and nine unmanned aerial vehicles. Lieutenant-General Eric Kenny is the current commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force and chief of the Air Force Staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerrie Cobb</span> American aviator and astronaut (1931–2019)

Geraldyn M. Cobb , commonly known as Jerrie Cobb, was an American pilot and aviator. She was also part of the Mercury 13, a group of women who underwent physiological screening tests at the same time as the original Mercury Seven astronauts. She was the first to complete each of the tests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicole Malachowski</span> US Air Force officer

Nicole Margaret Ellingwood Malachowski is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and the first female pilot selected to fly as part of the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds. She later became a speaker and advocate on behalf of patients with tick-borne illnesses.

NATO Flight Training in Canada (NFTC) is a military flight training program for NATO and allied air forces provided by the Canadian Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fighter pilot</span> Military combat aviator

A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting. A fighter pilot with at least five air-to-air kills becomes known as an ace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weapon systems officer</span> Air officer in charge of armaments

A Weapon Systems Officer (WSO), nicknamed "Wizzo", is an air flight officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of a military aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Bryant Mariner</span> Pioneer female US Naval Aviator

Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner was an American pilot and one of the first six women to earn their wings as a United States Naval Aviator in 1974. She was the first female military pilot to fly a tactical jet and the first to achieve command of an operational aviation squadron.

Rosella Marie Bjornson, is a retired Canadian airline pilot, who was the first woman in North America to be hired as a First Officer for a Canadian airline and the first woman member of the Canadian Air Line Pilots Association, International.

Major Micky Colton (Ret.) is a retired female Canadian military pilot, FEEL facilitator and author. She joined the military in August 1980, just a few weeks after the Canadian military first started accepting female civilian recruits in their pilot program. Having received her pilot's wings in 1982, she spent most of her time in the military as a Search And Rescue (SAR) Pilot, operating the CC130 Hercules aircraft. In 2000, she became the first female pilot to log 5000 hours on the Hercules, and in 2009 was honoured by being added to the 100 names to commemorate 100 years of flight in Canada gracing the side of a CF18 demonstration hornet. She retired from the military in 2011, was a reservist until 2018 coordinating SAR launches for 424 Squadron, and is now no longer serving.

Lt. Col (Ret.) Joseph Armand Gerard Fernand Villeneuve was a Canadian aviator who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1950 and was the first leader of the RCAF's Golden Hawks aerobatic team. He flew for 32 years as a military jet fighter pilot Villeneuve was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Howell Warner</span> American aviator (1939–2020)

Emily Joyce Howell Warner was an American airline pilot and the first woman captain of a scheduled U.S. airline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Jane Raines</span> American aviator

Hazel Jane Raines was an American pioneer aviator and flight instructor with the Civilian Pilot Training Program. During World War II, she was part of the first group of United States women to fly military aircraft, which they did in a war zone for the civilian British Air Transport Auxiliary. She was later a member of the civilian contract labor Women Airforce Service Pilots. After the war, she taught instrument training in Brazil. When President Harry S. Truman authorized the integration of women into the military, she served with Women in the Air Force and was based in Texas, Alabama, and finally London until her death. Raines was the first woman in Georgia to earn a pilot's license, and has been inducted into both the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame and the Georgia Women of Achievement.

Leah Mosher was a Canadian pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and was one of the first three women to earn their wings in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tammie Jo Shults</span> Pioneer female US Naval Aviator

Tammie Jo Shults is an American retired commercial airline captain, author, and former naval aviator. She was one of the first female fighter pilots to serve in the United States Navy. Following active duty she became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. She retired from Southwest Airlines in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Greenblatt Howren</span> American aviator (1917–1998)

Evelyn Greenblatt Howren was an American woman aviator from Atlanta, Georgia. She helped organize the first all-woman squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, was one of the first women air traffic controllers in the U.S., and was in the first class of Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. After the war she remained active in the aviation business in Georgia for many years. She was the third woman inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.

Captain Jane Foster CD, is a retired member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. She is noteworthy for being one of the first Canadian women, and one of the first women in the world post WWII, to fly a fighter jet, along with her contemporary, Dee Brasseur.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Pennington, Reina (2003). Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 69. ISBN   0313327076.
  2. "About Me". Archived from the original on 2008-08-20.
  3. "More Rape in the Military". Maclean's Magazine . Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.
  4. "2007 Pioneer Hall of Fame". Women In Aviation, International. Archived from the original on 2009-10-10.