In honor of Women's History Month, we are celebrating the service of Dr. Charla Morgan.
The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron is among the oldest units in the US Air Force, formed on June 13, 1917. Today, they are better known as the Thunderbirds. Originally known as the 30th
Bombardment Squadron began their long history as a training unit in France during World War
One. Their mission was to train fighter pilots in a time when flight was a brand-new concept. The 30th was stationed in the Philippines in 1941 to act as a deterrent against Japanese aggression in the region. Come the battle of the Philippines, the 30th was nearly wiped out.
Members of the squadron even picked up rifles and fought with the infantry. Many members were then captured and subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March. Those who managed to escape the Philippines relocated in Australia where they were later reformed and given the new B-29 Superfortresses. They Continued to use these B-29’s into the Korean War where they provided strategic bombing of North Korean positions and supply lines throughout the war. In 1953, the Thunderbirds were activated as an Air Demonstration Team and quickly began conducting air shows.
Amongst our collection, is a flight helmet that had been kindly donated by a prior Thunderbird,
Dr. Charla Morgan. Dr. Morgan holds the honor of being the first female flight surgeon in the
Thunderbirds. These flight helmets are specially designed for pilots and have undergone drastic changes and improvements over the course of man-made flight. What had originally been designed for simply keeping the pilots warm and the wind out of their eyes in open cockpits had quickly evolved into high-tech built-in devices equipped with built in radios and oxygen masks. Numerous other small changes had been made overtime to further improve upon the designs. Despite no longer serving in the Thunderbirds, Dr. Morgan still maintains her medical practice here in Fayetteville.
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