She is now one of only a few women in the Air Force qualified to fly bombers such as the B-52 and the swing-wing B-1.

CNN: But spokesman says resignation is option

Duties: For the first time, B-2 bombers will fly missions from an overseas base instead of the long, round-trip flights it has previously made from Whiteman Air Force Base.

CNN: 509th Bomb Wing

Flinn, a 1993 Air Force Academy graduate, became a B-52 bomber pilot in 1995 as the service began allowing women to fly warplanes.

CNN: But spokesman says resignation is option

The administration has also made no decision about whether or how it will replace the B-52 bomber, which first flew in 1952, and under current plans will continue to fly until possibly 2037.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | Mapping a National Security Failure: Ratification of the New START Treaty | Page: 15

His voluntary return to action at an age when he was too old to fly fighter planes and too fat to squeeze into the cockpit without difficulty marked his own escape from his planet B-612.

ECONOMIST: Hunting for Saint-Exup��ry