Military Aviatrix

Liz Booker welcomes fellow Coast Guard aviator Ashley Leppert to share her powerful journey of resilience, healing, and purpose. Ashley, a former flight mechanic, opens up about her service during Hurricane Harvey, her battles with PTSD and autoimmune disease, and how her faith and writing became beacons of recovery and inspiration. Through candid storytelling and deep reflection, Ashley discusses...

In this inspiring episode, host Liz Booker sits down with Kodey Bogart , decorated combat veteran and former Blackhawk pilot, to talk about her debut children’s book , The Firefighting Pilot , part of the Helo Girls series. With a rich background in medevac missions, aviation safety, and helicopter operations, Kodey brings her real-life experiences to life through storytelling aimed at young reade...

In this episode of the Military Aviatrix podcast, host Liz Booker sits down with author and trailblazing former Navy pilot Loree “Rowdy” Draude. Together, they honor the remarkable milestones women have achieved in naval aviation and discuss the lessons that come from breaking barriers. Loree shares stories from her memoir, She's Just Another Navy Pilot , offering a candid look at her time in the...

In this episode of the Military Aviatrix podcast, host Liz Booker welcomes former Army Apache helicopter pilots Laura Pangallo Fryer and Morgan Samuels. These two trailblazing aviators share their journey from military aviation to becoming authors and illustrators of the empowering children's book, Be Something Epic . Laura and Morgan discuss their experiences serving as women in a male-dominated...

🚁✈️ In this interview, Liz sits down with author and retired U.S. Coast Guard Captain Martha LaGuardia-Kotite to talk about her incredible career, culminating in her role as the Commandant’s Press Secretary. They dive into her inspiring books: 📖 So Others May Live: Saving Lives, Defying Death 📖 Changing the Rules of Engagement: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Leadership from Women in the Milit...

In this episode of the Military Aviatrix podcast, host Liz Booker welcomes author Mary Jennings Hager to discuss her powerful memoir, 'Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman's Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front.' Mary shares her inspiring journey from a challenging childhood to becoming a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, detailing her experiences in combat, the fight for women’s role...

In this episode, Liz sits down with Samantha Arrington Sliney, co-author of the empowering children's book "All the Things Our Mommy Can Do." Discover the stories of women breaking barriers and redefining gender roles in traditionally male-dominated fields. Samantha shares insights into her career as a Judge Advocate and her impactful work with the Department of the Air Force Women's Initiatives T...

What if you could step inside the mind and experiences of an incredible woman who bravely served as a helicopter crewman in the British Air Force? Would you be captivated by her tales of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, or her journey as the only female crewman in her unit for five years? Join us in a powerful conversation with Liz McConaghy, author of the memoir "Chinook Crew Chick", as she p...

In this interview Liz Booker talks with USAF Academy graduate, F-16 combat veteran pilot, former no. 3 Thunderbird demonstration team pilot, and boy-mom  Caroline ‘Blaze’ Jensen  about her sweet new picture book,  Thundermouse , her career, and how she managed one of the most visible and demanding jobs imaginable as the mother of a toddler. Blaze is the granddaughter of a WWII SPAR (Women's Coast...

Liz Booker @LiteraryAviatrix talks with fellow retired Coast Guard helicopter pilot Darcy Guyant @dolph_and_gwen about his picture book,  Into the Storm: The Coast Guard Adventures of Dolph and Gwen . Darcy started his aviation career in the US Army and transitioned to the Coast Guard, which hires about a third of its pilots from other services through their Direct Commission Aviator program. In r...

Get ready to be inspired as we take to the skies with guest Michelle Curran, a former Air Force Major Fighter Pilot and Thunderbird Demonstration Team Pilot. She's here to share how she's using her experiences to ignite dreams in young girls' hearts through her new picture book. With an emphasis on mentorship, the book encourages children to chase their dreams, no matter how high they might fly. J...

Dive into the thrilling world of aviation and military history as we explore the awe-inspiring life of Valerie Andre with acclaimed author Charles Morgan Evans. A woman of unparalleled courage and determination, Valerie Andre shattered gender stereotypes to become the first female pilot and doctor in the Vietnam War serving in the French Air Force. This episode is an exciting deep dive into the pa...

Author, retired Air Force Colonel, former flight test engineer, and Executive Director of the Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, Eileen Bjorkman, talks about her new book, FLY GIRLS REVOLT: THE STORY OF THE WOMEN WHO KICKED OPEN THE DOOR TO FLY IN COMBAT. Eileen weaves her own experience as an Air Force flight test engineer in this history that, uniquely among books that fo...

In this interview, Liz Booker talks with Lieutenant Commander Ronaqua Russell about how she found her way into Coast Guard aviation, her participation in hurricane relief efforts as an HC144 pilot, the experience of receiving the Coast Guard Air Medal at Moton Field, home of the Tuskegee Airmen, and the role mentorship has played in her success as the fifth Black female pilot in the Coast Guard. R...

In this conversation with Mandy Hickson, author of An Officer Not a Gentleman, she talks about her experience as a Tornado GR4 combat pilot for the British Royal Air Force and how she has translated that experience to the business world as a motivational speaker. Mandy faced many of the challenges common to women in male-dominated fields with determination and humor. She also talks about how those...

In this interview Liz talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Beverly Weintraub, about her book Wings of Gold: The Story of the First Women Naval Aviators. On Feb. 2, 2019, the skies over Maynardville, Tennessee, filled with the roar of four F/A-18F Super Hornets streaking overhead in close formation. In each aircraft were two young female flyers, executing the first all-woman Missing Man Fo...

In this interview Liz talks with retired Air Force Colonel and airline pilot, Julie Tizard, about her flying careers and her book, The Road to Wings, a lesbian romance novel set in Air Force Flight Training in the early 1990s, which incorporates the intensity of military flight training from both the student's and instructor’s perspectives and the high stakes of same-sex relationships in the milit...

In this interview, Liz talks with Air Force Academy graduate and pilot Patty Bear about her memoir,  FROM PLAIN TO PLANE: MY MENNONITE CHILDHOOD, A NATIONAL SCANDAL, AND AN UNCONVENTIONAL SOAR TO FREEDOM . The book chronicles Patty’s journey from her childhood in an old-order Pennsylvania Mennonite community through a highly publicized scandal involving her father’s excommunication from the church...

In this interview, Liz talks with author Raquel Ramsey, the widow of decorated veteran Ed Ramsey, and her coauthor, Tricia Aurand about their book  TAKING FLIGHT: THE NADINE RAMSEY STORY , about WWII Women Air Force Service Pilot, Nadine Ramsey.  In October 1944 Nadine Ramsey was thirty-three and she was flying the cutting-edge P-51 Mustang to New Jersey, its last stop before heading to the war in...

In this interview, Liz talks with author Clare Mulley about two incredibly complex and fascinating women: Hannah Reitsch, who was the first female helicopter pilot in the world and a fanatical Nazi, and Melitta Stauffenberg, who was an aeronautical engineer and test pilot for the Nazi regime, but who was also a resistor.  Clare has written three historical biographies including THE WOMAN WHO SAVED...

In this interview with Col. Merryl Tengesdal, USAF (ret.)  @dragonlady788 , the only Black woman to fly the U2 reconnaissance plane and a contestant on the reality television series TOUGH AS NAILS, she talks about growing up in the Bronx, her start in aviation with the Navy, flying H60 helicopters at sea, challenges with supervisors, the difference in Navy and Air Force aviation cultures, the impo...

In this conversation with author Melody Foreman, Liz and Melody talk about WWII British Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Mary Ellis who she features in her biography A SPITFIRE GIRL: ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST FEMALE ATA FERRY PILOTS TELLS HER STORY, and Melody's other work, which focuses on Britain in WWII. The ATA Ferry pilots were challenged with climbing into a variety of aircraft with little-to...

Powerful and Eye Opening Interview! A Must Listen! OPEN SKIES: MY LIFE AS AFGHANISTAN’S FIRST FEMALE PILOT In this interview with the Afghan Air Force's first female fixed wing pilot, Niloofar Rahmani, and her co-author, Adam Sikes, we talk about the incredible challenges Niloofar faced to fulfill her dream of flight, and her ultimate decision to seek political asylum in the United States. This bo...

In this interview, I talk with NYT #1 Best-Seller, Elizabeth Wein, about her flying adventures, her books, and the history of the women who flew for their countries during WWII on the European Front, including the British Air Transport Auxiliary, the Russian Night Witches, and the Luftwaffe test pilots. You can find her many books on her website, www.elizabethwein.com. In addition to the many book...

Women Veteran Helicopter Pilots Amber Smith – DANGER CLOSE: MY EPIC JOURNEY AS A COMBAT HELICOPTER PILOT IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN Guest Host Liz Booker talks with Amber Smith, a former U.S. Army Warrant Officer and Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot and author of Danger Close: My Epic Journey as a Combat Helicopter Pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan, about her call to service, her experiences as a woman in...