Emporia native, 1st Black woman to fly in Air Force, retires

NEWARK, NJ -- A Virginia native who broke barriers in the U.S. Air Force is retiring after 34 years at United Airlines.

Cap. Theresa Claiborne from Emporia completed her final flight from Lisbon, Portugal, to Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday.

The airline marked the occasion with a full water cannon salute.

While her father was in the military, she said she never dreamed of flying a plane.

But that all changed when she joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps in college and got to fly a T-37 twin-engine jet trainer.

Claiborne became the first Black woman pilot in the U.S. Air Force and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1981.

She is also the president of Sisters of the Skies, a group that mentors young women of color looking to become pilots.

Claiborne offered this advice for future pilots:

"Number one, you have to know how to do your job and that's what I tell people," she said. "Don't look for any handouts, just go in there and do it. You work, work, work... and then at the end of the rainbow, there's a lot of color."

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