The email arrived in Michelle Curran’s inbox at a most inconvenient time, shortly before she was to report to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for her next assignment.
Under almost any other circumstance, Curran would have ignored it. This email – a final callout for applications to join the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds air demonstration team – could not be so easily dismissed, however.
Curran wasn’t sure whether she should apply, so she asked her supervisor for guidance. If he would have told her to honor her commitment to Holloman, Curran said recently on The Fighter Pilot Podcast, she would have accepted his advice and reluctantly moved on.
Read Next: ‘Top Guns: The Next Generation’ Shows the Successes and Struggles of Aspiring Fighter Pilots
Instead, he couldn’t have been more encouraging.
“I think you would be perfect for that job,” Curran recalled of that conversation to podcast host Vincent Aiello – a former Navy fighter pilot. “What can I do to help you get your application in on time?”
One of a Select Few Female Thunderbirds
Suitably inspired, Curran rushed to beat the deadline to apply. The airman survived an intensive interview process and never made it to Holloman, relocating to where the Thunderbirds train at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas.
Curran flew the F-16 Fighting Falcon for the Thunderbirds from 2019 through 2021, including a stint as the squadron’s lead solo pilot. Only seven women have flown for the Thunderbirds since they were established in 1953 -- six years after the Air Force became its own service branch -- and Curran was just the second female to fill the lead solo pilot’s position. Capt. Samantha Weeks was the first, in 2007 and 2008.
5 Things to Know About the Thunderbirds
- They were activated on June 1, 1953, at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Three years later, they moved to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
- They fly about 75 demonstrations annually and have never scrubbed a performance because of maintenance issues.
- They have performed in front of more than 300 million fans in every U.S. state and 58 other countries.
- In 1987, they became the first U.S. military demonstration team to perform in China.
- Officers normally serve a two-year commitment to the Thunderbirds. For enlisted personnel, it’s three or four years.
Source: Air Force
Any airman, though, soon realizes that their aerial skills will be tested like never before during their time with the Thunderbirds.
“We always joke with the new hires: ‘You have to kill your survival instinct,’” Curran said on the podcast. “The opposing passes, head-on at each other, passing 70 feet apart, 500 knots each, no one is comfortable doing that.”
Being a Thunderbird is much more than thrilling thousands of fans at air shows, Curran said. In many ways, the pilots are the faces of the Air Force, doing meet-and-greets with fans and visiting schools and hospitals. Throw in the hours of travel and practice, and flying a fighter jet at speeds exceeding 700 mph (and everything that comes with it) is not always as fun as it seems.
“You’re in one of the coolest jobs that so many people want,” she said. “It’s an honor to be in that role, but it’s not an easy schedule.”
The FBI’s Loss Was the Thunderbirds’ Gain
Curran wasn’t one of those youths who grew up wanting to fly. Her goal was to become an FBI agent, and she majored in criminal justice at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. To help pay for her education, she joined ROTC.
Early on, she figured she would graduate, fulfill her military commitment, then apply for a spot at the FBI Academy. That all changed when she visited Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and saw two F-15 Eagles take off late in the day.
The image was so picturesque and mesmerizing, it inspired Curran to alter her career plans.
“Jet noise vibrates your whole body,” Curran recalled on The Fighter Pilot Podcast. “[It’s] deafening, goose bumps, visceral reaction, orange afterburner flame against the Florida setting sun. I’m just like, ‘Oh, holy shit, how do I do that?’”
From that point, Curran yearned to fly -- fighter jets, in particular. She graduated flight school in 2011 but struggled after she was assigned to Misawa Air Base in Japan. Dealing with the complexities of flying the F-16, Curran doubted herself.
Her confidence was so shaken that she considered quitting.
“I remember feeling trapped because I had a 10-year contract,” Curran recalled. “They just spent a million-plus dollars to train me, and then I was just so adverse to the idea of failing and the shame I associated with that. Even though I felt trapped and I wanted to leave and didn’t love this like I thought I was going to, the idea of saying that and acting on it felt so shameful.”
Curran’s comfort level improved after she moved in 2015 to serve as an F-16 instructor and flight commander at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas. She was there for three years before the opportunity to join the Thunderbirds came along.
She never would have made it that far if she had walked away.
“Sometimes, you just have to experience the hard stuff,” Curran said.
For more on Curran’s time with the Thunderbirds and what the retired Air Force major is doing now, you can listen to The Fighter Pilot Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Overcast. Past episodes are available on the podcast’s website.
Here is the Thunderbirds’ 2025 schedule.
Related: 2 Elite Marine Corps Pilots Reveal What It's Like to Fly a F-35B Fighter Jet
Keep Up With the Best in Military Entertainment
Whether you're looking for news and entertainment, thinking of joining the military or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to the Military.com newsletter to have military news, updates and resources delivered straight to your inbox.
