Walkabout: PI
Happenings in the Star City
Last month was Women’s History Month, and a Presque Isle native was part of a team honoring the past and making new history as she helped coordinate a momentous military flight.
Staff Sgt. Belinda Thoreson is the crew chief of the U.S. Air Force’s 707th Maintenance Squadron, based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La. On the morning of March 22, 2016, she watched with pride as, for the first time ever, two all-female crews took a pair of B-52s into the skies with a twofold mission: to mark Women’s History Month, and to honor women who have served their country in the military and government work.
In an article in that day’s Shreveport Times, reporter Lex Talamo said the crews were comprised of women of all different ranks as a means “to represent the diversity and strength of women in the Air Force and the 2nd Bomb Wing.”
“For them to be all female and fly a plane like that, it means a lot. We just made history,” Thoreson commented in that article.
The flight was actually a training mission that included an air refueling, something familiar to those who remember Loring AFB’s KC-135 aircraft — the tankers that would fly alongside, connect with and refuel B-52s in midair.
A 2008 graduate of Presque Isle High School, Thoreson has been in the Air Force for six years. She is the daughter of Robin and Bart Bagley of Presque Isle and Jeff and Sue Thoreson of Framingham, Mass., and has two sisters, Amy of Presque Isle and Carly of Framingham.
“When I was chosen to be one of the females launching out a B-52 full of an all-female aircrew, I felt honored,” Thoreson said recently. “I have been a B-52 aircraft mechanic for six years, and this has been my biggest accomplishment.”
As crew chief, she is tasked with making repairs, inspecting aircraft and helping prepare crews for their flights. She said launching an aircraft — making it fly — is the most rewarding part of her job.
“I hold the lives of the aircrew in my hands daily,” she continued. “We pour our souls into these aircraft to make sure they are safe and ready for anything.
“To be recognized for the job I do, as a female, means a lot. There are always people there telling you, ‘You aren’t good enough because you are a girl.’ Those people are the ones that push me to work harder and to be better.”
“It’s a very proud moment,” said Thoreson’s mother, Robin Bagley. “I’m honored that she is serving her country — but it’s not every day that your child makes history.”
And it was historic, she emphasized — these women did something that had never been done before.
“I’m proud of the whole crew,” Bagley noted. “It’s been a privilege and an honor to see them do this.”
Honoring women in history actually started as a weeklong celebration in 1982, according to the Library of Congress’ website. In 1987, prompted by a petition by the National Women’s History Project, Congress made it a month-long recognition, and through additional resolutions and presidential proclamations, March is now designated Women’s History Month.
Bagley said she is certain the impact of the Barksdale flights will leave a lasting impression on her daughter. “This is something she can hold on to for the rest of her life, ” she said.
Thoreson agreed.
“It was a memory I will never forget, something I will hold dear my entire life — and [it’s] something I hope is inspiring other young women in the world. It is history.”
