Meet Zimbabwe’s first female jet pilot

The aviation field is generally dominated by males across the globe. However, this did not stop one determined woman from fulfilling her ambition to fly aircraft in general, and fighter jets in particular. Squadron Leader Angeline Bosha made history when she became the first female fighter jet pilot of the Air Force of Zimbabwe.

Squadron Leader Bosha (30) qualified as a fighter jet pilot after she completed a year-long training course in China in the year 2018. To emphasize just how good she is, she was the only female student in a class of 14 pilots from across the world.Her superiors have also acknowledged her skill and talent highlighting that Squadron Leader Bosha has managed to break history because she met the grade required for a fighter jet pilot and not because of some preferential treatment or affirmative action policy.

Speaking after Squadron Leader Bosha completed her training course, deputy base commander, Josiah Tungamirai Air Force Base (former Thornhill Air Base), said “Flight Lieutenant Bosha is the first female fighter jet pilot of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, before Flight Lieutenant Bosha we have never had a female pilot going to the fighter jets.“What has made her unique is that she has met the grade that is required of a fighter pilot, she is not going there because of affirmative action but because she meets the required criterion of a fighter jet pilot.“…The course has its own physiological challenges, I must say she is unique she has made it and we will not look at her as a woman but we will look at her as a fighter pilot,”

Bosha also buttressed the same point advising women not to seek preferential treatment when they enter male-dominated fields. In an interview a year ago when she was still a Flight Lieutenant, Bosha said,“The most important thing to ladies out there is that they should not expect special treatment because there such fields like ours where there is no separation when it comes to training, the training is standard for both male and females so there is no special treatment,”

In an interview with BBC she remarked “Being a wife, being a mother, should not stop us as women … to deliver what is expected of us at work.