Her colleagues may tease her about her flame-coloured hair, but the daughter of a Gulf War hero was yesterday delighted to have made history by becoming the first woman pilot to join the Red Arrows.
Flight Lieutenant Kirsty Moore, 32, was inspired to serve with the RAF by her father who was shot down during his time as a Tornado navigator over Iraq in 1991.
She has put in more than 1,500 hours of flying and beat 40 other experienced pilots to clinch her place in the aerobatics display team.
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“The girl thing is an aside for me because I have been a female all my life and I’ve been a pilot since joining the RAF,” she said. “I know for outsiders it is a big thing, but for me it is about timing and someone was always going to be the first woman to join the Red Arrows.”
Flight Lieutenant Moore admitted that her distinctive ginger hair led to teasing from the other eight pilots, but that she gives as good as she gets.
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“You can get ribbed for almost everything and the boys will pick up on anything so my hair colour gets a mention,” she said. “But as long as I’ve got something to come back with, then everything’s OK.”
She hopes that she will inspire other women to fulfil their dreams.
“It’s important to push the boundaries and if you really want to do something, you should go for it,” she said at the Red Arrows’ base at RAF Scampton, near Lincoln. “Hopefully in a small way, by me being a Red Arrows pilot, some girls might think that this is something they could be part of and they should go for it.”
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Flight Lieutenant Moore said that she had been encouraged to join the RAF by her father, Squadron Leader Robbie Stewart, who was “immensely proud” of her achievement. When she was 13 her father was shot down and captured during a raid on an airfield in Iraq. He suffered crushed vertebrae, a broken shoulder and a broken leg. He was held captive for several weeks and was tortured by his guards but he refused to give up any information. He was later appointed an MBE. “The fact I could learn about the aircraft and not just read about them from some glossy brochure gave me then that first-hand experience,” said Flight Lieutenant Moore yesterday.
She joined the RAF in 1998 after studying aeronautical engineering at Imperial College London. She has completed two operational tours of Iraq with a Tornado squadron based at RAF Marham in Norfolk.
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Although she is married to Navy Lieutenant Nicky Moore, 34, the couple’s careers have prevented them from living together for four years. She has a three-hour drive every weekend to visit him at RAF Valley in Wales where he is a flying instructor.
She will take up the position of Red Three, just to the left of Red One, which is occupied by Squadron Leader Ben Murphy.
The Red Arrows’ Hawk jets reach speeds of up to 550mph during their routines, which include the diamond nine formation as well as barrel rolls and loop-the-loops. The team puts on 80 to 90 shows across the world every year. Flight Lieutenant Moore will stay with the Arrows until 2012, and so could take part in the London Olympics opening ceremony.
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Squadron Leader Murphy said that Flight Lieutenant Moore was chosen for her personality as well as her flying skill. “She is very calm under pressure. Red Arrow pilots also have to be able to do the job on the ground as well as the flying job and she has a very calm and level-headed approach,” he said.