Barksdale’s B-52s to get the first woman commander of a combat Bomber Wing ever

2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base to get first woman commander of a combat bomber wing in the next weeks.

Even if it has not been officially confirmed, according to the Times Col. Kristin E. Goodwin, a 1993 graduate of the Air Force Academy who’s served since June as vice commander of the 509th Bomb Wing (nation’s only B-2 Spirit unit at Whiteman AFB, Missouri), will be appointed to lead 2nd BW at Barksdale Air Force Base, in Lousiana in the next weeks.

Goodwin, with more than 2,700 hours in the B-2, EC-130 and C-130 aircraft, has recently got her Stratofortress qualification: a requirement to lead one of the U.S. Air Force’s premier bomb units.

If confirmed, the selection of the first female commander would be just the latest of a long series of firsts for Barksdale: not only it was the first homebase of all-jet bomber wing, but it also was the first base to host Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers on a courtesy visit.  More recently, it was the base to which then-President George W. Bush flew in the aftermath of 9-11 terrorist attacks, and from where he spoke to the nation.

Image credit: Christopher A. Ebdon

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.