Telegraph

'I was smiling: I had dropped my bombs. They hit' By Martin Bentham and Adam Lusher (Filed: 21/10/2001)

IT is an astonishing Girl's Own story: how a sporty pupil from a leading British public school who once dreamed of becoming an air stewardess grew up instead to be a hot-shot American pilot, flying daily bombing raids on Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Ashley - we cannot reveal her surname - attended the £9,800-a-year Sevenoaks School in Kent. She captained the school at cricket, played in the netball team and went on to study economics and accountancy at a London university.

When she grew out of her girlish ambition to be an air stewardess, a career in the City beckoned. By then, however, Ashley had set her sights on something different: becoming one of the first females to be an elite "Top Gun" pilot in the US Navy.

Although she had been brought up in Surrey, her ambition was possible because she had been born in Texas, to American parents who emigrated to England when she was six months old.

Her interest in flying began in school. At 14, she joined the RAF Cadet Force and flew Chipmunks. "It was the British air force that got her started, you might say," her father said last night.

Later, she flew Cessnas at Redhill Flying Club, Surrey, before getting her licence during a summer holiday from university. She was interviewed twice by British Airways about a commercial pilot's post, but, at the age of 21, opted for the US Navy.

Five years on, Ashley stood last week on the deck of the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, laughing as she spoke to The Telegraph about her typical British background. Several thousand miles away in Surrey, her parents also spoke of their pride in their daughter's extraordinary exploits.

In her first interview with a British newspaper since the conflict started, the 26-year-old spoke of the pressures of her job. With her hair cut in a bob, her bright blue eyes and diminutive frame, Ashley does not conform to the stereotype of a fighter pilot.

Mumbles, as she is nicknamed by colleagues who have difficulty with her mix of English and American accents, is the only female pilot in the Black Lions squadron on board the Carl Vinson. She flies F14 Tomcats - a two-man Navy fighter jet, each worth £26 million and made famous in Top Gun, the film starring Tom Cruise.

For the past two weeks Ashley has been dropping 500lb, 1,000lb and 2,000lb laser and satellite-guided bombs on daily sorties over Afghanistan. She says: "We [female pilots] are very few and far between but we just do our job like everyone else. I really love it. I'll be here until this squadron leaves."

Being shot at is frightening but it does not deter Ashley in her determination to carry out her duty. Her most dangerous mission was a recent daytime strike during which Taliban fighters launched a barrage of missiles.

"They didn't wake up until I dropped one right on top of them. It was very, very exciting to see the bomb hitting its target, but then I started seeing the 'triple A' anti-aircraft fire coming at me.

"I could see puffs of smoke - in the night time you see flashes, but not in the daytime - and it was right underneath my aircraft. I was thinking, 'You don't want to hang around here', but we had another target so we came round and hit that too.

"It was the first time I had come under fire. I was excited and I was smiling because I had dropped my bombs and they had definitely hit." Asked if she ever felt frightened, she replied: "I feel nervous when I am walking out to the plane but once I'm getting ready that goes."

She added: "There's always a bit of stress too when you cross the border into Afghanistan, because they are not very friendly. But we sign on the dotted line and we know what we are going into. I always wanted to be a fighter pilot. This is what it is about."

Ashley, a lieutenant, can be referred to only by her first name, in accordance with American security rules. She admitted feeling regret that her bombs kill people. "It is an unfortunate position to be in, but we do our job. In an ideal world we would never have been here."

She said there is a determination among all the pilots to avoid civilian casualties. Some raids had been aborted when a clear sight of the target had proved impossible. "We don't drop unless we are 100 per cent sure it is the target. Collateral damage is something we avoid at all costs."

With flight deck crews working to prepare her squadron's 10 Tomcats for action, Ashley reflected on how far her career as a wartime pilot was removed from her life in England, and from the career in accountancy that once beckoned.

She said: "Accountancy wasn't my thing. Sitting in an office in a multi-storey building wasn't for me. So I finished my degree in England and decided to come back to the US to join the Navy because I like the military and I like flying, and the Navy has the two together. It took about six months to get recruited. I got my wings last year."

She remains proud of her British roots. Habits from home remain: she starts every day with a cup of breakfast tea, sent by her parents in Surrey.

"I love England and I am really glad that it is supporting us in this. My mum, dad, brother and sister still live there, so I get lots of feedback from them about how things are over there and what people are thinking.

"I've got lots of friends there too and I'm getting lots of e-mails from them telling me that I'm in their thoughts and that they're saying their prayers for me. I'm also getting e-mails from friends of friends, people I've never even met. That motivates me."

The bombing has been arduous for Ashley and her fellow pilots. About 40 to 50 sorties are flown each day from the Carl Vinson, with each mission lasting between four and six hours. Ashley is one of fewer than 10 female fighter pilots in the US where, unlike Britain, women can fight on the frontline.

Her parents, Ray and Carolyn, both 58 and originally from Louisiana, retain their Deep South accents but still live in the home in Surrey where Ashley grew up.

Carolyn told The Telegraph: "I'm incredibly proud and sort of terrified. When she last visited in June I made a deal with her. I said, 'If you are ever in a conflict, I know that for security reasons you can't tell me what's going on but if you can at least send me e-mails about anything at all so at least I'll know you have got safely back to the ship'. She's done that for me."

The nearest Ashley's e-mails get to revealing operational details are snippets such as those sent on September 29, mentioning that she had just returned from a "night trap": a mission.

Usually, her e-mails are taken up with requests for jokes, food from home and favours for her six-year-old Persian cat, Herbie, who lives with her parents. Carolyn revealed that her daughter's skills and fearlessness as a pilot were first honed while horse riding.

"She was always very technically minded and had an excellent memory. She could look at an eventing course and it would be fixed in her mind. I'm sure that helped her pick up the technical details of the Tomcat. She would never shy away from the big jumps and if she ever fell off she would get straight back on. It's the same sort of courage."

Her father, Ray, a consultant in the petroleum industry, described Ashley as "a daredevil", while Tommy Cookson, the head teacher of Sevenoaks School, said: "The school is extremely proud of her and prays for a safe outcome."

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001