No Men Allowed: Navy Shuffles Super Bowl Flyover Team

Military.com reported Friday that the Navy quietly ditched the original team scheduled to conduct a flyover of the Super Bowl game to only include female aviators.

As announced on Good Morning America earlier this past week, the team will feature 11 female pilots and flight officers out of a total of 16 aviators, seven of which are scheduled to perform the spectacle at this Sunday’s big game.

Military.com reported that the original group of 15 flight officers only featured three women, according to a press release dated January 27.

This shuffling is being presented as a commemoration of 50 years of female participation in the Navy’s flight program.

“The flyover also commemorates 50 years of women flying in the U.S. Navy. In 1973 the first eight women began flight school in Pensacola, Fla., and one year later six of those eight women, titled “The First Six,” earned their Wings of Gold,” stated the press release. “Since then, women have served, operated and led at every level of Naval Aviation.”

The initial press release and announcement, still reflected in some social media posts, shows a small number of comments deriding the apparent lack of women in a lineup that was supposed to honor female Navy aviators. Most of the initial social media posts promoting the flyover have since been deleted.