Arizona Congresswoman Martha McSally, a Warwick native and a retired Air Force Colonel, will be guest of honor at the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame induction ceremony Nov. 21 at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Cranston.

McSally, a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, became the first US female fighter pilot to fly combat missions, and the first woman to command an American fighter squadron. In 2001-2002, McSally earned national recognition for filing a lawsuit and successfully overturning a military policy requiring all U.S. servicewomen to wear a Muslim abaya (a long cloak-like garment) and headscarf when off base in Saudi Arabia.

McSally graduated from St. Mary’s Academy - Bay View in 1984 as valedictorian of her class. Following her graduation from the Air Force Academy, she earned a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government before proceeding to flight school.

She was later assigned to a squadron flying the A-10 Thunderbolt and was deployed to Kuwait. In January 1995, she became the first woman in U.S. history to fly a combat aircraft into enemy territory when she flew her first sortie into Iraq in support of the United Nations no-fly zone enforcement.

She later graduated from the Air War College, first in her class of 261 future senior military leaders. Martha’s last assignment was as a Division Chief at United States Africa Command, responsible for oversight of all U.S. military operations and activities on the continent of Africa, including counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations. She retired from the Air Force in 2010 after 26 years in uniform as a command pilot with more than 2600 flight hours, including more than 325 combat hours.

After retiring from the Air Force in 2010, McSally served as a Professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall Center in Germany. She resigned her professorship in 2012 to run for Congress from Arizona, losing by less than 1 percent after an 11-day “long count” of provisional and absentee ballots. It was one of the tightest elections in the country.

She ran for Congress again in 2014, and once again had to endure a lengthy recount.

“This time, however, the results went her way,” said Hall of Fame Founder and President Frank Lennon. “As a result, we are honored to be inducting not only a modern aviation trailblazer, but also a sitting Member of Congress.”

Names of the other 2015 honorees will be released at the end of October.

“Based on the publicity from our previous inductions, we have received many nominations from the general public,” said Lennon. “We now have a pool of well over 100 people under consideration for recognition.”

Honorees are selected by an ad hoc committee representing a number of aviation groups. The committee includes previous inductees such as Robert Crandall, former chairman of American Airlines; Jennifer Murray, the first woman to fly a helicopter around the world; and Apollo 8 Astronaut Bill Anders.

“Thanks to the enthusiastic support of Rhode Island’s aviation community, all twelve of our previous inductions were oversubscribed,” said Lennon. “We expect this event will be another sellout.

Tickets to the event are $55 per person ($100 per couple); reservations can be made by calling 398-1000 or by emailing riahof@aol.com. Details can be found at www.riahof.org.