Jane Foster

Captain Jane Foster CD, is a retired member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. She is noteworthy for being one of the first Canadian women, and one of the first women in the world post WWII, to fly a fighter jet, along with her contemporary, Dee Brasseur. Biography Foster joined the Canadian Forces in 1982 as one of the candidates in a trial program called SWINTER (Service-Women in Non-Traditional Environments and Roles.) SWINTER ran from 1979 to 1984, to assess whether women were competent to serve in various military roles. As part of SWINTER, Foster trained as a pilot and received her military wings in 1984. Upon completion of her training, she was posted to the 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School (2CFFTS) in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She worked as an instructor at 2CFFTS for four years; in 1988, she was selected to be in the first cadre of female pilots to fly Canada's McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet, commonly known as the CF-18 Fighter Jets. One other woman, Dee Brasseur, was selected for the program at the same time. The program was heavily condensed, and "crammed a four-year university course into one year." It required study of up to 18 hours a day on the CF-18 controls. Foster received combat-ready status after six months. On February 20, 1989, a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal declared that the Canadian Forces were obligated to remove "any remaining employment restrictions base on sex, with the exception of submarine duty." While Foster and Brasseur were already enrolled in the training, the public commitment to women's integration in the Canadian Forces was supported by their participation in the CF-18 training.