Linda A McDonald, née DuMoulin née Horan

Linda A McDonald was born in Hawaii to non-military parents, Calvin Bruce McDonald and Leontine Blaine Hart, and grew up on a small ranch in the High Sierra foothills near the town of Grass Valley, Calif.

McDonald went to San Jose State University for her BA degree in fine arts, plus a post-graduate degree in education from Chico State University in 1966. From there, she went to the University of Montana for her MFA in fine arts in 1969.

Upon graduation, McDonald’s first job was in Korea as an art director for the Army; she was often flown to her remote work sites by helicopters, which led to her love of aviation. Three years later, she joined the Woman’s Army Corps (WAC) to pay off college debts, but then the Army opened up the aviation field to women. She was then Linda M Horan and checked all the different services for their aviation possibilities.

The Marines hadn’t opened aviation open to women yet, and she passed on the Navy as she gets seasick. The Air Force scoffed at her post-graduate degree in art, so she tried the Army. They, too, questioned her fine arts degree, but DuMoulin asked if they had anything in writing that prevented her from trying out for aviation training. They did not and reluctantly told her to take the required exams and get a flight physical, of which she successfully passed. In September 1974, Horan earned her Army Aviation wings as their second female pilot to graduate from the U.S. Army Aviation Center.

Horan had transferred from WAC to the Transportation Corps that ran the Helicopter Maintenance Test Pilot schools, and she became their first female graduate in 1975. Her first aviation job was with the 498th Medevac Company at Fort Benning, Ga. She was their maintenance test pilot and a Medevac pilot. A few years later, she became the chief maintenance test pilot at the SE Repair Facility at Fort Benning, where she discovered her strong natural mechanical ability. DuMoulin cross-trained into fixed-wing in 1977 and holds a FAA commercial rotary wing license.

The Army asked Horan to apply to the Astronaut Program, as she was the first female pilot ever eligible. She did, pointing out that her dual MFA was in the art field. She said her rejection letter was the nicest she ever received. Then in the summer of 1978, she was selected for the U.S. Helicopter Championship Team to compete in Russia. She also was the first female to provide Medevac support to the U.S. Rangers Camp at Dahlonaga, Ga.

In September 1978, she became the first female Cobra Gunship graduate and flew the Apache Helicopter prototype before it was on the public market. Later in the year, she was assigned to the 70th Transportation Bn as a maintenance test pilot. Offered a command in 1980, she became the Aviation Headquarters Detachment Commander with the 59th Air Traffic Control Battalion in Bavaria, Germany, at Schwäbisch Hall. She was the first female aviator to have an aviation command, before the other services. Her detachment earned the AAAA recognition as part of the of 59th ATC Battalion awardees in 1980. Horan was also asked to attend the German Captains Advanced Course. She attended the Command and General Staff College and was the first female aviator to graduate in 1983.

LTC Horan’s secondary career field was public affairs, and she graduated from the Defense Information School in 1984. As a program manager, she was assigned to the Army Advertising Directorate at Fort Sheridan, Ill., and then later assigned to the NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium, as a public affairs officer (PAO). In 1988, Horan was assigned to the Pentagon as a PAO for the Secretary of Defense. She was then Linda M DuMoulin. During Desert Storm, she was the Department of Defense representative in the Pentagon Crisis Cell. She was the worldwide newsletter editor for the Women in the Military Association (WMA), which received national accolades.

In 1992 DuMoulin retired from active duty, moving to Washington state, where she became active in the Washington Wing Civil Air Patrol that did search and rescue on Mount Rainier. In 1998, based on her background, she was asked by the Medicine Creek Tribal College (Puyallup Tribal Nation) to develop and head their fine arts department. She is part Native American on her father’s side, and actively dances at powwows in full Tlingit Clan regalia. A few years later, she moved to Albuquerque, N.M., where she resides today and hangs out with her cat.

Summary of Accomplishments
Second female student to graduate with wings from the Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker, Ala., in Sept. 1974.
In 1975, was the highest-ranking female pilot of all the services.
First female Medevac pilot 1n 1975
First woman Medevac pilot to cover the Army Ranger Camp in north Georgia.
First female graduate from the Maintenance Test Pilot Course, 1975 for Uh-1H, the OH-58, and
Survived a UH-1H transmission failure in 1976.
Asked by Time magazine to be on their 1976 cover of 10 Women Who Made a Difference for that year.
First female to graduate from the Cobra Gunship Course in Sept. 1978
Nominated as an Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1980.
First military female aviator selected for the World Helicopter Championship Team in 1978.
Safely autorotated an UH-1H helicopter into an oat field in Germany when a fuel control failed 1979, fully loaded with passengers.
Key Maintenance Support Officer for the first helicopter flight, four CH-47s that flew from the U.S. to Europe. “Operation Northern Leap,” 1979
First female to have an Aviation Company Command in 1980. (Verified; No, the Navy wasn’t first) Part of the 59th ATC that won AAAA European Battalion of the Year in 1981.
First female officer to attend the German Captains Course at Koblenz, Germany. (The Germans said they knew the Army had women officers, but it must not be working, as they never saw us. Hence, I was sent.)
Had a Huey engine failure in Germany; landed in an oat field unharmed.
First female aviator to graduate from the Army Command and General Staff College, 1983.
First female Public Affairs Office/Aviator assigned to NATO (SHAPE), Mons, Belgium, 1985. In charge of the AWACS account.
Nominated at a Distinguished Alumni for the University of Montana, 1999.
Guest speaker at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, 1994, “Pioneer Women in Aviation.”