Colonel Nicole Malachowski Transcript of Interview
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MILITARY WOMEN AVIATORS ORAL HISTORY INITIATIVE Interview No. 12 Transcript Interviewee: Colonel Nicole M.E. Malachowski, United States Air Force, Retired Date: August 15, 2019 By: Lieutenant Colonel Monica Smith, USAF, Retired Place: National Air and Space Museum South Conference Room 901 D Street SW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20024 SMITH: I'm Monica Smith at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Today is August 15, 2019, and I have the pleasure of speaking with Colonel Nicole Malachowski, United States Air Force, retired. This interview is being taped as part of the Military Women Aviators Oral History Initiative, and it will be archived at the Smithsonian Institution. Welcome, Colonel Malachowski. MALACHOWSKI: Thank you for having me, Monica. SMITH: Actually, you said to say Nicole. MALACHOWSKI: Yeah. SMITH: Is that alright? MALACHOWSKI: Nicole, [laughs] SMITH: Alright. So let's — MALACHOWSKI: I'm retired, so — SMITH: [laughs] That's great. Let's start with you stating your full name and your occupation. MALACHOWSKI: So my name is Nicole Margaret Ellingwood Malachowski. My friends sometimes call me Fifi. I am a retired colonel from the United States Air Force, and currently I'm a motivational and inspirational speaker. SMITH: Fantastic. What were your dates of service? MALACHOWSKI: So let's see. I was commissioned on the 29th of May, 1996, from the Air Force Academy, and I was medically retired from the military on the 29th of December, 2017. SMITH: So 21 years of service. MALACHOWSKI: 21years, 7 months, and 0 days. SMITH: [laughs] You've got it exact. Your total flight hours? MALACHOWSKI: Oh, my gosh. You would ask me that. You know, that's funny. I should have that memorized. I think it's around 2,300 flight hours. SMITH: Okay. MALACHOWSKI: 188 hours in combat, and I flew several, you know, different planes. SMITH: So let's list those. MWAOHI Interviewee: Colonel Nicole Malachowski, USAF, Retired By: Lieutenant Colonel Monica Smith, USAF, Retired Date: August 15, 2019 MALACHOWSKI: Sure. I mean, the very first thing I flew, right, was a glider at the Air Force Academy, and then went and flew the T-3 back when we were doing that at the Air Force Academy. T-37, the T-38 — the second — the two versions of the T-38, because I flew at IFF1as well, and then I flew the F-15E Strike Eagle2 and the F-16 C and D model. That sounds like seven different Air Force planes. Something like — six or seven, something like that. SMITH: And your civilian planes? MALACHOWSKI: Yeah,I flew Cessna 152s. I think I got some 172 time, and that's really it. Yeah. SMITH: IFF, just a — MALACHOWSKI: Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals. SMITH: Thanks. MALACHOWSKI: So when you graduate pilot training, there's kind of a small course where you — it's a very short course between graduating pilot training and going to your primary aircraft. SMITH: Okay. MALACHOWSKI: So your major weapons system, yeah. SMITH: Do you hold any civilian licenses? MALACHOWSKI: A long, long time ago, I did have my,I think, commercial rating coming out of pilot training that has since lapsed, and I don't have any civilian licenses now. Ironically, in high school, I never got my private pilot's license. I did solo, but never finished with the license because I ended up at the Air Force Academy, and — SMITH: Had better things, [laughs] MALACHOWSKI: The taxpayers, yeah, offered me a greater opportunity, [laughs] SMITH: So let's talk about your road to the military, and let's start with where you were born. Was it Santa Maria? MALACHOWSKI: Yeah. So I was born in central California in a place called Santa Maria, California to — I'm very lucky, I think, in that I was born, you know, into a family — my parents are still married, you know, more than 50 years. I had a very stable, loving household, and never wanted for anything. Right? I was never a kid who had to worry about having a roof over their head or food on their plate. And so I always make a point of that, because I was able to start out right from a very solid foundation, and I'm very lucky for that. And I think that that's one of the things that helped me, I think, be successful in my career. So anyways, in central California, my mom — growing up until about the time I was in high school, she was a stay-at-home mom, housekeeper. My dad, he had served and been drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. He stayed stateside, served a few years in the Army, and then he went 1Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals. 2 The F-15E is central to this oral history, https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Displav/Article/104499/f-15e- strike-eagle/. 2 MWAOHI Interviewee: Colonel Nicole Malachowski, USAF, Retired By: Lieutenant Colonel Monica Smith, USAF, Retired Date: August 15, 2019 off to college and became an architect and a construction — a general contractor. So my point is, I grew up as a kid on construction sites. So I was always taught, you know, to work hard. A lot of, I think, you know, discipline — I knew my dad would bring me on the sites and I would work, and then I would get paid money, and then I could, you know, buy and do things. So he had been in the Army, so I knew about that. Both of my grandfathers had served both in the Army and the Navy. So I grew up, I guess what you could say, is like that very stereotypical middle-class American family. I was raised knowing that the military was an honorable and a noble profession. We were the people who would go to the parades, and I would see people marching in uniform with the flags. And as a little kid, I loved that. I loved people. I don't know what it was. Like, just the synchronicity of people [5:00] marching and all wearing the same uniform and working together. As a little kid, I can remember like, feeling something. So we went to an air show when I was in kindergarten. And I often get asked for — I can't remember. It was somewhere in central southern California. But the point was, it was your typical — all the American families, you know, out — you know. Right? Funnel cake and soda pop and jets. Right? I mean, I was thrilled. And I saw an airplane come by. It was the F-4 Phantom,3 and that was it. I mean,I absolutely fell in love with the plane. SMITH: Do you remember how you felt, like that — as it came by, just the a — MALACHOWSKI: Yeah, I mean, when the — it came by at a low pass, right above the runway. Right? And we're standing along the fenceline. And I remember it was like a feast for the senses. Right? Because it was beautiful to look at. I could feel like my chest, like, rumble, you know, from the jet engine. And I could hear it. Right? It was so loud, because the F-4 was a loud plane. And then, you know, it has — the F-4 also had kind of the little bitty smoke trail, so you could smell, you know, the jet fuel, and the oil, and like, every sense, right, was stimulated. And I was like, this is — I knew this is what I'm supposed to do. And the beauty of it is I remember looking at my dad in particular — my parents, and saying, you know: I'm going to be a fighter pilot someday. And they didn't blink. They're like: you're going to be a great fighter pilot someday. And my parents were very good about with all of the — I have an older brother and a younger sister. Very good at that time with like: well, what does it take to become a fighter pilot? You know, what steps do you need to do? It was very, you know, kind of guiding me along. You don't just say you're going to be a doctor or say you're going to become a fighter pilot. Like, there is a journey and a path and hard work to get there. So what is it? You know, so even at the age of 5, 6, 7 years old,I was asking questions like, you know: how does someone become a fighter pilot? You know, how does someone become a pilot? But in the context of, like, women in aviation history, this was in 1979-ish, give or take. I mean, that was really right, when women were just starting to go into pilot training. SMITH: In the Air Force. Right. MALACHOWSKI: In the Air Force, yeah. And so it's just interesting. My life will kind of parallel some of these, you know, big changes as far as like where women are, you know, accepted in different parts of 3 The F-4 Phantom II is a twin engine, all weather, tactical fighter-bomber that was retired in 1996, https://www.holloman.af.mil/About7Fact-Sheets/Displav/Article/317295/f-4-phantom-ii/. 3 MWAOHI Interviewee: Colonel Nicole Malachowski, USAF, Retired By: Lieutenant Colonel Monica Smith, USAF, Retired Date: August 15, 2019 military aviation. So there I am, 1979. Women are just now in the Air Force going to pilot training,4 and I'm at this air show, falling in love with an F-4.