Captain Victoria “Tori” A. Pinckney, U.S. Air Force, completed a year at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School where she met her future husband, Richard Pinckney. She graduated from the Air Force Academy and was commissioned in 2008; and went on to attend pilot training where she flew T-6 and T-1 aircraft. She received her wings and was assigned to fly the KC-135 at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, WA.
On May 3, 2013, Pinckney was on a combat aerial refueling mission when the KC-135 Stratotanker exploded mid-flight and crashed into the mountains near Chaldovar, Kyrgyzstan. Pinckney and two other airmen were killed in the crash.
Captain Pinckney was survived by her husband, Richard and young son, Gabriel, who was just 7 months old at the time of her death.
Pinckney was known for her extraordinary leadership and selflessness. In January of 2020, Cadet candidates with the Air Force Preparatory School inducted Captain Pinckney as their 2020 Exemplar. One Cadet stated, “she’ll go down in history as one of the Academy’s best examples of the underdog, who fought for her country until the very end.”
Sources:
https://www.usafa.edu/usafa-prep-school-inducts-shell-77-pilot-capt-tori-pinckney-as-2020-exemplar/
https://www.vance.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000051737/
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/jun/02/obituary-pinckney-victoria-ann/
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