Before she enrolled in the Naval Academy, Katie Higgins considered becoming a nun. But she comes from a family of military pilots, including her father and both grandfathers—so the pull of aviation was strong. Now the 28-year-old Marine captain is the first woman to fly with the elite Blue Angels aerobatics squadron during shows.

Higgins trained to fly C-130s, the US military's workhorse cargo plane, then deployed to Afghanistan and Uganda. But growing up, she had always admired the Blue Angels, so with a little encouragement from the team's head C-130 pilot, she applied. Now Higgins pilots the Angels' support plane, an older C-130 dubbed Fat Albert.

Higgins performs nosedives and flat-pass flyovers in the giant plane—then pops a wheelie on the tarmac.

Her main duty is shut­tling the squadron's 35,000 pounds of equip­ment and 40 crew­members. But during air shows, she flies an eight-and-a-half-minute solo. It's a crowd favor­ite. Higgins executes “flat pass” flyovers at 50 feet, simulates tactical landings, does nosedives, and slams the propellers into reverse—the C-130 can famously stop very, very short. When she touches the plane down, she pops a wheelie and taxis backward. And at 24 years old, Fat Albert isn't exactly new; the C-130s Higgins flew for the Marines were fresher, with more advanced gear.

Though Higgins is the first woman to fly during a Blue Angels show, the squad has had female officers for 46 years—19 other women serve on the team. “They're all setting such a great example for a future generation of women who are considering technical fields,” Higgins says.

Besides wheelies, she's trained in aerial refueling, deliveries, and, most challenging of all, close air support to protect forces on the ground. So maybe it's no surprise that Higgins hopes to get back overseas. “It's an extremely versatile aircraft,” Higgins says. “I'm not pigeonholed into one mission.” For now, though, she flies with the Angels 300 days a year.