Wollongong, 2 hours drive down the south coast from Sydney, is a city known for its working class ethos, industrial feel and pristine surfing beaches. Like many other teenagers raised in this beach side community, Kimberlee Wilson spent her idyllic childhood in the sun, learning to surf with all her mates. Yet deep down, she harboured a long and passionate love that set her apart from the rest of her friends - a love of aeroplanes and the age old human fascination of flight. “I’m not sure where it came from; I just think that I’ve always been fascinated with aircraft and loved reading about them and watching them at airports for as long as I can remember. I really hoped to do something with them when I got older,” Kim explains. However, it wasn’t until she was in Year 10 and undertaking work experience at the local airport that Kimberlee was able to grasp just what that passion could mean. “It was on the last day of my work experience that I was given the opportunity to actually fly in a Piper Tomahawk. I was totally hooked and just knew that one day I was going to fly a plane for myself.”
At the completion of Year 12 Kim turned down the opportunity to enrol at university, citing the fact that she wasn’t willing to invest time and effort into any further study unless she could be convinced that it would lead to a job that she knew she would really love. It took a further 2 years of wandering from job to job, working in bars, hotels and finally in a book distribution company before Kim realised that she needed to do something to break the cycle of aimlessness and dead end jobs that she had fallen into. “I was 19 years old and realised that I didn’t want to be doing the same old stuff in 10 years time,” Kim admits. It was at this time that she remembered the formative experience she had gained back in Year 10, when she just knew that she wanted to pursue a career with aeroplanes.
back to topInspired afresh to set some life goals and motivated by a grandfather who had encouraged a sense of patriotism and service to one’s country within her, Kim decided that she was going to join the RAAF. Not wanting to restrict her opportunities within the airforce and not happy with her perceived lacklustre senior school results, the newly invigorated Kimberlee Wilson enrolled in TAFE to repeat her Years 11 and 12, a task she successfully achieved and excelled in over the ensuing 12 months.
Hoping to fulfil her passion to fly, Kim applied for aircrew training with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) but was knocked back because of a minor eyesight defect. “The health entry requirements for aircrew are so strict and I missed out because they found out that I was short sighted [something that Kim has recently found out can be fixed with corrective surgery]. I immediately decided that if I wasn’t going to be able to fly these aircraft then at the very least I was determined to work on them, so I reapplied to become an avionics technician,” she says. At 21, Kim successfully gained entry into the RAAF and immediately started her 10 weeks basic training, followed by a further 14 months trade training at Wagga Wagga. “If you’re joining up, whatever you do, don’t get put off by those first 10 weeks of basic training. It was horrendous!” she laughs. “But once it’s over you’ll find out that the real airforce is completely different. I can honestly say that it is better than I could ever possibly have imagined it to be,” she states enthusiastically.
As a member of 6 Squadron, Amberley, working on the RAAF F111 fighter-bombers, Kim’s primary job is to ensure that all the electronics of the aircraft are operational for flight. “The pride in our job is knowing that we are responsible for keeping these jets in the air so that they achieve whatever tasks and objectives have been set for them, in the most effective way possible,” she says proudly. “In avionics we are working with complex, state of the art electronic equipment to help manage and operate the weapons, navigational and operational systems and it takes precision team work to ensure that everything is done as quickly and as professionally as possible. Nothing on these jets can be done in isolation of something else, so from the actual pilots and navigators down to us, we are a team, each with a special job to do,” Kim explains.
back to topIt could be expected that a young woman who works as a technician on multi million dollar fighter-bombers would probably have had an interest in at least mucking around with a ratchet and screw driver before enlisting, but not so with Kim. “I had absolutely no experience with anything like that at all,” she admits candidly. “It was quite embarrassing on the first day of my trade training because I had to confess that, except for a hammer and a screw driver, I had never even heard of the tools that they were showing us, never mind actually knowing what I was supposed to do with them.” However, Kim sings the praises of a training system that was able to transform her from a total novice to a trained professional in just 14 months of trade school. “I’m not even sure I knew what avionics was when I enlisted. It is really amazing how much you can learn in such a short time and I believe that if I can do it, then anyone can,” she says with conviction.
As 1 of only 2 females working in 6 Squadron, Kim may come across as some kind of superwoman to the casual observer. “I don’t think you need to be an exceptional girl to do this kind of work, but I believe that you do need to be of a certain character,” she states. “You can’t come into a job like this with any pretences or expectations that because you are a girl you will be treated any differently. I still see myself as a very feminine person but I also acknowledge that I’m not working in a feminine world. Girls need to be comfortable with this,” she shares openly.
Kim believes she is in the perfect job – a job that she absolutely loves to do and is able to rattle off a gaggle of advantages that she has experienced since being in the RAAF. “I was paid to study and was guaranteed a job when I finished. In all the time that I have been here, I’ve never been harassed as a woman and I am respected for who I am and the job that I do. I will have the opportunity to travel all over the world with this job and I get to do something different every day of the week. I am also part of a great big family that will support me and look after me throughout my time with them,” she states proudly.
While Kim may not have completed her initial goal of wanting to fly, at this early stage in her career she still has her sights confidently set on her ambition of becoming a pilot. “With laser surgery on my eyes and a few more years of study, who knows where I will end up? Maybe I’ll be back here flying the F111’s, not just fixing them,” she says.
There is plenty of opportunity for women out there, so go out and get it.
Whatever you have a interest in, go for it. Do not let anyone tell you can’t because the chances are you can and your passion will get you through.
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