Retired Col. Merryl “Dragon Lady” Tengesdal, chats with students, May 28, 2019, on Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Tengesdal was invited to an Eagle for the 38th annual Gathering of Eagles due to her distinguished career as a U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft command pilot, with more than 3,400 flight hours and 330 command hours. She was the first and only African American woman to fly the U-2 and one of only five women and three African Americans to be accepted into the U-2 program. (US Air Force photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox)