US Air Force removed, then restored, article about first female Thunderbird pilot

In mid-April 2025, a rumor circulated online that an article celebrating U.S. Air Force Col. Nicole Malachowski — the first woman to fly for the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's storied air demonstration team — was removed due to President Donald Trump's administration's ongoing initiative to purge government websites of what it perceives as diversity, equity and inclusion content.

According to the Air Force, the Thunderbirds perform flyovers and demonstrations at events such as air shows and sporting events "for people all around the world to display the pride, precision and professionalism the U.S. Air Force represents."

The claim circulated in online forums like Reddit and social media platforms such as Facebook (archived) and Bluesky (archived), while also being picked up by news media outlets. Snopes readers also reached out to learn more about the veracity of the claim. 

Seymour Johnson AFB leadership is deleting articles about the first female Air Force Thunderbird pilot. They say it is being done in accordance with the President's anti-DEI initiatives.
byu/ToolAlert inAirForce

In short, the claim that the Air Force removed a webpage about Malachowski is true, according to an email from the public affairs office of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, where she once held the position of commander. 

However, officials said via email that "digital content related to Col. (ret) Malachowski's career, including the story posted to the 4 FW website, is currently being restored across all Air Force platforms following clarifying guidance from higher headquarters." 

The specific webpage in question was an article titled "A life in flight for first woman 'Thunderbirds' pilot," originally published March 19, 2013. The article described Malachowski's career, including joining the Air Force in 1996, her "1,600 flying hours, including 185 hours of combat time in Operation Deliberate Forge and Operation Iraqi Freedom," her assignment to the Thunderbirds in 2005 and ultimately becoming "commander of the 333rd Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base." 

Beginning April 16, 2025, reports surfaced that the feature no longer appeared on the Air Force website. Instead, "DEI" was added to the URL string and led to a "404 — page not found" error. 

That "DEI" version of the URL (archived) no longer displays the "404" message shown in the screenshot below. In some instances, it redirects to the original article, while for other users it points to an alternate version of the page that is identical aside from "DEI" placed in front of the headline. Meanwhile, the original URL (which does not include the "DEI" addition) is displaying properly (archived) as cited by the Air Force in its statement above.

(United States Air Force)

The Air Force appeared to initially delete the page as a result of the Trump administration's attempt to remove what it perceives as DEI efforts in the government and branches of the military. "We continue to review all content under our purview to comply with Defense Department directives while honoring our Air Force history," a spokesperson for Seymour Johnson Air Force Base said via email.

Prior to the reinstatement of the article, Malachowski spoke via email of the dangers she believed were evident in the Air Force's actions: "If we are willing to censor the stories of service members and veterans, what else are we willing to censor? This sets a very dangerous precedent and this kind of censorship erodes democracy."

After the retired pilot made appearances on CNN and CBS to address the situation and the Air Force restored the page, Malachowski followed up via direct message on Instagram to offer a new comment. "It appears the Air Force decided to reinstate my articles this morning after getting pressure from journalist[s]," she said. "Well, that is nice, [but] it is not enough. There are tens of thousands of other articles, posts, photos, and videos of countless other service members and veterans that need to be restored … They must not stop with just restoring my story. They must restore every service member and veteran[']s story."

Malachowski's temporary erasure from a government website is becoming a familiar pattern in the early months of Trump's second term in the Oval Office. Official government pages have purged a variety of historical information on the grounds that it fell into the opaque parameters of what the administration views as DEI, including erasing stories of other service members like a Black Medal of Honor recipient and a Black female Army officer who died in combat. 

The deletion of such articles was not limited to service members and veterans. Snopes also covered the temporary deletion of content pertaining to historical figures such as Jackie Robinson and Harriet Tubman as well as events like the Holocaust.