Corry Prestidge to Speak at Oct. 6 Harborside Chat

CAPE MAY – The Oct. 6 Harborside Chat guest is a naval aviator, “Top Hook,” and a “99” who happens to be married to Captain Gregory “Todd” Prestidge, Base Commander of TRACEN Cape May. You’ll not want to miss this chat.
The Nature Center of Cape May is excited to welcome Ms. Corry Prestidge as our featured Harborside “Chat” speaker Oct. 6 beginning at 6:00 p.m. A retired naval aviator with 2500 total hours and two combat tours over Iraq during the late 90s, (Operation Southern Watch), Corry Prestidge is the real deal. After graduating from Washington State in 1993 she went on to Navy flight training and earned not only her wings of gold but a “Top Hook” designation in July of 1996. Selected to fly the Navy’s all-weather carrier based airborne warning and tactical control aircraft, the venerable E2C Hawkeye, she made two “WestPac” combat cruises aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln which took her to Hawaii, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and many other points west.
Following her 2000 deployment Corry was assigned as an instructor and LSO (Landing Signal Officer) at the E-2C training squadron in Norfolk, VA. In this capacity she trained student pilots in carrier aviation until Sept. 11, 2003 when she was reassigned to Naval Air Station, Atlanta, Ga, followed by a stint at the Navy War College, and then three years at the Pentagon and the Army’s Warfare College. Ms. Prestidge’s last assignment was as commander of the Navy’s Recruiting District, San Antonio. This assignment coincided with her marriage and retirement.
Aviators especially will be interested to learn that Corry Prestidge is a member of the prestigious International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as the “99s.” With Amelia Earhart as their first president in 1931, the “99s” were and continue to be a group of prominent female aviators who continue to pave the way for women in aviation.