Dorothy Olsen

Dorothy Eleanor Olsen (; July 10, 1916 – July 23, 2019) was an American aircraft pilot and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II. She grew up on her family's farm in Woodburn, Oregon, developing an interest in aviation from a young age. She earned her private pilot certificate in 1939, when it was unusual for women to be pilots.

In 1943, Olsen joined the newly formed WASPs as a civil service employee. After training in Texas, she was assigned to the Sixth Ferrying Group in Long Beach, California, where she worked ferrying new aircraft from the factories where they were built to U.S. airbases. She flew more than 20 types of military airplanes, including high-performance fighters such as the P-51 Mustang and the twin-engine P-38 Lightning, which she favored over larger aircraft such as bombers; she was particularly fond of the P-51.

After the war, Olsen retired from flying and moved to the state of Washington, where she married, raised a family, and lived for the rest of her life. In 2009, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal honoring her service during the war. Olsen died in 2019 aged 103.

Early life Dorothy Eleanor Olsen was born in Woodburn, near Portland, Oregon, on July 10, 1916, to Ralph and Frances (Zimmering) Kocher, and grew up on the family's small farm. At the age of eight, she decided she wanted to fly airplanes after reading The Red Knight of Germany, Floyd Gibbons's biography of World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen. Olsen's introduction to flight was when she took a biplane ride at a state fair, which inspired her to take flying lessons; the cost of the flight reportedly exhausted her entire savings. In 2011, she told the Chinook Observer:

After leaving high school, Olsen worked briefly as a dance instructor. taking her checkride in a Taylorcraft. Reportedly one of only three women in the Portland area to have a private pilot's license at the time,

WASPs alt=Olsen, using a cane for support, standing in front of a P-51 Mustang on static display. The airplane is painted in Invasion stripes. In September 1942, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron was formed, led by Nancy Harkness Love. The squadron recruited women who already held commercial pilot licenses with an average of 1,100 hours flying experience, to ferry military aircraft without the need for any additional training. In the same month, the Women's Flying Training Detachment was created under the leadership of Jacqueline Cochran. This group took less experienced women pilots and provided them with additional training to fly military aircraft, comparable to the Army Air Forces Training Command's cadet curriculum. In the summer of 1943, these two units were merged to form the Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). WASPs took non-combat flying jobs as civil service employees, including flight instruction, towing gliders and gunnery practice targets, performing engineering test flights, and aircraft ferrying. Applicants had to pay their own travel expenses to get to the training camps, as well as covering lodging expenses and purchasing dress uniforms. and was assigned to the Sixth Ferrying Group in Long Beach, California. She later said:

Olsen took a pair of good shoes with her on ferry flights so she could go on dancing dates with men at her destination before having to take off on her next flight.

According to Olsen, she flew more than 20 different models of military aircraft, both Army and Navy types. Her favorite was the P-51. said Olsen disliked flying bombers because in the single-seat fighters, "she was by herself and could do whatever she wanted". Jennings mentioned that Olsen enjoyed scaring farmers on their tractors by flying close to them and "would do the same at railroad stations just because". In 2015, she was honored with a flyover of Seattle's Boeing Field by vintage aircraft for her 99th birthday. In 2016, Olsen celebrated her 100th birthday at Joint Base Lewis–McChord. Also in attendance were fellow WASPs Alta Thomas, Betty Dybbro, and Mary Jean Sturdevant.

Olsen died on July 23, 2019, at her home in University Place, Washington, aged 103. She was given military honors at her funeral. Olsen was one of the last 38 WASPs still alive. Her husband Harold died in 2006.