Dorothy Olsen, female aviation pioneer, 103

Apioneer of female aviation has died aged 103.

Dorothy Olsen reached for the skies – and broke through the glass ceiling for women pilots everywhere – with her pioneering career, and was a trailblazer in the Second World War effort from 1941 to 1945.

Born in Woodburn, Oregon, on July 10 1916, the youngster got her first taste of the high life when she rode a biplane at a state fair as a child.

She was so enarmoured with the relatively new technology that she began taking flying lessons and saw a career in the skies.

A civilian licence in the 1930s followed and Ms Olsen was allowed to pilot smaller planes and later twin engines.

But with the outbreak of war, she saw that her talents would be required in the effort against the Axis powers and enlisted in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (Wasps).

The purpose of the unit, which was run by the US civil service rather than the air force, was to train women to teach other pilots to free up more men for combat missions.

Ms Olsen joined the Wasps in 1943, as one of 25,000 applicants when the programme was created, as a petite woman who had to take on a weight building programme to allow her to serve.

It was then she embarked on her exciting career, flying 61 missions and being one of only 12 women authorised to fly at night.

She flew more than 20 different aircraft types, both Army and Navy types.

Ms Olsen received military honors at her funeral even though the unit was not considered a miliary one.

At the time of her death on July 23, some 38 Wasps were still alive.

Dorothy Olsen was one of only 12 women authorised to fly at night