Dorothy Olsen (1916–2019) was an American aircraft pilot and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II. She developed an interest in aviation at a young age and earned her private pilot's license 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 and the twin-engine P-38 – which she favored over larger aircraft such as bombers. 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.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Olsen
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolution: The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Rhode_Island_and_Providence_Plantations
1942:
World War II: Aircraft from Imperial Japanese Navy vessels attacked Allied naval forces, beginning the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval action in which the participating ships never sighted or fired directly at each other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea
1974:
An all-female Japanese team reached the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas, becoming the first women to climb a peak higher than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) above sea level. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaslu
1979:
Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Yoda condition: (programming, informal) A logical condition with the usual order of operands reversed for various reasons, such as avoiding accidental misuse of = (assignment) instead of == (equality), a mistake that is harder to spot when using the normal order of operands. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Yoda_condition
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,While proudly riding o’er the azure realmIn gallant trim the gilded vessel goes; Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm;Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind’s sway,That, hush’d in grim repose, expects his evening prey. --Thomas Gray https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Gray