"I've been asked, 'How long are you are going to fly?' and I say, 'As long as I can get in and out of the airplane.'" (Video Interview, 1:39:01)

Margaret Ray Ringenberg

Margaret Ringenberg [2004] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) Service Location: Wilmington, Delaware

Margaret Ringenberg grew up on an Indiana farm in the 1920s and 30s, so isolated from the world that she'd never heard of Amelia Earhart. But she was interested in flying. Her modest ambition was to become a flight attendant, but she soon set her sights higher. The Civil Air Patrol trained her as a flyer, and the WASP accepted her as part of their fifth class, the first to train solely at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Once she had her wings, she was based out of Wilmington, Delaware, ferrying planes during the war. "Not content to sit at home" after the WASP were disbanded, Ringenberg kept on flying, managing to pull off her first around-the-world flight at the age of 72.