Born in 1916 in Thayer, Nebraska, Esther Mueller began flight lessons while working at Lincoln Aeronautical Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska. Trained by Joe Ammerman of Cynthiana, Kentucky, she soloed on Oct. 1, 1942. During this time she also learned to pack parachutes and was Nebraska's only licensed parachute rigger.

In 1943, to ease the demand for pilots, Gen. Hap Arnold allowed women to fly non-combat missions as WASP - Women's Air Force Service Pilots. Of 25,000 applicants, fewer than 2,000 were accepted. Esther trained at Avenger Field, Texas, and graduated in WASP Class 43-8.

At the Army Air Base in Pueblo, Colorado, she flew the B-26 Marauder on ferry missions, administrative hops and target-towing flights for air-to-air gunnery practice - which often left bullet holes in the WASP aircraft.

The WASP expected to be militarized, but they were still civilians in 1944 when the tide of war turned and the program ended. After flying 60 million miles for their countrym, each WASP had to find her own way home - because they had no military status.

She and Joe Ammerman married and moved to Cynthiana. In 1977, Congress awarded the WASP military status, giving them honorable discharges, GI insurance, and the right to a military funeral - an honor denied the 38 WASP who died in active service.

In World War II, Esther Mueller Ammerman flew the B-17, the B-24, the B-26 and the B-29, logging nearly 660 hours in military aircraft. She and a thousand others took over "aerial dishwashery" so men could be released for combat. And by proving that women could handle the same aircraft flown by men, she - and a thousand others - blazed a trail for women in military aviation.