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.

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.

[4] In 2011, she told the Chinook Observer:[5] From the time I was a little girl and jumped from the top of our barn in Woodburn, Oregon, and into the hay until the time I was flying night missions as a Woman Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) over moon-lit Texas during World War II, I just loved to fly.After leaving high school, Olsen worked briefly as a dance instructor.

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.

A small woman, 5 feet (1.52 m) tall, Olsen embarked on a weight-gaining regimen based on bananas and malted milk to make the 100-pound (45 kg) required minimum.

Despite being sick with a cold on her return, she passed a checkride that included aerobatic maneuvers, allowing her to stay with her class although she struggled to catch up.

I would have been heartbroken if I hadn't gotten Long Beach.Olsen credited Jacqueline Cochran, the director of the WASP, with providing an opportunity to keep women pilots flying during World War II.

[5] Olsen flew 61 missions for the U.S. Army Air Corps, delivering brand new planes with less than a half hour of flight time on them from the factory.

One, a lieutenant, wrote "I thought I'd write a few lines to let you know that despite the fact that a woman once flew it, the ship performs perfectly and is apparently without flaws of any kind".

[2] WASPs were not considered military personnel; Olsen is listed in the Sixth Ferrying Group yearbook with the title of "Civilian Pilot".

[3] Debbie Jennings, a historian with the Seattle Museum of Flight,[18] said Olsen disliked flying bombers because in the single-seat fighters, "she was by herself and could do whatever she wanted".

[2] Nerve damage from a dental procedure left her deaf for many years, but at the age of 80 she received cochlear implants that restored her hearing.