Margaret Ray Ringenberg, who died on 28 July, 2008, was an American aviator who flew for over 60 years and wracked up more than 40,000 hours in the air, including two years in the service of her country.

She began flying during the Second World War as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), flying ferry missions and test flights. She then enjoyed a long career as a commercial pilot and instructor but she was also a successful racer with more than 150 trophies to her name.

She was the subject of several books, including her own autobiography, an account of her war years by her daughter and a chapter in The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw's examination of American citizens who distinguished themselves during the troubled 1930s and '40s.

She was born on 17 June, 1921, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was obsessed with flying from an early age after seeing barnstorming exhibitions in the area. Local farmers would occasionally take her on crop dusting flights over the fields.

But despite growing up in the age of Amelia Earhart, her ambitions never stretched to being a pilot. She trained to be an air stewardess and only decided to give flying a go herself when it occurred to her that the skills might come in handy.

She told Brokaw: "I thought, 'What if the pilot gets sick or needs help? I don't know the first thing about airplanes,' and that's where I found my challenge. I never intended to solo or be a pilot. I found it was wonderful."

She began training in 1941 and flew her first solo flight at 19. Two years later she was among the 25,000 women who applied to join the WASPs, of which 1,900 were accepted and around half earned their wings. Their primary role was to ferry aircraft to various US military bases and this saw them experience air time in a wide variety of aircraft, though the experimental nature of many of these planes meant the work was often perilous.

The WASPs was never formally recognised as a military organisation and its battle for such status eventually led to the group's disbandment in 1944. Despite the 38 losses it suffered, the work of its members during the war went largely unrecognised for several decades.

Mrs Ringenberg herself was reticent about her time as a WASP and it was not until the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war that she began to give speeches about her experiences.

By this time she was already a renowned figure in the sphere of female aviation, having been a competitor at the Powder Puff Derby race and its successor the Air Race Classic from 1957 onwards. She also took part in the Grand Prix and Denver Mile High events and at 74 she completed the Round-the-World Air Race.

Journalist Nancy Vendrely spoke of her experience co-piloting for Mrs Ringenberg in a 1976 race: "All I did was hold the map. It was fun to see her excellence as a pilot. She was always so calm and sort of nonchalant about all the technical things that were involved.

"She never talked as if she was somebody great. For her it was just something she absolutely loved to do as long as she was able."

In 1998 she published her 'aerobiography', Girls Can't Be Pilots, and this was followed in 2007 by her daughter Marsha's book Maggie Ray: World War II Air Force Pilot.

She continued to fly up until her death, competing in the 2,312-mile Air Race Classic only a month earlier and finishing a remarkable third, aged 87. She was attending an air show in Wisconsin as a special guest when she passed away in her sleep. She was married to Morris Ringenberg from 1946 to his death in 2003 and was survived by her daughter, a son and five grandchildren, many of whom had flown with her in races.