FORT MYER, Va. - Women in aviation are celebrating a long history this month from Amelia Earhart to the female pilots of World War II.

On Wednesday, retired Col. Sally Murphy was honored at Fort Myer. Murphy became the Army's first female pilot 35 years ago.

When she first started learning to fly, Murphy says she didn't think much about making history. At 25 years old, she simply saw flight school as another adventure.

"I had no idea what it was going to be -- but boy, I wouldn't have traded places at any time along the journey," Murphy said.

She graduated from flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala. and went on to fly Huey helicopters for the first infantry division at Fort Riley, Kan.

Murphy's 26-year career included flying both choppers and airplanes and commanding units in both Germany and Japan. While her beginnings as the only woman were not always easy, she thanks the men around her for their encouragement.

"And if there weren't men willing to accept you, willing to befriend you, willing to give that helping hand in changing policy, and encouraging in the dark moments, women wouldn't have gone ahead," she said.

While visiting Fort Myer for a ceremony in her honor, Col. Murphy visited with the crew of a black hawk helicopter. "It has its challenges. In aviation you're always being tested, always being evaluated, always got someone looking over your shoulder critiquing how you do a certain procedure or how quick you are with the answers," she said.

"It was probably a little bit harder if you're the first at anything. It's a little bit harder, you [have to] study harder you're probably going to be looked at a little bit harder. Folks are looking to see how smart you are, how competent you are," said Col. Laura Richardson, the first female garrison commander at Fort Myer.

Col. Murphy says what she thinks is remarkable about her career is not that she completed flight training school and became a pilot, but that she served in the Army for 26 years afterward.

Today, 14 percent of the armed forces are women -- up from the less than two percent in 1950.

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