Born Lois Ann Russell in
Bagley, Iowa she studied at the
University of Iowa where she graduated in 1941 and also completed Civilian Pilot Training. After college she began her career as a writer and broadcaster on the
NBC Radio daily program
The Women of Tomorrow. When war broke out and her husband, enlisted in the Navy, she applied to the
Women Airforce Service Pilots program and trained at Sweetwater, TX under pioneering aviator
Jacqueline Cochran. She wrote of her experience as a pilot in her 1978 book
Cleared For Landing which
The Washington Post'' praised for its "keen perception of the darker side of things." Darr taught creative writing at
American University and at the
Writer's Center in
Bethesda, Maryland. She died of
Alzheimer's disease and was buried as a veteran in 2007. ==Selected works==