Sarla Thakral (1916 – 2008) was only 21 year old when she became the first Indian woman to earn a pilot licence in 1936. Her husband P. D. Sharma was the initiator behind that. His family had nine pilots already and they were all supportive of the decision.
However, while she was working towards the commercial pilot licence, her husband died in a crash in 1939. She was a widow at 24. She abandoned her plans to become a commercial pilot and became a successful watercolor painter.