For the first time in history, the United States Navy conducted a flyover using all female pilots on Saturday. The nine women participated in a Missing Man Flyover over a cemetery in Maynardville, Tenn., in honor of Capt. Rosemary Mariner, a retired Navy pilot who died last week.

Captain Mariner was one of the Navy’s first female pilots and the first woman to command a naval aviation squadron. She later fought to lift the ban on women serving in combat. She died at age 65 in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 24 after battling ovarian cancer.

The flyover typically involves four aircraft, which fly in a V-shaped formation until one of them peels away, flying sharply upward. The women who participated said Captain Mariner’s work was instrumental in enabling them to pursue their careers.