Female pilots, Part 1 – The pioneers

In general perception, being an airplane pilot is not considered an explicitly female profession, even today. However, if we read up on it a little, we realize that women have been present in this field since the very beginning of aviation, and with no small achievements at that.

The 18th century can be designated as the initial phase of flight, which was still the period of hot-air balloon initiatives. Even in this early phase, there were female enthusiasts interested in the unfolding novelty. According to Windows To World History, the first woman to take to the air in a hot-air balloon was the French Élisabeth Thible. In view of her interest, she became famous in her era for her courage and thirst for adventure.

Thible’s interest was followed by a few others, but a real airplane was piloted only two centuries later, at the beginning of the 20th century, by Therese Peltier. In this sense, Peltier is the first female pilot. However, Peltier's achievement cannot be booked as official in every respect, because according to the historical magazine Rubicon, the first licensed female pilot was Raymonde de Laroche.

Laroche became a celebrity of her era as she set numerous flight records and held plenty of flying displays. During her shows, she even visited Budapest. Laroche's sense of adventure went beyond that of previous female pilots, as she was among the first to apply to a military body. At the beginning of World War I, she applied to the French Air Force, but due to the spirit of the age and her gender, she was rejected.

The most famous pilot of the 1910s was Harriet Quimby, the first person to fly across the English Channel, according to the railway magazine Indóház. She had already achieved legendary fame for her achievements in the history of aviation. The memory of Quimby's achievement is preserved to this day by the global movement of female aviators, Woman in Aviation.

In this article, we reviewed the array of women appearing at the dawn of flight. In the following articles, we will deal with female pilots appearing in military bodies, and then Hungarian female pilots.