Women Aviators (2 page)

As soon as people were convinced that airplanes and flight were possible, they were interested in flying and building airplanes. Aviation took off with the most adventurous souls ready to lead the charge.

To the surprise of many men, there were women who wanted to pilot these new flying machines as well. Some men didn't think women had either the physical strength or the mental capacity to pilot an airplane. Women had to prove themselves, again and again by earning pilot licenses, setting records, demonstrating aerial moves, and winning races. They had to keep proving themselves, because as Ambassador Clare Boothe Luce once wrote, “Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, ‘She doesn't have what it takes.' They will say, ‘Women don't have what it takes.'”

Today, women pilots fly for the airlines, in the military, and in space. They fly air races, command helicopter mercy flights, haul freight, stock high mountain lakes with fish, seed clouds, patrol pipelines, teach others to fly, maintain jet engines, and transport people.

Whether male or female, people become pilots often for the same reasons. First, they love flying, and they love using their
talents and being respected for them. They enjoy the feeling of belonging to this strong family called aviation. Perhaps most of all, they love the challenge of being in the air, because there's nothing else like it.

G
reat change came with the beginning of the 20th century. The Machine Age led to the creation of factories. People left the uncertainty of rural agricultural life for the many jobs that factories and machinery provided. The cities pulsated with life from the bright lights, radio, and new motion pictures.

The steam engine made it possible to transport people and goods great distances, whether by train or boat. Transportation possibilities blew wide open when Henry Ford opened Ford Motor Company in 1903. Now people had personal transportation that they could take out whenever they wanted. What could be next?

Even with the vast amount of progress in the world, a heavier-than-air flying machine was still a surprise. Flying was something that had to be seen to be believed, so people flocked to airfields and exhibitions to be amazed.

After aviation was introduced, its popularity spread quickly, and soon countries such as France, Great Britain, and Germany began investing in this new and wondrous industry. France in particular began producing great pilots, airplanes, and flight
schools, so it's not surprising that the first licensed woman pilot was French. In fact, five of the first six licensed women pilots were French (number four, Hélène Dutrieu, was from Belgium).

The first 10 women to earn a pilot's license were the following:

1. Raymonde de Laroche, France—March 8, 1910
   
2. Marthe Niel, France—August 29, 1910
   
3. Marie Marvingt, France—November 8, 1910
   
4. Hélène Dutrieu, Belgium—November 25, 1910
   
5. Jeanne Herveau, France—December 7, 1910
   
6. Marie-Louise Driancourt, France—June 15, 1911
   
7. Harriet Quimby, USA—August 1, 1911
   
8. Lidia Zvereva, Russia—August 10, 1911
   
9. Matilde Moisant, USA—August 17, 1911
   
10. Hilda Hewlett, England—August 29, 1911
    

Hélène Dutrieu.
Library of Congress: LC-USZ62-129830

Women's roles in society were changing. No longer content to sit on the sidelines, women wanted to fly. But most men were uneasy about women in planes. Pilots knew that flying a plane had nothing to do with physical strength, but they doubted that women could understand the technology behind aviation. And if there were an emergency, what women could make the calm, rational decisions needed?

But women had exactly what was needed for aviation, and they were determined to join men in the skies. In the early years, getting a pilot's license wasn't a requirement. Women such as Blanche Scott and Bessica Raiche were reportedly flying before America's first woman pilot earned a license, but neither woman stayed with aviation. Raiche became a physician. Scott became disgusted with the industry after seeing the public's attraction to plane crashes.

The people who pursued aviation, both men and women, were truly remarkable. Most airplanes weren't very sturdy and didn't offer much protection in a crash. American women, who weren't even allowed to vote until 1920, had to work hard just to find someone to teach them how to fly, as most flight schools didn't accept female students.

Seven years after Wilbur Wright flew 120 feet (36.5 meters) in the flyer, women were demanding the opportunity to fly. The early female aviation pioneers made things possible for the women who followed. They were the first.

P
EOPLE AT THE
A
ÉRO
-C
LUB
in the Reims-Bétheny region of France were enjoying a lovely day with comfortable temperatures and a light breeze. For centuries, Reims, located northeast of Paris, was the city where French kings had been crowned. It was a city of important people. Most Saturdays brought the wealthy of Reims to the Aéro-Club to see the new airplanes being flown. People were fascinated that a flimsy machine made of wood and canvas could leave the ground—and with a person inside, too.

Suddenly, a woman moved through the crowd in a way that said she was someone important. Whispers of “baroness” floated through the air as she stopped a few times to speak with different people.

All eyes remained on this baroness as she moved toward one of the airplanes. Almost everyone looked confused as she laced
a string around the hem of her dress. At the front of the dress, she tried the string as if she were tying a shoe. Someone said aloud, “That's to keep her dress from flying up.”

Even more surprising was what she did next. She quickly hopped into the seat of the plane. After the gasps subsided, a silence settled over the crowd. Then a mechanic stepped to the front of the plane. Reaching as high as he could, he pulled the propeller down. He repeated this motion a few more times until the engine sputtered to life and the propeller spun on its own.

More than a few faces looked around, expecting someone to stop the woman. No one did. The plane moved forward along the ground, gradually moving faster until it lifted off. The stunning vision prompted wild applause from the audience. The woman made a few turns above the airfield before landing smoothly on the ground.

By that time, everyone knew the name of Baroness de Laroche, the first woman in the world to earn a pilot's license.

Elise Raymonde Deroche was born in Paris, France, on August 22, 1886. The daughter of a plumber, she was not born a baroness. She was, however, born with a sense of adventure. Her sense of style and commanding appearance led to some success on the stage as an actress. She even changed her name to the more dramatic Raymonde de Laroche.

But life as an actress didn't meet Elise's thirst for adventure. The two-wheeled contraption known as the velocipede became popular in France in the late 1860s. It would later become known as the bicycle. Elise taught herself to ride one before moving on to balloons.

Elise loved the feeling of soaring high in the air and looking down upon the earth. She soon became an accomplished balloonist in a time when women balloonists were rare.

Her interest in flying grew when she heard that an American named Wilbur Wright would be arriving in France to demonstrate his new flyer. On August 8, 1908, Wright arrived in Le Mans, a city between Paris and the west coast of France. Only
five years earlier, Wilbur and his brother Orville had tested the first flyer in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

A team of horses hauled the Wright flyer onto the center of a racetrack near Le Mans. The audience watched as a couple of men pulled down on the propeller. Suddenly the propeller began moving very fast by itself. At the same time, the flyer began moving forward. Wilbur Wright took off and flew around the racetrack. Not only did he dazzle the crowd in the stands, but he also amazed the French officials who had said that a flying machine was an impossibility. After he landed, Wilbur offered rides to any women in the audience interested in experiencing flight. There was no way Elise would miss this opportunity.

After she had flown with Wilbur Wright, ballooning no longer appealed to Elise. Luckily, the French took to aviation quickly. Within a year, Elise was asking Charles Voisin, a French aviator, to teach her to fly. Voisin and his brother, Gabriel, built and flew airplanes. Voisin agreed to teach the 23-year-old actress how to fly.

Their airplane, called the Voisin, was a single-seater aircraft, which meant the teacher had to teach from outside the airplane. For her first lesson, Charles Voisin showed Elise how to move, or taxi, the airplane down the field. The noise of the airplane was loud. He shouted for her to try it but warned her to stay on the ground.