Category Archives: 1784 – 1909

Aida de Acosta – USA

Born in New Jersey, USA, Aida de Acosta was an American socialite. In 1903, she was visiting Paris, France, and met Brazilian pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. He taught her how […]

Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse – France

Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse (1775–1847), also known as Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin her married name, was in born in Paris, France. Jeanne Labrosse was amongst the crowd watching André-Jacques Garnerin’s first hydrogen […]

Marie Élisabeth Thible – France

Born in Lyon, France, Marie Élisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly on June 4, 1784. 8 months after the first manned balloon flight, Count Jean-Baptiste de Laurencin got […]

Virginie Guyot – France

Born in Angers, France, Virginie Guyot (1976 – ) went on a discovery flight when she was 12 years old. Thereafter, she decides to become a pilot. She goes to […]

Eileen Collins – USA

Collins’s parents were immigrants from Ireland. As a child, Eileen Collins (1956 – ) expressed an interest both in space flight and in being a pilot. After graduating from Elmira […]

Barbara Harmer – England

Born in Bognor Regis, England, Barbara Harmer (1954 – 2011) left school aged 15 to pursue a career in hairdressing. Harmer’s first experience in the aviation industry was six years [...]

Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock – USA

After having had several jobs, Geraldine (Jerrie) Mock (1925 – 2014), née Fredritz became manager of the Colombus Airport (Ohio). She had married Russell Mock in 1945 and they had […]

Valentina Tereshkova – Russia

Valentina Tereshkova (1937 – ) was born in a small village in the Yaroslavl Oblast in western Russia. Tereshkova’s father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a […]

Ada Rogato – Brazil

Ada Rogato (1910 – 1986) received from her parents, Italian immigrants, the same education given to most women of that time – but she wanted to learn to fly. She […]