Women in Aviation & Space History
  • First Female Pilots Per Country
  • Women Breakthroughs Per Category
  • Centennial Legacy

The Beginnings

Before Raymonde de Laroche earned the first female pilot licence in the world on March 8 1910, many women had established breakthroughs that made her success possible.

1784 – First woman to fly – France

Marie Élisabeth Thible Flight on June 4, 1784

Marie Élisabeth Thible
France

Key accomplishments:

  • First woman to fly on June 4, 1784.

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1798 – First woman to pilot an aircraft solo – France

Jeanne Labrosse
Jeanne Labrosse

Jeanne Labrosse
France

Key accomplishments:

  • First woman to pilot an aircraft solo in 1798.
  • First woman to parachute jump in 1799.

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1799 – First woman to parachute jump – France

Jeanne Labrosse

Jeanne Labrosse
France

Key accomplishments:

  • First woman to pilot an aircraft solo in 1798.
  • First woman to parachute jump in 1799.

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1903 – First woman to pilot a motorized aircraft – USA

Aida de Acosta flight

Aida de Acosta
France

Key accomplishments:

  • First woman to pilot a motorized aircraft solo in 1903.

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1909 – First woman to fly over the North Sea – France

Marie Marvingt

Marie Marving
France

Key accomplishments:

  • First woman to fly over the North Sea in 1909.
  • First woman to fly in combat in 1915.
  • First woman to run a civil air ambulance service in 1934.
  • First person licensed to practice aviation para-medicine in 1935.

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Help us complete this list of pioneering women of aviation. If you know the name of a woman who has established a world’s first prior to 1910, please share it.

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Recent Bios

Virginie Guyot – France

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

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

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

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 – 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 – 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 […]

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Categories

  • First Female Pilot
  • The Beginnings
  • Women Aviation Breakthroughs

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