Raymonde de Laroche

Raymonde de Laroche (22 August 1882 – 18 July 1919) was a French pilot, thought to be the first woman to pilot a plane. She became the world's first licensed female pilot on 8 March 1910.

She received the 36th aeroplane pilot's licence issued by the Aeroclub de France, the world's first organization to issue pilot licences. At the time, pilot licences were only required for pilots operating aircraft for commercial purposes.

Early life

Born on 22 August 1882 in Paris, France, as Elise Raymonde Deroche, Raymonde De Laroche was the daughter of a plumber. She had a fondness for sports as a child, as well as for motorcycles and automobiles when she was older. As a young woman she became an actress and used the stage name "Raymonde de Laroche". She was inspired by Wilbur Wright's 1908 demonstrations of powered flight in Paris and was personally acquainted with several aviators, including artist-turned-aviator Léon Delagrange, who was reputed to be the father of her son André. Due to all of these inspirations, De Laroche was determined to take up flying for herself.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp

Achievements in aviation

File:Mme. la Baronne de Laroche, aviatrice, au poste de direction d'un biplan Voisin (c. 1910).jpg

Raymonde de Laroche in her Voisin aeroplane in 1909

In October 1909, de Laroche appealed to her friend, aviator and aeroplane builder Charles Voisin to instruct her in how to fly. On 22 October 1909, de Laroche went to the Voisin brothers' base of operations at Chalons, Template:Convert east of Paris. Voisin's aircraft could seat only one person, so she operated the plane by herself while he stood on the ground and gave instructions. After she mastered taxiing around the airfield, she lifted off and flew Template:Convert.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp De Laroche's flight is often cited as the first by a woman in a powered heavier-than-air craft; there is evidence that two other women, P. Van Pottelsberghe and Thérèse Peltier, had flown the previous year with Henri Farman and Delagrange respectively as passengers but not as pilots.<ref name=Peltier>Early Aviators – Peltier Biography</ref>

Decades later, aviation journalist Harry Harper wrote that until de Laroche made her celebrated flight on the Voisin, she had only flown once, for a short hop, as a passenger. When she first took the controls, Charles Voisin expressly forbade her to attempt a flight; after taxiing twice across the airfield, she took off, flying "ten or fifteen feet high" and handling the controls with "cool, quick precision".<ref>Air Trails, July 1953. "The Brave Baroness – First Licensed Ladybird" by Harry Harper.</ref>

File:Photo Aviation Certificate 1910 - Touring Club Italiano 11.3020.jpg

De Laroche's pilot's license

Although Gabriel Voisin wrote, "... my brother [was] entirely under her thumb",<ref>Voisin, G.: Mes 10000 Cerfs-Volants. Editions Table Ronde, 1960. Template:ISBN.</ref> the story of de Laroche as a headstrong woman making the flight after scant preparation and against Voisin's orders almost certainly romanticises what took place. Flight magazine, a week after the flight, reported: "For some time the Baroness has been taking lessons from M. Chateau, the Voisin instructor, at Chalons, and on Friday of last week she was able to take the wheel for the first time. This initial voyage into the air was only a very short one, and terra firma was regained after Template:Convert."<ref name=Flight>Flight, page 695, 30 October 1909.</ref> Flight was also responsible for bestowing the title "Baroness" upon de Laroche, as she was not of noble birth.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp Flight added that on the following day she circled the flying field twice, "the turnings being made with consummate ease. During this flight of about four miles (6 km) there was a strong gusty wind blowing, but after the first two turnings the Baroness said that it did not bother her, as she had the machine completely under control."<ref name=Flight/>

On 8 March 1910,<ref name="Lebow2003">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp de Laroche became the first woman in the world to receive a pilot's licence when the Aero-Club of France issued her licence #36 of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (International Aeronautics Federation or F.A.I.).

File:Raymonde de Laroche in her Voisin biplane, Reims air show - 191007.jpg

A postcard photo claiming to show Raymonde de Laroche in flight in her Voisin biplane at the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne Reims airshow in 1910, but actually showing an unknown Voisin biplane at the 1909 event, as obvious from the buildings

De Laroche participated in aviation meetings at Heliopolis in Egypt as well as Saint Petersburg, Budapest and Rouen. During the show in St. Petersburg, she was personally congratulated by Tsar Nicholas II. There, she was presented once again as "Baroness" de Laroche. Thereafter, the title became commonly used.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp

De Laroche's efforts were not trouble-free. La Petite Gironde reported on her activities on 5 January 1910. Calling her the first woman to fly, La Petite Gironde reported that during a flight around the field at Chalons, with clear skies and light wind, her plane had flown 4 or 5 meters above ground but suddenly crashed. Unconscious at first, de Laroche awoke complaining about internal pains, the result of a shoulder injury.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 1910, de Laroche was participating in the week-long airshow at Reims in France. On 8 July, her aeroplane crashed, and she suffered such severe injuries that her recovery was in doubt, but two years later, she was fit again and had returned to flying. On 26 September 1912, she and Charles Voisin were involved in an automobile crash. Voisin was killed, and she was severely injured.<ref name=CharlesVoisin>Early Aviators – Charles Voisin Biography</ref>

On 25 November 1913, de Laroche won the Aero-Club of France's Femina Cup for a non-stop long-distance flight of over four hours duration.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

During World War I, as flying was considered too dangerous for women, she served as a military driver, chauffeuring officers from the rear zones to the front under fire.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp

In June 1919, de Laroche set two women's altitude records,<ref name=Lienhard>University of Houson, "Engines of our Ingenuity, No. 1813: Raymonde de Laroche", undated article by John H. Lienhard, retrieved on 27 March 2008.</ref> one at Template:Convert; and also the women's distance record, at Template:Convert.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp

Death and legacy

On 18 July 1919,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> de Laroche, who was a talented engineer, went to the airfield at Le Crotoy as part of her plan to become the first female test pilot.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She co-piloted an experimental aircraft (whether she flew this is not known); on its landing approach the aeroplane went into a dive and crashed, killing both de Laroche and the co-pilot.<ref name="Lebow2003"/>Template:Rp

There is a statue of de Laroche at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 6 to 12 March 2010, to celebrate the Centennial of Licensed Women Pilots, women pilots from eight countries on three continents used 20 types of aircraft to establish a new world record: 310 girls and women introduced to piloting by women pilots in one week.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Women of Aviation Worldwide Week is held annually during the week that includes 8 March, which marks the anniversary of Raymonde de Laroche's pilot licence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Early Aviators – De Laroche Biography