Because of the fame of Amelia Earhart, many people mistakenly believe that she was the very first woman pilot – and indeed the only woman pilot before the modern day!
But Amelia Earhart didn’t earn her pilot’s license until May 16, 1923, when she became the 16th woman in the United States to do so. Her license, issued by the FAI (Federacion Aeronautique Internationale) was #6017, indicating that she was the 6,017th person to earn a pilot’s license.
The first woman to earn a pilot’s license was Frenchwoman Raymonde de Laroche, and she did so on March 8,1910. About 40 women followed her, until July, 1914 in Europe, and April 1917 in the United States, when the onset of World War I put an end to all civilian flying.
The story of the women “early birds” (pilots who learned to fly before the beginning of 1917) is told by author Eileen F. Lebow in her 2002 book, Before Amelia: Women Pilots in the Early Days of Aviation.
Lebow, also author of Cal Rogers and the Gin Fiz: The First Transcontinental Flight, A Grandstand Seat: The Army Balloon Corps in World War I, and The Bright Boys: A History of Townsend Harris High School, presents a thoroughly researched and comprehensive book on these pioneer flyers from France, Germany, Belgium and Russia, as well as the United States.
The book starts with an overview, “In the Beginning,” and then begins its coverage with chapter length biographies of Raymonde de LaRoche (first woman to earn a pilot’s license, #36, on March 8, 1910, Helene Dutrieu, first woman from Belgium, Marie Marvingt of France, and Jeanne Herveux, all earning their licenses in 1910.
She continues with brief mentions of other women who engaged in flying but did not have a lot of publicity or gave it up after a time. Still, interesting snippets.
She then moves on to Germany and Amelie “Melli” Beese, a rather sad story A successful aviation business woman, her business was destroyed during WWI and she was never able to recover financially or emotionally. She committed suicide in 1925.
Then on to Russia, with brief bios of such pilots as Lydia Zvereva Lyubov Golanchikova. Again, plenty of mention of other Russian pilots who didn’t achieve their fame.
Then she moves on to England, with Hilda Hewitt, and Cheridah de Beauvoir Stocks.
That’s about half of the book. The rest covers American pilots, such as Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to earn a license (although Blanche Stuart Scott did fly before her, she never bothered to earn a license), Matilde Moisant, Katherine Stinson, and Ruth Law.
World War I put an end to flying for all these women, and most of them did not return to flying after the war – except for Raymonde de LaRoche who intended to become a test pilot but was killed in a crash during a test flight of a new plane.
There’s plenty of Notes on Sources, which is always important.