WOMEN IN THE CLOUDS - Aeronauts - Parachutists - Aviatrices - Vol. 1: 1784–1918

In aeronautics, collective memory preserves the story of the Montgolfier brothers and their hot-air balloon, which rose into the sky in 1783; of Pilâtre de Rozier, who that same year made a free balloon flight; of André-Jacques Garnerin, who performed a parachute descent in 1797; and of Louis Blériot, who crossed the English Channel in his Blériot XI in 1909.

As for women, their role in the conquest of the air has faded somewhat over time, though examples of female perseverance and courage are legion. In 1784, Elizabeth Tible caused a sensation when she flew over the city of Lyon in a balloon while singing operatic arias. In 1785, the actress Letitia Ann Sage became the first English aeronaut, and in 1799, Jeanne Labrosse made the first parachute descent by a woman.

In the 19th century, the aerial performances of the French women Élisa Garnerin and Sophie Blanchard brought lustre to imperial and royal festivities. European courts vied for these intrepid aeronauts, who performed before tens of thousands of spectators in Germany, Italy, Austria and Russia. During her ascents, the German Wilhelmine Reichard threw poems and flowers to the crowd below. Louise Poitevin set out to conquer the skies seated on a horse, and later, aerial acrobats numbered in the dozens. In the United States, Mary Myers offered balloon rides to thousands. In 1913, the German Elfriede Riotte became an airship pilot.

With the dawn of heavier-than-air flight, Raymonde de Laroche obtained her pilot's licence as early as 1910, followed by many other women across Europe and the United States — Marie Marvingt, Hélène Dutrieu, Hilda Hewlett, Lydia Zvereva, Harriet Quimby, Mathilde Moisant, Katherine Stinson, Melli Beese, Bozena Laglerova, to name but a few... In 1913, aircraft dropped the first female parachutists. Defying danger and prejudice, these aviatrices set altitude, distance and endurance records.

When the First World War broke out, these pioneers, deprived of their passion, disappeared for the most part into anonymity. A new generation of aviatrices would emerge at the end of the first world conflict.