Before Amelia: Women Pilots in the Early Days of Aviation

by Eileen F. Lebow

Before Amelia is the remarkable story of the world’s women pioneer aviators who braved the skies during the early days of flight. While most books have only examined the women aviators of a single country, Eileen Lebow looks at an international spectrum of pilots and their influence on each other. The story begins with Raymonde de Laroche, a French woman who became the first licensed female pilot in 1909. De Laroche, Lydia Zvereva, Melli Beese, Hilda Hewlitt, Harriet Quimby, and the other women pilots profiled here rose above contemporary gender stereotypes and proved their ability to fly the temperamental heavier-than-air contraptions of the day. Lebow provides excellent descriptions of the dangers and challenges of early flight. Crashes and broken bones were common, and many of the pioneers lost their lives. But these women were adventurers at heart. In an era when women’s professional options were severely limited and the mere sight of ladies wearing pants caused a sensation, these women succeeded as pilots, flight instructors, airplane designers, stunt performers, and promoters. This book fills a large void in the history of the first two decades of flight.

Genres: Nonfiction, Aviation, History

315 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Rebecca Abuscato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Earhart is without a doubt the most famous woman pilot in the world - so much so that people often don't realize that she was not the first woman to earn her pilot's license (that was Raymonde de Laroche in 1910 - 13 years before Earhart came on the scene) and frankly, she wasn't even the best pilot among her contemporaries. That's not to say she wasn't a good pilot, but she wasn't the best.

General aviation got its start in 1909 - prior to that time the planes were really too rickety to be flown by the average enthusiast and really these planes never were very safe. It wasnt until governments got involved during WWI that inventors could really go to town and make planes that were faster, sturdier, more maneuverable and safer.

But even though aviation was danger during the "early bird" years - plenty of women wanted the thrill and excitement of flying.

Eileen tells us about the early French pilots such as Raymonde le La Roche and Marie Marvingt, Belgian women such as Helene Dutrieu, the tragic story of German pilot Mellie Beese, and of course Americans such as Harriet Quimby and Ruth Law.

If you ever take a look at these early "crates" - type in Ruth Law flying circus at YouTube, for example - and you'll realize just how brave and daring these women, and indeed all pilots, were during that time.

This book covers the story of early pilots around the world very thoroughly. Highly recommended.

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-researched book about interesting people, "women pilots in the early days of aviation", as stated in the sub-title. I work as a volunteer in a Canadian aviation museum, specializing in the early days, and I admit with some chagrin that I had heard of virtually none of these pioneers. That might be because these are European and American fliers, so I have had less reason to learn about them, but this certainly filled in an embarrassing gap in my knowledge.

The title, "Before Amelia", is clearly designed to attract buyers. Amelia Earheart is mentioned only in passing, and has no relevance to this account, but her name in the title will certainly sell more books than something like "After Raymonde".

While it was interesting, the subject matter also became repetitive after a while, especially for the American fliers. They tended to do a lot of exhibition flying (pretty much the only way to earn an income from flying in the days before the First World War) and many of the related anecdotes are interesting and enlightening. However, there are many exhibitions that are just listed by name, which I soon learned to skip over.

[Sarah Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive guide to women pilots between 1906 and 1922 (or so). I read this book in preparation for a class I am going to give on women pilots between 1906 and WWII and found it invaluable.