Raymonde de Laroche (22 August 1882 – 18 July 1919), born Elise Raymonde Deroche, was a French pilot and the first woman in the world to receive an aeroplane pilot’s licence.
French actress Elise Deroche, better known as Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, took flying lessons at the Châlons-en-Champagne aviation camp on a Voisin biplane, with Charles Voisin having encouraged her to do so.
She passed the pilot’s license on March 8, 1910 in Mourmelon, making her the first woman in the world to achieve this.
On October 22, 1909 she made a historic first solo flight from the aerodrome of Bouy with a single-seater aircraft, then browsing a distance of 300 meters at 5 meters altitude. Charles Voisin as well as an English journalist being the witnesses of this flight during which Elise Deroche seemed a perfect mistress of his airplane.
All Aero 