Woman in Aviation The First Two Hungarian Female Pilots

Absztrakt

Flying in ”heavier-than-air vehicles” has been possible since 1903, when the Wright brothers first flew. The pilots were usually men, and their number in this field is still outstanding today. However as early as 1910, the press reported about women who had learned to fly. The first woman was Lilly Steinschneider who held pilot’s licence No. 4 in Austria–Hungary. Jolán V. Tóth was the second lady to make a name for herself in aviation. She obtained her pilot’s licence No. 449 in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1928. The main topic of the study is the lives of the first and second female pilots in Hungary and their connection to aviation. My main research focuses on their appearance in the press: the events they were reported on, and the way they were portrayed at the time and later. The main question of the study is which of them can be called the first Hungarian female pilot and why? In fact, due to their life situations and environments, both of them could be considered the first.