Elly Beinhorn
| Elly Beinhorn | |
|---|---|
Elly Beinhorn (center) with Bernd Rosemeyer and Ferdinand Porsche
|
|
| Born |
30 May 1907 Hanover, Germany |
| Died | 28 November 2007 (aged 100) Ottobrunn, Germany |
| Occupation | Pilot |
| Spouse(s) |
Bernd Rosemeyer (1909–1938) (m. 1936–1938) (his death) |
Elly Beinhorn-Rosemeyer (30 May 1907 – 28 November 2007) was a German pilot.
She was born in Hannover, Germany on 30 May 1907.
In 1928, she attended a lecture by famed aviator Hermann Köhl, who had recently completed a historic East-West Atlantic crossing. This lecture is described as the spark that ignited her interest in aviation.
At just 21 years old, with funds from a small inheritance (against the wishes of her parents) she moved to Spandau in Berlin where she took flying lessons, at Berlin-Staaken airport, under the tutelage of instructor Otto Thomsen. She soon made her solo flight in a small Klemm KL-20. With her money running out, it was suggested that she give aerobatic displays on the weekends. She found this financially rewarding, but personally unsatisfying.
Long distance flying was her real passion and in 1931 she seized the opportunity to fly to Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) West Africa on a scientific expedition. On the return journey, engine failure resulted in a crash-landing in the Sahara. With the help of nomadic Tuareg tribesmen, Elly joined a camel caravan to Timbuktu. She subsequently returned to the crash site to recover parts of the plane. Word of her plight reached the French authorities and they sent a military two-seater plane to collect her.
In April 1931, fully recovered, she was able to fly herself back to Berlin to a warm reception from the crowds.
Soon after this, she embarked on another flight, her Klemm monoplane developing mechanical problems near Bushire, Persia. She found Moye Stephens, another pilot, in Bushire, who helped her fix the problem on her Klemm. Stephens and travel-adventure writer Richard Halliburton were flying around the world in a Stearman C-3B biplane, they called the Flying Carpet. She accompanied them on part of their flight, including the trip to Mount Everest. She flew on to Bali - and eventually Australia. In the process, she became only the second woman to fly solo from Europe to Australia, after Amy Johnson. The foreword of her book, Flying Girl (1935), was written by Richard Halliburton (whose English publisher, as hers, was Geoffrey Bles); it includes a photo of Moye Stephens repairing her plane. Barbara H. Schultz' Flying Carpets, Flying Wings - The Biography of Moye Stephens (2011) contains Stephens' own account of their meeting which was first introduced in Halliburton's bestselling The Flying Carpet (1932).
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