Ive covered her before but it has been sometime now and she was mentioned on another page .... Amelie Melli Beese . A rather amazing woman ... She was born in Dresden on 13 September 1886. Interestingly, she was first trained as an architect, and then moved into sculpture. She studied at the Royal Academy in Stockholm. She got interested in aviation, and in summer 1910 started studying aviation design and mechanics. As you note, she had a hard time getting anyone to teach her to fly at Johnannisthal, and her aircraft was sabotaged by other candidates the day she took her pilot’s licensing exam. One of the men who did it was later quoted as explaining A woman who flies would take our glory away from us. Having learned on a Wright at the Ad Astra school, She earned her license on 13 September 1911, and the next day broke Helen Dutrieu’s altitude record. After finally getting her license, Melli set a succession of endurance and altitude records. She later studied under Helmuth Hirth ( Shirley ) learning to fly the monoplane. She built her own plane, the Melli Beese Colombe (Melli Beese’s Dove [or pigeon]), which she used in her flight school. It seems to have been a Taube modification, in which she later reportedly made the amazing speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Interestingly, she is one of the first of several women pilots who opened their own flight schools (hers started in early 1912), and one of the few to make it prosper, keeping it running till April 1914. The chief pilot at her flying school was the Frenchman Charles Boutard, whom she was to marry in January 1913. She was granted at least two patents in aviation, one for a hydroplane. She established a factory to produce these hydroplanes (or at least to finish airframes produced by another company). The war ruined the companies, as she and her French husband were considered enemy aliens. He was in and out of prison, and she was prevented from flying, teaching, or building aircraft. After the war, they returned to aviation, and tried to plan a round-the-world flight in 1921, for which they were unable to find sponsors. I think she and Boutard were divorced in the early 20s, and he ended up driving taxi cabs. She shot herself on 22 December 1925. She is quoted in several publications as having a motto, flying is everything; living is nothing. Biographical material via Dave Lam
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:57:59 +0000
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