Theodora Rasche (12 August 1899 – 25 February 1971) was
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
's first female
aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...
pilot.
Biography
Rasche was born in
Unna
Unna () is a city of around 59,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the seat of the Unna (district), Unna district.
The newly refurbished Unna station has trains to all major cities in North Rhine Westphalia including Dortmund, Köln H ...
, one of four children of Wilhelm Rasche (b. 1865), a brewery owner, and his wife Theodora Versteegh from
Nijmegen
Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...
.
After attending a girls' school in
Essen
Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
, she spent a year at a boarding school in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, before going to the Rural School for Women in
Miesbach
Miesbach () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, and is the capital of the Miesbach (district), Miesbach district. The district is at an altitude of 697 metres above sea level. It covers an area of approximately 863.50 km2 of alpine ...
.
Rasche then worked as a secretary in Hamburg, where she became interested in flying, and in 1924 began taking lessons with
Paul Bäumer
:''This article deals with Paul Bäumer the pilot. For the fictional Paul Bäumer, see All Quiet on the Western Front. For the late member of electronic music group Bingo Players, see Bingo Players''
Paul Wilhelm Bäumer known as The Iron Eagle ...
at
Fuhlsbüttel
is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the Hamburg-Nord district. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression. ...
. In 1925, she received her pilot's license, and soon after became the first German woman to pass the aerobatic examination, flying a
Udet U 12
The Udet U 12 Flamingo was an aerobatic sports plane and trainer aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1920s.
Design and development
The U 12 was a conventional, single-bay biplane of wooden construction with the wings braced by large I-stru ...
. She then participated as a pilot in air shows and competitions in Germany.
In 1927, her father bought her a
BFW Flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...
, registration number D-1120, and in July, she set off for the United States,
the first of five trips.
Rasche first flew from Berlin to Paris (where she met
Richard E. Byrd
Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer, and pioneering aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader cr ...
), then to London. She then flew to
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
where
Juan de la Cierva
Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva (; 21 September 1895 – 9 December 1936), was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self-taught aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of a rotorcr ...
assisted in loading her aircraft aboard the for the voyage to New York,
alongside passengers Cdr. Byrd and
Clarence Chamberlin
Clarence Duncan Chamberlin (November 11, 1893 – October 31, 1976) was an American pioneer of aviation, being the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the firs ...
. In the United States, Rasche took part in various competitions. On 12 August 1927, when returning to New York, she attempted to fly under a bridge at
Albany, only for her engine to fail, forcing her to
ditch
A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...
in the
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
. Fortunately, her aircraft was fully insured, and she soon obtained a replacement, D-1229, from Germany.
On 28 September 1927, her plane crashed at the Dennison airport in Quincy, after the motor died; she was uninjured, but the plane was damaged slightly.
In 1927 and 1928, she returned to the United States and attempted to organise a flight back to Germany across the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
, but these plans came to nothing owing to a lack of financial sponsors. In 1929, Rasche took part in the
Women's Air Derby
The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most common ...
, known as the "Powder Puff Derby", the first official women-only air race in the United States.
She also became the first woman to join the exclusive "
Quiet Birdmen
The Quiet Birdmen is a secretive club in the United States for male aviators. Founded in 1921 by World War I pilots, the organization meets in various locations, never announced to the public. Members, called QBs, must be invited to join, and they ...
" club, and was a charter member of the "
Ninety-Nines
The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...
", a group of 99 female pilots who fought for the advancement of women in aviation.
Rasche took part in further flying displays and flights in Germany, and in 1932 she became the first woman in Germany to be awarded a seaplane license. However, financial difficulties forced her to abandon her career as an aviator, and from 1933 she worked as the editor of the magazine ''Flug-Illustrierten'' ("Flight Magazine"). In 1934, she flew as a passenger aboard the
Douglas DC-2
The Douglas DC-2 is a retired 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3 ...
flown by Koene Dirk Parmentier, to report on the
MacRobertson Air Race
The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race (also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race) took place in October 1934 in aviation, 1934 as part of the 1934 Centenary of Melbourne, Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The race was devised by the Lord Mayor o ...
from England to Australia. In 1935, she became a freelance journalist.
Rasche remained in Germany during World War II, training as a nurse in Berlin during 1945.
Rasche had joined the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
in 1933, and later became a member of the
National Socialist Flyers Corps
The National Socialist Flyers Corps (; NSFK) was a paramilitary aviation organization of the Nazi Party.
History
NSFK was founded 15 April 1937 as a successor to the German Air Sports Association; the latter had been active during the years when ...
, but appeared before a
Denazification
Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...
Tribunal in Berlin in May 1947, which ruled that she had been only a nominal member of the party.
After the war, she lived in the United States until 1953, then returned to Germany.
Thea Rasche died in Rüttenscheid, Essen, on 25 February 1971.
There are three streets named after her in Germany: ''Thea-Rasche-Straße'' in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, ''Thea-Rasche-Weg'' in
Freudenstadt
Freudenstadt (, Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is the capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to ...
, and ''Thea-Rasche-Zeile'' in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, close to
Gatow Airport
Royal Air Force Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, was a British Royal Air Force station (military airbase) in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau. It was the home for the only kn ...
.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasche, Thea
1899 births
1971 deaths
People from Unna
Women aviation pioneers
Aerobatic pilots
German women aviators
History of aerobatics
Nazi Party members
National Socialist Flyers Corps members