Liesel Bach

Liesel Bach, born in Bonn on 14 June 1905, was a German aerobatic pilot and flight instructor who became the first woman to fly over Mount Everest. She learned gliding first, earned her pilot licence in November 1929, passed her aerobatics licence test in April 1930 and won a German aerobatic flying competition the same month, and gained her flight instructor licence in 1931. She competed at international meetings including Milan in 1930 and Zurich in 1932, where she placed fourth. During the Second World War she ferried aircraft from factories to airfields in an air transport squadron. Invited to India in 1950, she won an international aerobatics competition at Kanpur in 1951, flew over the Himalayas that year, and defended her international title in Sri Lanka in 1952. She helped found a leisure flying club in Cologne in 1981 and died in Bandol, France, on 22 January 1992.