Elsa Teresia Andersson (27 April 1897 in
Strövelstorp, Sweden – 22 January 1922) was Sweden's first female
aviator
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
and stunt
parachutist
Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.
For ...
.
She was the daughter of a poor farmer in Strövelstorp in the
Scanian countryside. Her mother died when she was aged six. Her elder brother left the family and sought a new life in America.
Always showing determination and ambition, she wanted to become more than just a farmer's wife and so, aged 21, in 1920, she learned to fly, becoming Sweden's first woman pilot. Her diploma was "no. 203". Not content with that, she went to Germany to learn parachute jumping.
In 1922, Andersson was killed on her third jump in
Askersund, Sweden. Thousands of spectators were gathering below on the ice of the frozen lake
Alsen. She had trouble releasing her parachute, which finally unfolded only at a small distance from the treetops and she crashed violently into the ground.
In 1926, the Swedish Aero Club erected a three-metre-high
obelisk as a memorial in the place where she was found dead.
Novel and film
*In 1996 the Swedish novelist
Jacques Werup adapted her life in his novel ''Den ofullbordade himlen'' ("The Imperfect Sky").
*In 2001 the novel was the basis for the film by
Jan Troell ''
Så vit som en snö'' (a.k.a. ''As White as a Snow'')
in which Andersson was played by the actress
Amanda Ooms. The film was awarded the Swedish critics' prize for best Swedish film of the year. The film depicted her as having affairs with both sexes, but it is not clear how accurately this reflected Andersson's real life.
* Werup, Jacques: ''Den ofullbordade himlen''.
tockholm: Bonnier, 1996. - (Swedish edition).
Notes
Further reading
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Elsa
1897 births
1922 deaths
Women aviators
Swedish aviators
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1922
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Sweden