Thérèse Peltier (1873 – 1926), born Thérèse Juliette Cochet, was a French sculptor and early

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

pioneer. Popularly believed to have been the first ever female passenger in an airplane, she may also have been the first woman to pilot an aircraft. A friend of fellow sculptor Leon Delagrange, when he became interested in aviation Peltier soon followed.

Early life and career

Thérèse Peltier was born the daughter of a liquor distiller on September 26, 1873, in

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Union of Women Painters and Sculptors, which was the first society of female artists in France. Peltier specialized in wax sculpture and was included along with Delagrange and a group of other wax sculptors in a 1902 profile in

The Literary Digest ''The Literary Digest'' was an influential American general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, ''Public Opinion'' and '' Current ...

Aviation

On 8 July 1908 in Turin, Peltier flew as a passenger with Delagrange for a distance of 200 metres (656 feet). She is widely believed to have been the first female passenger on an airplane; however Henri Farman is reported to have flown or tried to fly with a Mlle P. Van Pottelsberghe in Ghent, Belgium in late May. Delagrange taught Peltier how to fly his

Voisin 1907 biplane The 1907 Voisin biplane (designated the Voisin II by the 1913 edition of '' Jane's All the World's Aircraft''), was the first successful powered aircraft designed by aeronautical engineer and manufacturer Gabriel Voisin. It was used by the ...

and she completed a number of solo flights, although she never earned her pilot's license. After a few training sessions, she flew alone for the first time in Issy-le-Moulineaux. The feat was recounted in ''