Elsa Andersson
Elsa Teresia Andersson (born April 27, 1897 in Strövelstorp , † January 22, 1922 in Askersund ) was the first Swedish female pilot . It was popularly known as "The daring Schonin" ( Swedish : Den käcka skånskan ).
biography
Elsa Andersson was in 1897 in Skåne Strövelstorp, near Angelholm born, the daughter of farmers Edvard Andersson and his wife Alma Svensson. Andersson's mother died giving birth to her younger sister while her brother emigrated to the United States . Fascinated by aviation from childhood, Andersson attended the nearby school of the Swedish aviation pioneer and aircraft designer Enoch Thulin . Although she was the second woman to do an apprenticeship with Thulin, she completed her training in contrast to her colleague Ruth Bergman and received her license to fly with license number 203 on May 30, 1920. She was the first Swedish female pilot and also the last student to attend Thulin's flight school.
After successfully completing her training as a pilot, Elsa Andersson was looking for new challenges. The young woman, described as independent, brave and unconventional, wanted to train as a parachutist , but the only Swedish expert in the field, Raoul Thörnblad, refused to teach women the art. Then Andersson traveled to Germany , where she attended the parachute diving school run by airship engineer Otto Heinecke and received theoretical lessons. Her first parachute jump in Sweden took place in Kristianstad on October 2, 1921 , making her the first Swedish female parachutist. A week later there was another jump in Helsingborg .
On January 22, 1922, Elsa Andersson completed her third parachute jump over the frozen Alsen Lake near Askersund. In front of more than four thousand spectators, she jumped from a height of about 600 to 700 meters from the plane, but the lines of the parachute got tangled. Andersson managed to open her parachute briefly above the treetops, but she hit the mountainous terrain next to the lake almost unchecked and was instantly dead. Andersson was buried a few days later with great sympathy in the church cemetery of her birthplace. Four years after her fatal parachute jump, the Royal Swedish Aero Club erected a memorial stone in the form of a three meter high obelisk at the place where she died .
In 1996 the Swedish novelist Jacques Werup processed Elsa Andersson's life in his novel Den ofullbordade himlen (German: The unfinished sky ). In 2001, based on the novel, the film As white as snow (original title: Så vit som en snö ) was made in which the actress Amanda Ooms slipped into the role of the Swedish aviation pioneer. The production of Jan Troell was a year later by the Swedish film critics with the Guldbagge named best Swedish film of the year.
literature
- Werup, Jacques: The ofullbordade himlen . Stockholm, Bonnier, 1996. ISBN 91-0-056231-9 (Swedish edition)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Andersson, Elsa |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Andersson, Elsa Teresia (full name); Den käcka Skånskan (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish aviation pioneer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 27, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Strövelstorp , Sweden |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 1922 |
| Place of death | Askersund , Sweden |