Hanna Reitsch

Hanna Reitsch (29 March 1912 – 24 August 1979) was a German aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many honors. Reitsch was among the very last people to meet Adolf Hitler alive in the Führerbunker in late April 1945.

Hanna Reitsch
Hanna Reitsch in 1941
Born29 March 1912 (1912-03-29)
Hirschberg, Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
(Now Jelenia Góra, Poland)
Died24 August 1979 (1979-08-25) (aged 67)
Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, West Germany
NationalityGerman, Austrian
Known forNazi, Aviator, test pilot
  • First woman to earn the Silver C Badge
  • First woman to fly a helicopter
  • First woman to pilot a rocket plane
  • First woman to fly a jet
  • Iron Cross First Class Luftwaffe (one of only three women)
  • Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds (only woman)
  • Honorary member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (one of only three women)
  • Member #1 of the Whirly-Girls female helicopter-pilot association
PartnerRobert Ritter von Greim (1945)

Reitsch set more than 40 flight altitude records and women's endurance records in gliding and unpowered flight, before and after World War II. In the 1960s, she was sponsored by the West German foreign office as a technical adviser in Ghana and elsewhere, and founded a gliding school in Ghana, where she worked for Kwame Nkrumah.

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