Today we are celebrating Lilian Todd (1865 - 1937). This was a remarkable woman who was a self-taught inventor with a passion for mechanics. According to the New York Times, Todd was the first woman to design airplanes. Todd worked with patents and began to study law as part of the first Woman’s Law Class of New York University. In 1903 she began to focus on mechanics and aeronautics. Todd was especially inspired but the airships in London and the sketches she saw.
Todd was the first woman in the world to build a heavier-than-air machine, (1906), the first woman to apply for a license to fly, and the founder of America's first Junior Aero Club in 1908. She was also the first person to induce the State of New York to accept an airplane as a gift, and this state's Signal Corps was the first state troop to be so equipped. Her airplane, built by the Wittemann Brothers, was exhibited in the aero show of 1906 in Madison Square Garden. In 1909 the Richmond Borough Commissioner of Public Works denied her request to make a flying test on Southfield Boulevard as "the charter does not in its present form contemplate any such use of the public street." (This album contains this original document). Previous to the surfacing of this album, historical sources indicate the 1909 application to be her only attempt at flight.
Lilian Todd helped pave the way for women in aviation engineering and designing for years to come.
Every day this week we will be looking at a remarkable woman in aerospace, join our community to keep up-to-date.
What women do you think have been pioneers in the aviation and space industries?
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Source: http://earlyaviators.com/etodd1.htm