On 8th March 1910, Frenchwoman Elise Deroche, aka Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, became the first woman pilot in the world to earn an airplane pilot licence. The French aviatrix was also the first woman to fly solo.Born in Paris in 1882, she trained as an artist, especially in the theatre, in addition to painting and sculpting. She was also an automobile racer.She died at the age of 36 when her experimental plane crashed at Le Crotoy airfield in northern France.