The story of the first Hungarian airwoman

She was only 20 years old when she first flew with an aeroplane. She was not ashamed of wearing a leather jacket, boots and a pilot’s helmet — a young and strong woman who served as a nurse during World War I. She is Lilly Steinschneider, the first ever Hungarian airwoman.

She was born on 13^th January 1893 in Budapest in a wealthy Austrian-Hungarian-Jewish family. Her father Bernát Steinschneider was a wealthy owner of a quilt factory, and her mother Irma Wohr had Czech origins. According to parish registers, Lilly was the second child born in the Steinschneider family. She had a brother called Hugó Steinschneider, but there is not much known about him. The family’s life-long duty was to provide quilt covers for the House of Habsburg in Austria. The first eighteen years of Lilly’s life remain a mystery, but historians assume that she finished secondary school as any other regular student back in that time.

The summer of 1910 was the most significant in Steinschneider’s life. The annual International Aeroplane Festival took place in Budapest where the young girl fell in love with flying and aeroplanes and decided to dedicate her life to become a pilot.

After her successful motor vehicle exam, she started to learn how to become a pilot. Coming from a wealthy family Steinschneider was not affected by financial difficulties and with the support of her father she could go the distance. First, she travelled with famous pilots to see how to fly an aeroplane. She succeeded in the first part of her pilot exam in Wiener Neustadt, where her teacher was Karl Illner, Austria’s most famous aeroplane pilot. The second part of her exam was on 15^th August 1912, where besides Karl Illner, Lieutenant Kirsch, the leader of the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops, and Captain Uzelac were also present. After the successful exam, Steinschneider and Captain Uzelac flew together up to 1800 meters. Her performance and her insight into flying astonished many people.

On 6^th October 1912 in Nagyvárad, she took off with her plane, which was her first public flying after her exams. After her safe landing, the 2000 people who gathered together to watch Steinschneider’s flying gave her an amazing ovation.