Baroness la Deroche was the first woman to earn a pilot's license. She did so in 1910.

She was born Élise Deroche in Paris on Aug. 22, 1886 and as a teen developed a love of sports, including ice skating, rowing, skiing, and playing tennis. She loved the power and potential of cars and motorcycles, and it wasn't long before she developed an affinity for airplanes.

When she was 20, she changed her name to Raymonde and added the "de" before her last name, becoming Raymonde de Laroche.

She made her name as an actress before entering the world of machine-engine-powered flight. She befriended a handful of well-known members of an emerging club, that of aviators. One of those was Charles Voisin, who made a name for himself building airplanes. Voisin it was who taught de Laroche to fly a plane. Planes in those days had room for only one person, so she was at the the controls while he was on the ground, giving instructions at a distance.

La Deroche flew planes in airshows in several countries, including Egypt, France, Hungary, and Russia. At the St. Petersburg airshow, Tsar Nicholas II personally congratulated her. An associate introduced her to the tsar as the Baroness, and that became the name by which she was most well known.

Her first flight was 270 meters. The very next day, she flew six kilometers, including two circuits of the flying field. On March 8, 1910, she received her pilot's license. It was the 36th license ever issued by the International Aeronautics Federation.

She served during World War I, transporting officers to the front lines (in cars), at times taking enemy fire. She was prohibited from flying, though.

In 1919, she set two records: highest altitude by a woman (4,800 meters in the air) and longest distance flown in a plane by a woman (323 kilometers). That same year, on July 18, she died in a plane crash at Le Crotoy, chasing her dream of becoming the first female professional test pilot. She had survived multiple plane crashes and one horrific automobile crash (which killed Voisin), but she did not survive the one at Le Crotoy.

She had married, twice, and was the mother of one child, André.