Elly Beinhorn

[1] In 1928, she attended a lecture by famed aviator Hermann Köhl, who had recently completed a historic east–west Atlantic crossing.

[2][3] At just 21 years old, with funds from a small inheritance (against the wishes of her parents) she moved to Spandau in Berlin where she took flying lessons, at Berlin-Staaken airport, under the tutelage of instructor Otto Thomsen.

[12] The foreword of her book, Flying Girl (1935), was written by Richard Halliburton (whose English publisher, as hers, was Geoffrey Bles); it includes a photo of Moye Stephens repairing her plane.

[16] The following year, Beinhorn shipped the plane to Panama, then flew through Mexico and California before crossing the United States to Washington DC and Miami.

[17] On 29 September 1935 Elly attended the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix, in Brno, Czechoslovakia, at the invitation of Auto Union (she was in the country on a lecture tour).

A celebrity couple – an adventurous aviator and the fearless racing driver – they were the toast of Nazi Germany.

Ten weeks after his birth his father was killed while attempting a speed record in his Auto Union Streamliner.

Elly received condolences from prominent Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, but requested a simple, non-political funeral ceremony.

Some accounts suggest that Elly walked off in protest at the Nazis claiming Bernd as their own and taking over what was a personal occasion.

[21] After World War II she briefly took up gliding due to the ban on powered flight in Germany.

Elly Beinhorn 1933
Elly Beinhorn and Bernd Rosemeyer at their wedding
Woman in Helsinki 1952 Summer Olympics . The plane in the background is Elly Beinhorn's Piper J-3C-65 Cub with designation HB-OAM and description of the photo says that it is most likely herself.