Liesel Bach

In 1929, a flight instructor from Cologne landed at Hangelaer with a student pilot and Bach asked him if he would teach her to fly.

He agreed, and Bach started lessons with him at s Butzweilerhof Airport in Cologne a short time later.

[3] She went on to compete in other aerobatic competitions, including an international meeting in Milan, Italy, in 1930, during which Luzie Byczkowsky parachuted from her plane, and another in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1932, where she was placed fourth.

[7] In March 1932, Bach was asked to fly a plane pulling a propaganda sign for Adolf Hitler, who was standing in the 1932 presidential election.

Colleagues of hers threatened sabotage and exclusion from the airport if she agreed to this, but she and two other pilots accepted the request and flew over Cologne with the election banner "Choose Hitler!".

During World War II, recreational flying was banned and Bach was instead assigned to an air transport squadron.