Ferdinand Léon Delagrange is credited with being the first to take a woman, Thérèse Peltier, aloft in an airplane, on July 8, 1908, in Milan.
Notes on verification
Widely repeated attribution confirmed by multiple sources, but location (Milan vs Turin) and the 'first woman' status are disputed among historians, with some crediting a different woman/flight earlier in 1908.
Sources
- After Thomas Selfridge (smithsonianmag.com)
- https://historynet.com/french-aviation-pioneer/ (historynet.com)
- https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/8-july-1908/ (thisdayinaviation.com)