aviatrix
noun

- a female pilot

- a woman who is an aviator

Oxford Languages, Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

"Aviatrix" is derived from the word "aviator" with the addition of the feminine suffix "-trix” (masculine forms ending in "-tor"). The word "aviator" itself comes from: French aviateur, Latin avis meaning "bird" (from Proto-Indo-European root awi- meaning "bird”, and the suffix -ator denoting an agent noun.

The word came into use in the 1920s, with the earliest known use recorded in 1927 in the Glasgow Herald.

The term "aviatrix" reflects a period when it was considered necessary or desirable to distinguish female pilots from their male counterparts. Its usage peaked in the early to mid-20th century, coinciding with the rise of notable female aviators like Amelia Earhart and Beate Uhse.

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FROM AVIATRIX TO ENTREPRENEUR
Beate Uhse’s Remarkable Journey

Born in 1919 in East Prussia, Beate Uhse's passion for flying ignited early. At just eight years old, inspired by the tale of Icarus, she attempted her first "flight" by jumping off her parents' veranda with homemade wings,... and thus foreshadowing a remarkable journey.

By the age of 18, she had already earned her pilot’s license and soon became one of Germany’s few female stunt pilots. Her career as an aviatrix took her to the heights of WWII aviation, where she ferried military aircraft to the frontlines as a Luftwaffe pilot.

But it wasn’t just Uhse's flying prowess that made her remarkable. After the war, when her flying career abruptly ended due to restrictions on aviation, she turned her determination toward entrepreneurship. Faced with the challenge of feeding her son as a widow, she launched a business that broke taboos — eventually founding one of the world’s first sex education and adult product empires. Her business flourished, growing into a multimillion-dollar empire with shops across Europe, despite heavy resistance from authorities and public skepticism.

Beate Uhse serves as a reminder that breaking barriers in one field can inspire transformation in another,… whether in the cockpit or the boardroom.

Paul & Helga Smith

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SYNONYMS

For “flying”

airborne, ascending, ballooning, cruising, defying gravity, floating, fluttering, FLYING, gliding, hovering, jetting, levitating, on the wing, riding the air currents, rocketing, soaring, swooping, take/taking flight (to the air, take wing), touching the sky, up in the air, zooming

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Did you know that the sex-industry entrepreneur Beate Uhse, started her career in World War II as an AVIATRIX in the German Lufwaffe?”

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