Elsa Andersson

For the Swedish Olympic diver, see Elsa Andersson (diver).

Elsa Andersson (27 April 1897 Strövelstorp, Sweden – 22 January 1922) was Sweden's first female aviator and stunt parachutist.

She was the daughter of a farmer in Strövelstorp in the Scanian countryside. Her mother died when she was aged six. Her elder brother left the family and sought a new life in America.

Always showing determination and ambition, she wanted to become more than just a farmer's wife and so, aged 21, in 1920, she learned to fly, becoming Sweden's first woman pilot. Her diploma was "no. 203". Not content with that, she went to Germany to learn parachute jumping.

In 1922, Andersson was killed on her third jump in Askersund, Sweden. Thousands of spectators were gathering below on the ice of the frozen lake Alsen. She had trouble releasing her parachute, which finally unfolded only at a small distance from the treetops and she crashed violently into the ground.

In 1926, the Swedish Aero Club erected a three-metre-high obelisk as a memorial in the place where she was found dead.

Novel and film

In 1996 the Swedish novelist Jacques Werup adapted her life in his novel Den ofullbordade himlen ("The Imperfect Sky").
In 2001 the novel was the basis for the film by Jan Troell Så vit som en snö (aka As White as a Snow)^[1]^[2] in which Andersson was played by the actress Amanda Ooms. The film was awarded the Swedish critics' prize for best Swedish film of the year. The film depicted her as having affairs with both sexes, but it is not clear how accurately this reflected Andersson's real life.
Werup, Jacques: Den ofullbordade himlen. [Stockholm] : Bonnier, 1996. - ISBN 91-0-056231-9 (Swedish edition).

Notes

^ Så vit som en snö (2001) at the Internet Movie Database
^ Dargis, Manohla. "Movies: About Sa Vit som en Sno". New York Times. http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=239435. Retrieved 8 August 2008.

External links

← 1921
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1922 (1922)
1923 →

Jan 22 Elsa Andersson

Apr 7 First mid-air collision of airliners

Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics
Deadliest incident shown in bold smallcaps

Persondata
Name	Andersson, Elsa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 April 1897
Place of birth
Date of death	22 January 1922
Place of death