E. Lilian Todd

Emma Lilian Todd, originally from Washington, D.C., and later New York City, was a self-taught inventor who grew up with a love for mechanical devices. The New York Times issue of November 28, 1909, identified her as the first woman in the world to design airplanes, which she started in 1906 or earlier. In 1910, her last design flew, test-piloted by Didier Masson.