the first woman in Germany to be awarded a seaplane license. However, financial difficulties forced her to abandon her career as an aviator, and from 1933 she worked as the editor of the magazine Flug-Illustrierten ("Flight Magazine"). In 1934, she flew as a passenger aboard the Douglas DC-2 flown by Koene Dirk Parmentier, to report on the MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia. In 1935, she became a freelance journalist. Rasche remained in Germany during World War II, training as a nurse in Berlin during 1945. Rasche had joined the Nazi Party in 1933, and later became a member of the National Socialist Flyers Corps, but appeared before a Denazification Tribunal in Berlin in May 1947, which ruled that she had been only a nominal member of the party. After the war, she lived in the United States until 1953, then returned to Germany. Thea Rasche died in Rüttenscheid, Essen, on 25 February 1971. There are three streets named after her in Germany: Thea-Rasche-Straße in Frankfurt, Thea-Rasche-Weg in Freudenstadt, and Thea-Rasche-Zeile in Berlin, close to Gatow Airport. References Further reading External links 1899 births 1971 deaths People from Unna Aviation pioneers Aerobatic pilots German women aviators Nazi Party members National Socialist Flyers Corps members