German aviator who set altitude and endurance records and worked as a test pilot for the Third Reich during World War II.
She left medical school in 1932 to become a full-time glider pilot.
She set more than forty aviation records, some of which survived into the modern jet age.
She was born into a middle class family, and her father worked as a physician.
She was portrayed Diane Cilento in the 1973 film Hitler: The Last Ten Days.
