File:Bessica Medlar (1875-1932) Raiche obituary from the Associated Press in the New York Times on April 12, 1932.png

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Dr. Bessica Medlar Raiche, Early Flyer, Dead. Received Gold Medal From Hudson Maxim as "First Woman Aviator of America." Built her own airplane, made flights in it in 1910, was painter, musician and linguist and practicing physician. Santa Ana, California; April 11, 1932 (Associated Press) Dr. Bessica Raiche, 58 years old, reputed to be the first woman who ever flew an airplane, died yesterday at her home in Balboa, a beach resort near here. She was found in her bed by her daughter Catherine. Death apparently was caused by heart disease. In 1910 at the flying field at Mineola, Long Island, where many of the first flights were made in this country, she flew an old pusher-type ship. In later years she engaged in no flying, and in an interview recently said she had been out of a plane so long that she believed she would be afraid to go up. Dr. Raiche came to California about nineteen years ago and devoted most of her time to her medical practice, which was extensive. A funeral service will be held here tomorrow afternoon. Mrs. Raiche was a native of Wisconsin, having been born near the town of Beloit. Her father was an inventor, and on her mother's side her ancestry was said to date from the early Puritan settlers of New England. Early In life she became an accomplished musician and also took great interest in painting in oils and water-colors. She was also a noted linguist and as a young woman had mastered several modern language. In her early twenties Mrs. Raiche went to Paris to complete her studies in ivory miniature painting. There she met Françoise Raiche, to whom she was later married. She had a lasting interest in out-of-door sport, such as horseback riding, swimming and trap shooting, and upon her return to the United States she became attracted to aviation, which at that time was in its early stages of development. She made a study of the science, designed and constructed a plane of her own. In 1910 she made twenty-five flights in one week in the machine and was generally accredited with being America's first aviatrix. Hudson Maxim, the famous inventor of explosives, who was then president of the Aeronautical Society, presented a gold medal to her which was inscribed to "the first woman aviator of America."

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