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Since women flying in aircraft even as passengers was such a rarity, "firsts" were noted for women passengers as well as for women pilots. Mrs. Hart O. Berg, wife of the Wright brothers' European representative, was the first American woman to fly as a passenger in an airplane. She made a two -minute three-second flight with Wilbur Wright at Auvers, France, in 1908. Mrs. Berg is also credited with having inspired the famous lady's fashion of the day, the "hobble skirt." Apparently, a French couturière was quite taken with manner in which Mrs. Berg walked away from the aircraft with her long skirt still tied around her ankles. She had done this to keep it from blowing in the wind during her flight.

The first woman to fly as an airplane passenger in America was Mrs. Ralph Van Deman of Washington, D.C., a good friend of the Wright brothers' sister Katherine. Mrs. Van Deman developed an interest in aviation, and when Wilbur and Orville were giving flight instruction to U.S. Army officers at College Park, Maryland, in the fall of 1909, Mrs. Van Deman often went with her husband, a U.S. Army captain, to watch the flights. One day in October they arrived some time before the flights were to begin, so Wilbur Wright took Mrs. Van Deman