1884-1968 AKA Ljuba Galanschikoff, Lioubov Galantchikova, Ljuba Golantschikoff & Lyubov A. Galanchikova AKA LUBA G. PHILLIPS -1965? |
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Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers |
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Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers |
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Via Email from Toivo Kitvel, 11-18-06 My knowledge of English has not reached the top notch, so please forgot me raping the Grammar and Syntax and other linguistic conventions. But now to the point. The thing is that Russians (as all civilized European and nonEuropean nations) are interested to divide nouns (and people) in genders - male and female. So a male is Golantshikow and his sister or wife becomes Golantshikowa. This lady used the signature Galantschikoff, which strictly speaking suggests (for the Russians) that she is a man, the other westerners didnt give a damn to such a trifle. Nowadays the Russian aviation historians write her name as Golantschikowa. I have a copy from the Viljandi (Fellin) Greek-Orthodox church birth register which says that such a baby was born and christened. Now about the difference in using as the first vowel o or a. The thing is that mostly the Russians pronounce o quite often as a - when they write Moskva they read it Maskva. and okno (window) they pronounce as akno. So that might be the reason why she preferred to write her name with the (second) letter a. And one more thing - when she became famous in Russia, a local (meaning Estonian) Viljandi newspaper told its readers, that she was brought up by a local technician. And the second (or really the third) argument speaking for her being born in Estonia. She went to Fokker, and guess what - Fokker had two Estonians - Arthur Grünberg and Johannes Haas, one can find these men on the pilots lists who got their licenses before the WW1 in Germany - hired to work for him. Do you think that it was just a coincidence? My guess is that she knew that there were other Estonians in Fokkers team and they might have helped her to be hired too ( I personally suppose, that her best asset has something to do with her appearances; but anyway, to knock the Fokker workshop`s door, one has to have somebody waiting for her, and I am sure that she had met Grünberg and Fokker while they visited St Petersburg. And in St Petersburg there were more Estonians living in these days than in Tallinn (Revel) the capital of Estonia). And as a singer she was hired by a guy whose (first) name was Oskar or something, also not a Russian name at all. And womenfolk in Estonia was in these days a lot more emancipated than in other places of the Russian empire. Even I was surprised when I saw how many woman were included in the candidates list of the Municipality Council election in the small town of Arensburg (in Estonian - Kuressaare). Sincerely yours, Toivo Kitvel, Tallinn, Estonia PS1 By the way, the first born in Estonia (he)pilot made his first flight in Riga (Latvia), became a Latvian citizen in 1920, and having been born out of wedlock saw himself as German (as his biological father). By the Jewish tradition he could have been a Estonian ( as his mother happened to be). So we have a lot in common with the Letts. But my educated guess is that Lyuba is a born in Estonia lady of Russian stock. Lyubov means love in Russian and Lyuba is a shortened form of the name Lyubov (like Bill- William etc) It was a pleasure to read your site, and a nice surprise to get your letter. One can't be 100 percent sure about the roots of the aforementioned lady, but one has to do really a lot of work to convince me in the opposite. PS2 One has to end there where one has begun. So just to enlighten you in the Estonian Grammar - in our language we dont make any diffrences in gender - he or she - all the same. In this sense we are far ahead of other Europeans, who are in trouble of making chairpersons from chairmen, and spokespersons from spokesmen. (My most common error in English is just using he instead of she, forgetting such a small differences - so having Queen Elizabeth II visiting Tallinn , I would have told that everybody liked him.) PS-3 Using Fokker`s aircraft she did 2200 metres in Johannisthal 22.11.1912. Could have done better, but had very thin gloves (hands became numb from cold) and as it became dark, she had to land. |
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Via Email from Jean-Pierre Lauwers, (11-22-02) She seems to have been a Russian "female pilote" who enjoyed some fame in her time! I explored Internet and couldn't find much about her life or career. She seems to be named only on Anthony FOKKER websites. Fokker seems to have been love with her, but it didn't develope into an intimate relationship, only a friendship. From the information on the Fokker website, it appears that he came to know her in 1912 at the Johannisthal-Berlin Airfield. Her nick-name was "Pushka" (seems to be a name given to a cannon through Russian history and continuing into Russian Military Aviation : code "P" stood for "Pushka" !) She may have bought her plane from him. She is mentioned to have established an altitude record of 2.200m, but the year is not mentioned. It is also mentioned she went to Paris to give flight exhibitions...(1913?) The picture above is annotated "1913 Johannistal." She is standing at the right. Left of her the is the French aviator Leon Letort, who had just made a non-stop flight Paris to Johannisthal-Berlin. (1913?). It appears that she flew from Johannisthal-Berlin to Paris, accompanied by Letort. Where did she learn to fly? In France? Fokker obtained his license at Johannisthal in 1912!. It is mentioned that he taught her to fly there, possibly in 1913. |
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Photo from FLYING, June 1913 Collection of David Lam |
At the Left is Mlle. Marvingt, one of the women who flew in the first Femina Cup in France, November 1910.
Frl. Galantschikoff, right, is all dressed up for sojourn in the clouds; In the photo below, costumed apparently for an arctic expedition,
is Hilda Hewlett. |
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Via Email from David Lam, (11-27-02) She had a short movie (cinema) career before becoming a pilot, under the name of Millie Moore. She learned to fly from a Frenchman, Leon Letort, probably at Gashinka (St. Petersburg), and she earned Russian license # 56 on 19 November 1911 (Third Russian Woman to have a license). She later ( in July, 1913), flew in a Morane with him from Johannisthal (Berlin) to Paris, while Letort was returning to Paris after his non-stop-flight from Paris to Johannisthal. On November 22, (year unknown), she challenged the altitude record of Melli Beese, and then reached an altitude of 2200 meters in a Fokker with a 100 horsepower motor (also carrying a passenger, whose name is not known). She ended up working the Terenchenko factory, where she received aircraft. In 1917, she also joined the Imperial Air Force, serving in the the 26th Corps Reconnaissance Squadron, where she flew as an observer. After the war, reportedly she became a taxi driver in New York City Editor's Note: Refer to "Biographical Note - 1" in which Toivo Kitvel offers persuasive evidence that she was of Estonian birth, not Latvian. |
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Collection of Dave Lam, 2-20-05 |
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via email from Dave Lam, 11-23-06 Your Luba Phillips, in the original Early Birds, seems to be our very own Ylyuba Galantichowa. How's that for coming full circle? Still working on her origins/. Dave |
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Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: November 23, 1914, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 3-14-07 |
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You may want to use your "FIND" function on Ljuba to locate the reference. I am sure you will want to enjoy this very comprehensive story of Fokker's life and career. To start at the beginning, just click on the title. |
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Editor's Note: If you have any information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper |
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