THEREZA DE MARZO was born in the City of São Paulo on August 04, 1903. she was one of seven children from Affonso de Marzo and Maria Riparullo. At the age of 17, she saw from her house window ( at the Ladeira Dr. Falcão, in front of the Anhangabaú Valley and the Chá Overpass ) and raising her eyes to the sky, an airplane. She was enchanted and decided she would fly one someday. But, when she told her family about her intentions, it caused a great commotion. The biggest reaction came from her father, an italian merchant from Napoli. His daughter "ought to think in marriage not in piloting a plane", said he.

THEREZA DE MARZO was not scared with the protests. So she walks all the way to Jardim Paulista, at the Brazil Airfield, where two italian brothers gave flight instructions. Both loved the idea. They proposed to Thereza the price of 600 hundred réis for 10 flying hours. Since her father wouldn't give her the money, THEREZA DE MARZO decided to raffle her phonograph. Nobody won, two cards remained unsold. So she drew lots once again among her family's friends. Now she was able to start the classes.

THEREZA DE MARZO was not conceited, except for her shoes. This preference now was relegated to a second plan. Money now would be the only way to pay for her flight hours. She started to learn how to fly on March, 1921. As her instructors João and Enrico Robba travelled a lot, their pupils spent too much time without classes.

When she was introduced to the pilot and mechanic FRITZ ROESLER, an World War II fighter pilot, native of Strasbourg, asked him to become her instructor. With the new instructor and regular classes, THEREZA DE MARZO progressed a lot. On March 17, 1922 she flew alone for the first time. She started one year before, on March 1921. Continuous training and flying without instructor four times more. On April 8th she presented herself for examination. Took off on a french made plane - CAUDRON G-3, with 120 HP revolving engine and stayed on air for 40 minutes performing the required maneuvers. Flight was perfect and the landing with a lot of technique and ability. The landing strip was short - 150 meters long by 60 meters wide - causing the admiration of the persons who were present to watch her performance. The examiners were Dr. Luiz Ferreira Guimarães, Brazil Airclub Director, who went to São Paulo especially to this event and State Representatives Manoel Lacerda Franco, Amadeu Saraiva and João Robba, and also her instructor FRITZ ROESLER.

THEREZA DE MARZO received the brevet number 76 from the Aeroclube do Brasil which was a branch of the FÉDÉRATION AÉRONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE. She was the FIRST BRAZILIAN WOMAN to fly alone and to receive the international aviator-pilot certificate. She received a lot of compliments and was the center of press attention. After some days she did the first raid to the City of Santos where she flew above the Bartolomeu de Gusmão's statues. She hosted along with others guest flyers colleagues, the famous portuguese aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral.

THEREZA DE MARZO created the" Aviation Afternoons ", in which there were plane rides with passengers. In one afternoon, she and the pilot Átila took off from the Ypiranga Airclub. THEREZA DE MARZO was the flight commander. Her colleague should throw flowers over the soccer players, as they made low flying passes above the Palestra Itália Stadium. When Átila was drawing back his hand from outside the plane, he dashed on the fuel stop-knob shutting it down and stopping the engine. Thereza had already chosen a safe place to land when she decided to try - one more time- to put in action the stop-knob. Near the ground, she felt the motor starting up again and the flight continued without any problems. The aviator continued doing her flights during 4 years. She had bought, advised by friends a CAUDRON G-3 for 8 contos of réis, baptizing her with the name "SÃO PAULO". Later, she acquired an "ORIOLE". She flew about 350 hours, which were officially registered, but many hours were not computed because her instructor thought that wasn't necessary. At this time, it was more and more difficult to maintain a plane. THEREZA DE MARZO asked the Republic President WASHINGTON LUIZ a fuel subvention and received a NO as an answer. He did not want to contribute to her suicide . The preconception against women was always present. Life was expensive and the aviator could not maintain her training. Her old instructor - FRITZ ROESLER - was in love with her pupil. Then THEREZA DE MARZO accepted his wedding proposal. On September 25th, 1926 they were married, with a big repercussion in the brazilian society. A lot of representative authorities of this epoch were present.

THEREZA DE MARZO was sad when her jealous husband did not allow her to return to fly. She did not have money to pay the gas and he did not want to help her, but she hoped to change his opinions later and by this way, conciliate the two passions. Although she went along with FRITZ ROESLER in his professional activities, Thereza did not fly like a pilot anymore. She achieved elements for the construction of a hangar at the Ypiranga by getting donations on a square in Santos. In 1923, they sold this hangar and moved to the Mars Camp. There, she worked in the Pilot School and the Gliders Club, a Fritz creation. This pilot engineer constructed the pioneer gliders EAY-101 (primaries and secondaries ) projected in Brazil and also constructed the first five Ypiranga EAY-201. The Ypiranga Aeronautical Enterprise ( 1931 ) was founded in partnership with Henrique Santos Dumont and the american aviator Orton Hoover. The Paulistinha project was sold later to Francisco Pignatari, owner of the Paulista Aeronautical Company. Thus, the EAY-201 originated the CAP-4, Paulistinha, with 65 HP, very used in basic instruction with the airclubs around during a long time. FRITZ ROESLER acquired the brazilian citizenship on 1932. He was the VASP idealizer being one of its founders ( 4th November, 1933 ) together with Henrique Santos Dumont and engineer Jorge Corbisier. Fritz received some awards, just as his wife. They stayed married 45 years when he passed away on July 02, 1971. He was buried on the Araçá's Cemetery, at São Paulo City, and so was Thereza his wife.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Newspapers
A Província	April 10, 1922
A Tribuna de São Paulo	April 13, 1922
A Gazeta de São Paulo	April 11, 1922
A Gazeta de São Paulo	June 29, 1922
A Gazeta de São Paulo	December 04, 1944
A Gazeta de São Paulo	January 20, 1961
A Gazeta de São Paulo	July 03, 1961
Correio Paulistano	April 13, 1922
Correio Metropolitano	November 26, 1972
Diário de São Paulo	March 24, 1929
Folha de Itapetininga	December 03, 1992
O Estado de São Paulo	December 04, 1944
O Estado de São Paulo	June 17, 1952
O Estado de São Paulo	November 04,1981
O Globo	April 10, 1972
O Globo	June 11, 1986

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MAGAZINES
O Cruzeiro	Number 19 - May 10, 1972
Cespaulista	Number 20 - December 12, 1979
Aviação em Revista	Number 509 - April, 1983
Almanaque Brasil de Cultura Popular	Number 29 - August, 2001

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BOOKS
Breve História da Aviação Comercial Brasileira	by Aldo Pereira - Ed. 1987 - page 406
Evolução da Aeronáutica no Brasil	by José Garcia de Souza- July, 1945 - Vol. 1
História da Força Aérea Brasileira	by Air Ten. Brig. Nelson F.L. Wanderley - 2nd Ed. 1975 - page 86
Memórias ( Vou - me embora p'ra Pasárgadas )	by Paulo Duarte Vol. VIII - 1978
Relação Nominal dos Portadores de Brevet da FAI	by Aeroclube do Brasil - Ed. 1951
Vôo Proibido - Os apuros de uma pioneira	by Captain Lucy Lúpia Pinel Balthazar - 3rd. Ed. 2001 - page 41
The 100 greatest women in aviation	by Liz Moscrop and Sanjay Rampal Ed. 2008
The Conquistadors of the Sky - A History of Aviation in Latin America	by Dan Hagedorn Ed. 2008

• Aeronautical Pioneer Medal by the Santos Dumont Foundation (1961).

• Aeronautical Merit Medal by the Aeronautical Ministry - São Paulo (1976).

• Santos Dumont Gold Medal - Minas Gerais (1980).

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