Beate Uhse - Rotermund Beate Uhse - Rotermund ( ; born Beate Köstlin October 25 , 1919 – July 16 , 2001 ) was a German pilot and entrepreneur . The only female stunt pilot in Germany in the 1930s , after World War II she started the first sex shop in the world . The company she started , Beate Uhse AG , is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange , and is the world leader in sales of sexual aids . The company also started a television channel on the Premiere network of television channels . Life . Uhse was born in Wargenau near Cranz , East Prussia . She was the youngest of three children of the farmer Otto Köstlin and the doctor Magarete Köstlin ( one of the first five female doctors in Germany ) . When she was eight years old , her older brother told her the myth of Icarus . Beate was fascinated by the story – and by the idea of flying . So much so that she gathered chicken feathers and glued together some wings and jumped from the roof of her parents ' veranda . Beate was a wild child . Her parents did not try to control her , instead they encouraged their daughter in her interests and desires . They assisted her in getting a good education . They informed their children on sexual matters early , and spoke with them openly about sexuality and contraception . At fifteen Beate became the Hessian javelin champion . War - time pilot . At age sixteen Beate Köstlin went to England for one year , to learn English as an au pair . Afterwards , she returned to her parents ' home , where she , to satisfy her parents , obtained a " proper " education ( in Home Economics ) . During a trip to Berlin , her father met a Mr . Sachsenberg , a lecturer on motor sports from the German Aero - Club ( a nonprofit organization dedicated to flying ) , and complained to him of his " fly crazy " daughter and the " nonsensical " concept of a female pilot . Sachsenberg was , instead , excited by the idea , and sent the seventeen - year - old Beate information about obtaining a pilot license . Finally her parents gave in to her demands , and in 1937 Beate joined the Rangsdorf pilot school near Berlin . In October , on her 18th birthday , she received her pilot ' s license . In 1938 she passed the stunt pilot exam , and shortly thereafter competed in a race in Belgium . She won in her category , and also won 2nd place overall in target landing and 3rd in " punctual flight . " She then worked for the Bücker aircraft company as a test pilot , then , at age nineteen , as a delivery pilot for the Friedrich aircraft factory . Soon after , she was asked by the UFA film company to work as a double in films . She worked with Hans Albers , a film star she particularly admired , and with numerous others . In the German Propaganda Movie " Achtung - Feind hört mit " she performed a stunt as a double for German Actor René Deltgen in which she flew through a balloon barrier and simulated an uncontrolled dive . Beate fell in love with her stunt piloting instructor , Hans - Jürgen Uhse , but repeatedly rejected his proposals of marriage . She swore she would " never ever give up flying for a man . " Since Hans - Jürgen strongly supported her ambitions , however , she finally accepted , but her father resisted . For one whole year , her father refused to bless their union . Finally , a festive wedding was scheduled for October 10 , 1939 . However , it had to be canceled because of the beginning of the war . On September 28 , Hans - Jürgen Uhse was to be deployed ; the couple married quietly four hours before his departure . Because of the war , stunt piloting became impossible , and Beate Uhse was forced to remain grounded . In her small home in Rangsdorf she felt claustrophobic , and so she accepted an offer by the Luftwaffe ( German air force ) to fly in an aircraft transport squadron . Thus , she was occasionally also able to fly aircraft that she " otherwise would not be able to get to " : the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka , the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and 110 , the Focke - Wulf Fw 190 and at the end of the war even the Messerschmitt Me 262 . Although being attacked several times by allied aircraft she continued as she felt that after the war , with this experience , she would be able to have a career as a pilot . In 1943 her son Klaus was born . Because she was in a role vital to the war effort , she was permitted to continue working , and received permission to hire a nanny . In October 1944 she was promoted to the rank of captain and was assigned to the " Überführungsgeschwader 1 " ( transfer squadron 1 ) based in Berlin - Staaken . In 1945 , her husband Hans - Jürgen had a fatal crash , and left Beate a twenty - four - year - old widow with a year - old son . In April 1945 , Berlin was surrounded by Allied forces . The commander of Beate Uhse ' s battalion wanted to move the battalion further west . Beate made her way through the destroyed city to her house in Rangsdorf and picked up her son and his nanny . She brought both to the airport , but her battalion had already left , along with her airplane . She found a small Siebel Fh 104 plane that did not have a pilot . While it was being fueled she studied the plane ' s manual , as she had never before flown this model . Together with two injured , her two - year - old son and the nanny , she left Berlin to the west , finally landing in Leck in North Friesland . She was captured there by British troops . After her release , she settled in Flensburg with her son . Second career : businesswoman . Beate Uhse ' s career as a pilot ended after the war : former members of the Luftwaffe were not permitted to fly . The young widow therefore had to find some other way to earn money to feed her son . First , she made a living on the black market . She was selling products door - to - door and met many housewives and learned of their problems : the men returning from the front were impregnating their wives , not caring that there was " no apartment , no income and no future " for the kids . Many of the women went to untrained abortionists . Beate Uhse remembered lectures her mother ( who had died during the war ) had given her on sexuality , sexual hygiene and contraception . She searched for information on the Knaus - Ogino method of contraception ( rhythm method ) , and put together a brochure which explained to the women how to identify their fertile and infertile days . By 1947 she had sold " Pamphlet X " 32 , 000 times through her " Betu " mail order company , and began to expand to larger cities such as Hamburg and Bremen . Many people wrote her letters , to ask for advice on sexuality and eroticism . " These people were unaware of the facts of life , " she wrote in her autobiography . Soon she was also selling condoms and " marriage guides . " In 1951 , with four employees , she started the " Beate Uhse Mail Order " company , offering condoms and books on " marital hygiene . " Just two years later , the company had fourteen employees . Beate Uhse married retailer Ernst - Walter Rotermund and had a second child , Ulrich . In 1962 , in Flensburg , she opened her " speciality store for marital hygiene , " the first sex store in the world . She offered , both in her store and her catalog , more and more " articles for marital hygiene . " Soon the police began acting against the items in her store which supposedly served to " inflame and satisfy lustful desires in a manner contrary to decency and morality . " By the year 1992 , her store had been indicted more than 2 , 000 times . She was also discriminated against by other organizations : the " Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels " ( a financial organization of the German book industry ) refused to admit her Stephensen publishing house due to " moral concerns . " The Flensburger tennis club refused to admit her due to " general concerns . " In 1979 she divorced her second husband . In 1983 , she was diagnosed with stomach cancer , but survived . At age seventy - five she obtained a diving license . In 1996 , she fulfilled a long - held dream , and opened the Beate Uhse Erotic Museum in Berlin . Three years later , in 1999 , her company , Beate Uhse AG , was listed on the German stock exchange and was met with great interest in the financial community . The stock was oversubscribed sixty - four times in its initial public offering . The stock certificates are greatly desired because of the depiction of two scantily dressed women . Uhse died of pneumonia in a clinic in St . Gallen , Switzerland in 2001 . Like Oswalt Kolle , Uhse was one of the most important people for sexual liberation in the German - speaking world . In 1989 she received the " Bundesverdienstkreuz " ( German Cross of Merit ) , and in 1999 she was declared an honorary citizen of the city of Flensburg .