Elsa Andersson was Sweden's' first female aviator and stunt parachutist. She was born a farmer's daughter in the Scanian countryside, at Strovelstrop. Andersson's mother died at her birth and her elder brother moved to America for a new life.

A determined and inspirational woman, Andersson had ambitions beyond becoming a farmer's wife and so, aged 21, she learned to fly, getting her diploma "no.203" in 1920. Not content with being the first Swedish woman to become a pilot, she went to Germany to learn parachute jumping.

In 1922, Andersson was tragically killed on her third jump in Askersund, Sweden. Thousands of spectators were gathering below on the ice of the frozen lake Alsen. She had trouble releasing her parachute, which finally unfolded only at a small distance from the treetops and she crashed violently against the ground.

In 1926, the Swedish Aero Club erected a three-metre-high obelisk memorial in the place where she was found dead.