Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

Caroline Aigle () (12 September 1974 – 21 August 2007) was a French

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

who achieved a historical first when, at the age of 25, she became the first woman

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

in the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

. Her promising military career was cut short by death from cancer seven years later. She was posthumously awarded the ''

Médaille de l'Aéronautique The Aeronautical Medal (french: "Médaille de l'Aéronautique") is a state decoration of France established by the decree of February 14, 1945. It is awarded to both military personnel and civilians for outstanding accomplishments related to t ...

'' (

Aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

Medal).

Background

Born in

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...

, Aigle spent her early years in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, where her father served as a military physician. After reaching her fourteenth birthday, she matriculated at the

Lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr The lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr (or Coldo) is one of six (formerly 'lycées militaires') of the French Ministry of Defence. Situated at Saint-Cyr-l'École (Yvelines), it occupies a particularly historic building - it succeeds the Maison royale ...

( Saint-Cyr Military High School), remaining for the three-year period from the second term until graduation. She subsequently proceeded to Prytanée Militaire, an advanced military high school, and then to the military academy wing of the prestigious

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, France's foremost school of engineering. During her first year (1994–95), she fulfilled the requirements of her military duty while stationed with th
13th Battalion
of the elite mountain infantry, the

Chasseurs Alpins The ''chasseurs alpins'' ( en, Alpine Rangers) are the elite mountain infantry force of the French Army. They are trained to operate in mountainous terrain and in urban warfare. History France created its own mountain corps in the late 19th ...

. She served her final year before graduation from the Polytechnique (1996–97) in the

École de l'Air École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, the

's officer candidate school.

Career

After graduating from the Polytechnique, Aigle chose to join the

. On 28 May 1999, she became the first woman to receive the Air Force's coveted

wings. She was assigned to the

Mirage 2000-5 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (''A ...

in the escadron 2/2 "

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

) in 2005. Among the top candidates, she was also on the verge of being selected as an astronaut for the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

. By the time of her sudden death three weeks before her 33rd birthday (the cancer, a

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

, had been diagnosed only a month earlier), she had accumulated a total of 1600 hours of flight time. Aigle was a keen athlete and represented the Air Force in inter-service sports competitions. She was the 1997 French military champion in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

, followed by the 1997 triathlon world championship in military team competition. Still competing in 1999, she and her team won the triathlon world military vice-championship. She was also a

skydiver Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachut ...

and

free-fall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on it ...

parachutist.

Death

Aigle was pregnant when she was first diagnosed with rapidly progressing cancer, and refused to undergo an abortion despite the increased difficulty in cancer treatment options. Her son Gabriel was delivered by

caesarean section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mo ...

, five-and-a half months into term, fifteen days before her death on 21 August 2007. She and her husband already had one other child. On 2 October 2007,

President Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

posthumously awarded her the Médaille de l'Aéronautique (

Medal).

Personal life

Aigle was married to Christophe "Douky" Deketelaere (born 27 September 1964), a former Air Force fighter pilot and deputy leader of the

Breitling Jet Team ] The Breitling Jet Team is the largest civilian aerobatic display team in Europe. Based in Dijon, France, it flies seven Aero L-39 Albatros jets. The team flies a display lasting 18–20 minutes that includes formation flying, opposition passes, ...

. They had two sons, Marc and Gabriel.

References

A brief magazine interview with Caroline AigleCaroline Aigle biographical details
12 July 2005 * ttp://armee-de-lair.over-blog.fr/article-12050114.html Text of the eulogy delivered at Caroline Aigle's funeral mass (in French)

External links