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 ...

Virginie Guyot (born 30 December 1976 in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

) is a

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 ...

of the

Armée de l'Air 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 Arm ...

who achieved an historical first when she was appointed leader of the

Patrouille de France ), 1st Commandant of the Patrouille de France as of the official Aerial presentation on 14 September 1953, Commander of the 13th Aerial Brigade, World War II Veteran with 165 war missions. , identification_symbol= , identification_symbol_lab ...

, becoming the first woman in the world to command a precision

aerobatic Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...

demonstration team. Hateur Physique: 1,58

Career

After following high school and scientific '' classes prépa'' in the Prytanée Militaire, an advanced military secondary institution, Virginie Guyot entered the '' Ecole de l'Air'', the French Air Force officers' school, in 1997. After her degree, she joined the fighter pilot training Air Force base in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

. She received her fighter pilot wings in 2002, just three years after

Caroline Aigle Commandant Caroline Aigle () (12 September 1974 – 21 August 2007) was a French aviator who achieved a historical first when, at the age of 25, she became the first woman fighter pilot in the French Air Force. Her promising military career was ...

, the first woman to reach that position in the history of the Armée de l'Air. She was assigned to the Mirage F1-CR in the ''Escadron de reconnaissance 2/33 Savoie''. She was engaged in operations in

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. ''Chef d'escadron'' (squadron leader) since 2007, she was promoted to the rank of ''Commandant'' (

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 2009. At the same time, she was the first woman to join the

, one of the world's oldest and most skilled demonstration teams, in which she was directly appointed as ''Charognard'' (deputy leader). On 25 November 2009, she became the first, and so far only, woman to lead a prestigious aerobatic team. Following her service in the Patrouille de France (no one can serve as leader for more than a year), she plans to join the ''Etat-major'' (Air Force Staff).

References

Charles Bremner - Times Online - WBLG: French pilots show women can fly

Paris Match - ''Virginie Guyot danse avec les nuages'' (in French)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guyot, Virginie Women in 21st-century warfare French Air and Space Force personnel Women in war in France Living people 1976 births 20th-century French women