Hélène Boucher (; 23 May 1908 — 30 November 1934) was a well-known French pilot in the early 1930s, when she set several women's world speed records and the all-comers record for 1,000 km (621 mi) in 1934. She was killed in an accident in the same year.

Early life and education

Hélène Boucher was the daughter of a Parisian architect; after an ordinary schooling she experienced flight at

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the c ...

and then became the first pupil at the flying school run by Henri Fabos at

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Gascon dialect, Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a communes of France, commune and capital of the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Milit ...

. She rapidly obtained her brevet (no. 182) aged 23, bought a de Havilland Gypsy Moth and learned to navigate and perform

aerobatics 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 "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

Flying career

Her great ability was recognised by Michel Detroyat who advised her to focus on aerobatics, his own speciality. Their performances drew in crowds to flight shows, for example at Villacoublay. and her skills gained her public transport brevet in June 1932. After attending a few aviation meetings, she sold the Moth and bought an

Avro Avian The Avro Avian is a series of United Kingdom, British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and ...

, planning a flight to the

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; in the event she got as far as

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and returned via

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, limited by financial difficulties. In 1933, she flew with Edmée Jacob as a passenger in the Angers 12-hour race in one of the lowest-powered machines there, a Salmson-engined Mauboussin-Zodiac 17; completing at an average speed of and came 14th. They were the only female team competing and received the prize of 3,000 francs set aside for an all-women team as well as 3,000 francs for position. The following year, on a contract with the

Caudron The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for ...

company and in a faster Caudron Rafale she competed again, coming second. During 1933 and 1934, she set several world records for women, set out below; exceptionally, she held the international (male or female) record for speed over in 1934. Most of these records were flown in

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

-powered Caudron aircraft, and in June 1934 the Renault company also took her temporarily under contract in order to promote their new Viva Grand Sport. On 30 November 1934, she died aged 26 flying a Caudron C.430 Rafale near

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when the machine crashed into the woods of

Guyancourt Guyancourt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero ...

. Posthumously, she was immediately made a

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of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and was the first woman to lie in state at

Les Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides (; ), commonly called (; ), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old soldi ...

, where her obsequies were held. She is buried in Yermenonville cemetery.

World records

On 2 August 1933, in a Mauboussin-Peyret Zodiac, she achieved a woman's altitude record of . On 8 July 1934 she set the "Light aircraft (Category 1)", speed record for distances over with a speed of , flying the Caudron C.530 Rafale registered F-ANAO. In 1934, in a Caudron C.450 she set two more records. :International speed over of on 8 August 1934 (also the Women's record over this distance) and on the same day speed over of . On 11 August 1934, she set a woman's speed record of .

Legacy

After her death several memorials of different kinds were set up. 1935 saw the first running of a competition for female pilots, the Boucher Cup. A brand new, art-deco styled, Girls High School ( Lycée Hélène Boucher) built in 1935 in Paris (75 cours de Vincennes) was named after her as she was considered a model for future generations of "modernistic", forward thinking girls. École Hélène Boucher in

Mantes-la-Jolie Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, f ...

is named after her. There is a stone in the Guyancourt woods where the crash happened, a tomb monument at Yermenonville, and various squares and street names remember her.

References

Literature

* Antoine Rédier: ''Hélène Boucher, jeune fille de France'', Flammarion in 1935 with a preface by Victor Denain. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boucher, Helene 1908 births 1934 deaths Aviators from Paris Lycée Montaigne (Paris) alumni French women aviators Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1934 Knights of the Legion of Honour French aviation record holders French women aviation record holders 20th-century French women